A student of the subject of ethics must understand that the true
spirit of good manners is very closely allied to that of good morals.
It has been pointed out that no stronger proof of this assertion is
required than the fact that the Messiah himself, in his great moral
teachings, so frequently touches upon the subject of manners. He
teaches that modesty is the true spirit of good behavior, and openly
rebukes the forward manner of His followers in taking the upper seats
at the banquet and the highest seats in the synagogues.

The philosophers whose names are recorded in history, although they
were, themselves, seldom distinguished for fine manners, did not fail
to teach the importance of them to others. Socrates and Aristotle have
left behind them a code of ethics that might easily be turned into a
"Guide to the Complete Gentleman;" and Lord Bacon has written an essay
on manners in which he reminds us that a stone must be of very high
value to do without a setting.

The motive in cultivating good manners should not be shallow and
superficial. Lord Chesterfield says that the motive that makes one
wish to be polite is a desire to shine among his fellows and to raise
one's self into a society supposed to be better than his own. It is
unnecessary to state that Lord Chesterfield's good manners, fine as
they appear, do not bear the true stamp of genuineness. There is not
the living person back of them possessing heart and character. They
seem to him, in a measure, what a fine gown does to the wax figure in
the dressmaker's window. True manners mean more than mannerisms. They
cannot be taught entirely from a book in which there are sets of rules
to be observed on any and every occasion. They are rather a cultivated
method of thinking and feeling and the forming of a character that
knows, intuitively, the nice and kind and appropriate thing to do
without reference to what a printed rule of conduct may set forth.

It is generally agreed that our best and only right motive in the
cultivation of good manners should be to make ourselves better than we
otherwise would be, to render ourselves agreeable to every one whom we
may meet, and to improve, it may be, the society in which we are
placed. With these objects in view, it is plainly as much a moral duty
to cultivate one's manners as it is to cultivate one's mind, and no
one can deny that we are better citizens when we observe the nicer
amenities of society than we are when w