rning money.

VII.

CULTURE.

"Culture comes from the constant choice of the best within our reach. It
belongs to character more than to acquirements, though a person of
culture usually has certain acquirements, for these are generally within
the reach of all those who earnestly wish for the best things."

A woman, for instance, may be a cultivated musician, and have a weak
character in some directions; but just so far as her music is of high
quality she must have chosen the best. She must have been patient and
energetic, and she must have been willing to practice fine music. I knew
a girl so brilliant that she was able to play a Beethoven sonata almost
at sight when she had studied music less than a year. But she did not
care for Beethoven. She preferred Offenbach, and she never became a
cultivated musician.

But though girls are apt to think of culture as something distinct from
character, they do after all acknowledge its moral side, for beautiful
manners are its first test. I see every day a young girl who seems to
have no special gift. Her delicate health has prevented her from
studying much, so although the wealth and position of her family have
made it possible for her to have the best teachers all her life, her
education is not far advanced. With all her piano lessons she will
stumble over the simplest march if any one is listening to her; she
replies to her French teacher in monosyllables; she has read few books:
and as for her arithmetic, children in the primary schools could put her
to shame. Nevertheless, she would everywhere be recognized at once as a
cultivated young lady. The simplicity, gentleness, and sweetness of her
manners, her truthfulness, modesty, and dignity count for far more than
French or music or literature even with those who lay most stress on
accomplishments. Such manners as hers are rare, and yet they are likely
to be found running through whole families. Her mother and her sister,
both of whom are cleverer than she, have almost equally fine manners,
though they miss the last touch of grace. Such manners come from the
choice of generation after generation. One woman after another has
chosen to be sincere, good-tempered, kind, and noble. The women who so
choose also choose the best in other ways. They read good books instead
of bad ones, they prefer a beautiful picture to a showy one, and
Beethoven to Offenbach. You may say that a girl of such a family cannot
help being culti