udly, often contradicting themselves,
and pass judgment upon everything, dismissing the most difficult
questions with only a passing thought, but remain silent and are put
completely out of countenance as soon as one insists upon their
listening to reason, or when--in familiar language--they "meet their
match."

The man of effrontery is a passionate devotee of bluff, and not only of
that variety of which Jonathan Dick has said:

"It is a security discounted in advance."

A little further on he adds:

"Bluffers of the right sort are only so when the occasion demands it, in
order to give the impression that the wished-for result has already been
achieved.

"As soon as their credit is assured and appearances have become
realities that allow them to establish themselves in positions of
security they at once cease the effort to deceive."

Our author concludes:

"Bluff, to be successful, must never be founded upon puerility or brag."

Now these two qualities are always to be met with in the doings of the
man of effrontery, who only achieves by accident the goal he aims at,
and then only in the most insecure way.

Drawbacks differing as to their causes, but equally unlucky as to their
results, are born of the opposite fault--modesty.

It is high time to destroy the leniency shown toward this defect that
old-fashioned educators once decorated with the title of virtue.

Time has forged ahead, taking with it in its rapid course all forms of
progress, which, in its turn, has made giant strides.

Ideas have changed materially. Modern life has to face emergencies
formerly undreamed of, and those who still believe in the virtue of
modesty are their own enemies, as well as those of the people whom they
advise to cultivate it.

The case of this man is similar to that of many others, whose meaning
has been undergoing a gradual change due to the erroneous interpretation
that has deliberately been placed upon it.

Modesty is very frequently nothing more than an evidence of
incompetence.

It has rise in sentiments that the man who would be up to date must
avoid at all hazards--distrust of self and hatred of exertion.

One rarely finds it in the man who is active and who knows his own
worth. To revenge itself, it flourishes among the lazy, who try to save
their pride and to conceal their secret irritation at the successes of
others by assuming an humble attitude and exclaiming:

"Oh! I didn't care to do it!"

Or stil