done to soften them by habitual
courtesy towards them, and by studiously avoiding anything calculated
to offend them or rouse their anger. A wise man will always endeavor
to be specially civil towards any one who differs from him. It is
related that in the early days of the Abolition movement in the United
States, two men went out preaching: one, a sage old Quaker, brave and
calm; the other, a fervid young man. When the Quaker lectured, the
audience were all attention, and his arguments met with very general
concurrence. But when it came to the young man's turn, a tumult
invariably ensued, and he was pelted off the platform. Surprised by
their different receptions, the young man asked the Quaker the reason.
"Friend," he said, "you and I are on the same mission; we preach the
same things; how is it that while _you_ are received so cordially, I
get nothing but abuse?" "I will tell thee," replied the Quaker; "thee
says, 'If you do so and so, you shall be punished,' and I say, 'My
friends, if you will _but_ do so and so, you shall not be punished.'
It is not what we say, but how we say it." [1] In _The Memorials of a
Quiet Life_ it is said of Augustus Hare that, on a road along which he
frequently passed, there was a workman employed in its repair who met
his gentle questions and observations with gruff answers and sour
looks. But as day after day the persevering mildness of his words and
manner still continued, the rugged features of the man gave way, and
his tone assumed a softer character. Politeness is the oiled key that
will open many a rusty lock.

Good manners may be summed up in the one word, Gentleman.--That term
implies all that good-manners ought to be. The original derivation of
the word is from the Latin _gentilis_, belonging to a tribe or _gens_;
and in its first signification it applies to those of noble descent or
family; but it has come to mean something far wider, and something
which every man, however humble, may be--a man of high courtesy and
refinement, to whom dishonor is hateful. "What is it," says Thackeray,
"to be a gentleman? It is to be honest, to be gentle, to be generous,
to be brave, to be wise, and, possessing all these qualities, to
exercise them in the most graceful outward manner." It was said of our
Lord by one of the early English poets, that he was

The first true gentleman that ever breathed.

To be a gentleman in all circumstances is the highest idea we can form
of g