indulgence in itself not only harmless, but salutary; and
there may be an equally strong sense of right on both sides of a question
of social morality falling under this head. The joyous side of life must
be maintained. The young, sanguine, and happy will at all events have
recreations, games, festivities, and of these there is not a single
element, material, or feature that has not been abused, perverted, or
invested with associations offensive to a pure moral taste. To disown and
oppose them all in the name of virtue, is to prescribe a degree of
abstinence which can have the assent of those only who have outlived the
capacity of enjoyment. The more judicious course is to favor, or at least
to tolerate such modes of indulgence as may for the present be the least
liable to abuse, or such as may in prospect be the safest in their moral
influence, and by sanctioning these to render more emphatic and efficient
the disapproval and rejection of such as are intrinsically wrong and evil.

Section IV.

Manners.

The ancients had but one word for *manners and morals*. It might be well
if the same were the case with us,--yet with this essential difference,
that while they degraded morals to the level of manners, a higher culture
would lead us to raise manners to the level of morals. The main
characteristics of good manners are comprised in the three preceding
Sections. They are the observance, in one's demeanor and conduct toward
others, of the fitnesses of time and place, and of the due and graceful
mean between overwrought, extravagant, or fantastic manifestations of
regard on the one hand, and coldness, superciliousness, or indifference on
the other. Courtesies, like more substantial kindnesses, are neutralized
by delay, and, when slow, seem forced and reluctant. Attentions, which in
their place are gratifying, may, if misplaced, occasion only mortification
and embarrassment, as when civilities befitting interior home-life are
rehearsed for the public eye and ear. Nor is there any department of
conduct in which excess or deficiency is more painfully felt,--a redundance
of compliments and assiduities tending to silence and abash the recipient,
while their undue scanting inflicts a keen sense of slight, neglect, and
injury.

*Politeness* must, indeed, in order even to appear genuine, be the
expression of sincere kindness. There is no pretence so difficult to
maintain as the false show