OCR Text |
Show Duties of a Gentleman. It would seem to be the first duty of every man to have good manners not the superficial veneer which merely is the outside polish, but the good manners man-ners that spring from a good heart and a sincere, manly nature. Emerson says that "a gentleman is a man of truth," and this definition means honesty and sincerity in conduct. He must have character and force, good nature and kindness, "manhood first and then gentleness." A well bred man is free from arrogance; arro-gance; he is courteous, unpretentious, natural, sincere, unaffected in a word, true. He is considerate in his feelings, polite and kind to every one. He respects re-spects himself. He is chivalrous toward to-ward women and reverences their sex because he bears in mind his love and respect for his own mother. He protects pro-tects the weak and is tender toward children and aged persons. He is never self-assertive, pushing, aggressive or familiar, for to possess any of these qualities would indicate a distressing; lack of good breeding. An old verse gives quaint directions that a man should follow in modern times: "When thou come the hall door to, Doff thy hood, thy gloves also." A man removes his hat when he enters en-ters a house, and does not shake hands before removing his right glove. In social life it is taken for granted that a man is indebted to a woman who accepts any attention from him. |