ety hold them as binding rules and faithfully regard
their observance. They are to society what our laws are to the people as
a political body, and to disregard them will give rise to constant
misunderstandings, engender ill-will, and beget bad morals and bad
manners.

Says an eminent English writer: "On manners, refinement, rules of good
breeding, and even the forms of etiquette, we are forever talking,
judging our neighbors severely by the breach of traditionary and
unwritten laws, and choosing our society and even our friends by the
touchstone of courtesy." The Marchioness de Lambert expressed opinions
which will be endorsed by the best bred people everywhere when she wrote
to her son: "Nothing is more shameful than a voluntary rudeness. Men
have found it necessary as well as agreeable to unite for the common
good; they have made laws to restrain the wicked; they have agreed among
themselves as to the duties of society, and have annexed an honorable
character to the practice of those duties. He is the honest man who
observes them with the most exactness, and the instances of them
multiply in proportion to the degree of nicety of a person's honor."

Originally a gentleman was defined to be one who, without any title of
nobility, wore a coat of arms. And the descendants of many of the early
colonists preserve with much pride and care the old armorial bearings
which their ancestors brought with them from their homes in the mother
country. Although despising titles and ignoring the rights of kings,
they still clung to the "grand old name of gentleman." But race is no
longer the only requisite for a gentleman, nor will race united with
learning and wealth make a man a gentleman, unless there are present the
kind and gentle qualities of the heart, which find expression in the
principles of the Golden Rule. Nor will race, education and wealth
combined make a woman a true lady if she shows a want of refinement and
consideration of the feelings of others.

Good manners are only acquired by education and observation, followed up
by habitual practice at home and in society, and good manners reveal to
us the lady and the gentleman. He who does not possess them, though he
bear the highest title of nobility, cannot expect to be called a
gentleman; nor can a woman, without good manners, aspire to be
considered a lady by ladies. Manners and morals are indissolubly allied,
and no society can be good where they are bad. It is the du