ct with its influence.

The self-possession and certainty stamped upon the face of a man who
inherited, or won for himself, the sure and perfect armor of
good-breeding, is but the outer stamp of the man himself.

Manners are profitable as well as pleasant. They carry with them a
measureless weight of influence. A gentleman once brought into his
library a costly subscription book. "My dear," said his wife, "you
already had a copy of that work." "I knew I did," he replied, "but the
manners of the lad who sold it were so elegant that it was a pleasure
to purchase it."

The charm of good manners is not a qualification belonging to any
particular station in life, for, to the poor and unlettered oftimes
may be traced deeds and actions that mark them as nature's noblemen.
Education, wealth and social station do not always confer them, but
the outer grace may be acquired by all.

In this way it has come to be known that a refinement of laws in any
country indicates that a gradual refinement of manners has led up
towards, and finally crystallized into a refinement of the hearts and
the laws of the people.

The Marks of True Politeness.

True politeness is always known by its lack of assumption. President
Tyler, in advising his daughter-in-law previous to her taking her
position as lady of the White House, used these noteworthy words: "It
is, I trust, scarcely necessary to say that, as upon you will devolve
the duty of presiding at the White House, you should be equal and
untiring in your affabilities to all. You should remember that nothing
shows a little soul so much as the exhibition of airs or assumptions
under any circumstances."

The minor observances have much to do with the polishing and
perfecting of the manners of men. These little things that mark one
as being "to the manor born" are not the growth of moments but the
slow accretions of years; neither can their use be dropped in the
privacy of home to be assumed at pleasure for the outside world to
admire, else they will fit but illy, as borrowed plumes are wont to
do.

The best-intentioned and best-hearted people that the world has ever
known are too often careless in the slight observances that mean so
much to the cultivated. Thoreau says, "I could better eat with one who
did not respect the truth or the laws than with a sloven and
unpresentable person. Moral qualities rule the world, but at short
range the senses are despotic."

"The code of society is