stant effort to acquire them.

2. _Avoid eccentricity_.--Eccentricity is the deliberate endeavor to
make ourselves different from those around us. (_a_) Some show it in
their dress by wearing garments often of outrageous shape and hue.
(_b_) Some show it in their speech by striving to say things that they
think especially smart. (_c_) Some show it in their actions by
striking forced attitudes, and putting themselves in grotesque
positions. It all springs from love of notoriety and desire to be
thought different from their neighbors. It is the mark, as a rule, of
fops and fools, and an indication of weakness of character. It is
fundamentally inconsistent with good manners. Johnson was called _ursa
major_, or big bear, from the gruffness of his manner. This was
probably natural to him, but many affect a similar manner from a desire
to be eccentric. The "big bears" of society are odious. Johnson's own
words are applicable to such: "A man has no more right to say an
uncivil thing than to act one--no more right to say a rude thing to
another than to knock him down." Those also who are ever trying to say
things which they think smart, but which are often impudent, and meant
to give annoyance, ought to receive no countenance. "Sir," said one
such person in his Irish brogue to Dean Swift, "I _sit_ (set) up for
being a wit." "Then, sir," said the Dean, "I advise you to sit down."
Similar people should be treated in the same way.

3. _Try to conquer shyness_.--This is constitutional with some, but
even when this is the case it can be overcome by taking pains. The shy
man is often awkward in manner; and, what is worse, he often gives the
impression to others of being rude, when he has no intention to be so.
There are those who, in their own family and among their own friends,
are known to be warm-hearted, kind and gentle, but who, from this
defect of which we speak, have a reputation far from enviable. Any
young man who is afflicted with it should set himself resolutely to get
the better of it.

4. _We should be especially courteous to those below us in
station_.--To servants in our house, to those in our employ, to the
poor, we should be marked in our civility. "It is the very essence of
gentlemanhood that one is polite to the weak, the poor, the friendless,
the humble, the miserable, the degraded." The conduct of our Lord to
such is ever worthy of our imitation. Indeed, as it has been well
remarked, the ch