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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Ars Recte Vivende + Being Essays Contributed to "The Easy Chair" + +Author: George William Curtis + + +Release Date: February, 2005 [EBook #7445] +This file was first posted on April 30, 2003 +Last updated: April 30, 2013 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ARS RECTE VIVENDE *** + + + + +Text file produced by Eric Eldred, William Flis and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team + +HTML file produced by David Widger + + + + +</pre> + + <div style="height: 8em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h1> + ARS RECTE VIVENDI + </h1> + <h3> + BEING ESSAYS CONTRIBUTED TO "THE EASY CHAIR" + </h3> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <h2> + By George William Curtis + </h2> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_PREF" id="link2H_PREF"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + PREFACE + </h2> + <p> + The publication of this collection of Essays was suggested by some remarks + of a college professor, in the course of which he said that about a dozen + of the "Easy Chair" Essays in Harper's Magazine so nearly cover the more + vital questions of hygiene, courtesy, and morality that they might be + gathered into a volume entitled "Ars Recte Vivendi," and as such they are + offered to the public. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <p> + <b>CONTENTS</b> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_PREF"> PREFACE </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0002"> EXTRAVAGANCE AT COLLEGE </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0003"> BRAINS AND BRAWN </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0004"> HAZING </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0005"> THE SOUL OF THE GENTLEMAN </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0006"> THEATRE MANNERS </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0007"> WOMAN'S DRESS </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0008"> SECRET SOCIETIES </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0009"> TOBACCO AND HEALTH </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0010"> TOBACCO AND MANNERS </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0011"> DUELLING </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0012"> NEWSPAPER ETHICS </a> + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0002" id="link2H_4_0002"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + EXTRAVAGANCE AT COLLEGE + </h2> + <p> + Young Sardanapalus recently remarked that the only trouble with his life + in college was that the societies and clubs, the boating and balling, and + music and acting, and social occupations of many kinds, left him no time + for study. He had the best disposition to treat the faculty fairly, and to + devote a proper attention to various branches of learning, and he was + sincerely sorry that his other college engagements made it quite + impossible. Before coming to college he thought that it might be + practicable to mingle a little Latin and Greek, and possibly a touch of + history and mathematics, with the more pressing duties of college life; + but unless you could put more hours into the day, or more days into the + week, he really did not see how it could be done. + </p> + <p> + It was the life of Sardanapalus in college which was the text of some + sober speeches at Commencement dinners during the summer, and of many + excellent articles in the newspapers. They all expressed a feeling which + has been growing very rapidly and becoming very strong among old + graduates, that college is now a very different place from the college + which they remembered, and that young men now spend in a college year what + young men in college formerly thought would be a very handsome sum for + them to spend annually when they were established in the world. If any + reader should chance to recall a little book of reminiscences by Dr. + Tomes, which was published a few years ago, he will have a vivid picture + of the life of forty and more years ago at a small New England college; + and the similar records of other colleges at that time show how it was + possible for a poor clergyman starving upon a meagre salary to send son + after son to college. The collegian lived in a plain room, and upon very + plain fare; he had no "extras," and the decorative expense of Sardanapalus + was unknown. In the vacations he taught school or worked upon the farm. He + knew that his father had paid by his own hard work for every dollar that + he spent, and the relaxation of the sense of the duty of economy which + always accompanies great riches had not yet begun. Sixty years ago the + number of Americans who did not feel that they must live by their own + labor was so small that it was not a class. But there is now a class of + rich men's sons. + </p> + <p> + The average rate of living at college differs. One of the newspapers, in + discussing the question, said that in most of the New England colleges a + steady and sturdy young man need not spend more than six hundred dollars + during the four years. This is obviously too low an estimate. Another + thinks that the average rate at Harvard is probably from six hundred to + ten hundred a year. Another computes a fair liberal average in the smaller + New England colleges to be from twenty-four to twenty-six hundred dollars + for the four years, and the last class at Williams is reported to have + ranged from an average of six hundred and fifty dollars in the first year + to seven hundred and twenty-eight dollars in the Senior. But the trouble + lies in Sardanapalus. The mischief that he does is quite disproportioned + to the number of him. In a class of one hundred the number of rich youth + may be very small. But a college class is an American community in which + every member is necessarily strongly affected by all social influences. + </p> + <p> + A few "fellows" living in princely extravagance in superbly furnished + rooms, with every device of luxury, entertaining profusely, elected into + all the desirable clubs and societies, conforming to another taste and + another fashion than that of the college, form a class which is separate + and exclusive, and which looks down on those who cannot enter the charmed + circle. This is galling to the pride of the young man who cannot compete. + The sense of the inequality is constantly refreshed. He may, indeed, + attend closely to his studies. He may "scorn delights, and live laborious + days." He may hug his threadbare coat and gloat over his unrugged floor as + the fitting circumstance of "plain living and high thinking." It is always + open to character and intellect to perceive and to assert their essential + superiority. Why should Socrates heed Sardanapalus? Why indeed? But the + average young man at college is not an ascetic, nor a devotee, nor an + absorbed student unmindful of cold and heat, and disdainful of elegance + and ease and the nameless magic of social accomplishment and grace. He is + a youth peculiarly susceptible to the very influence that Sardanapalus + typifies, and the wise parent will hesitate before sending his son to + Sybaris rather than to Sparta. + </p> + <p> + When the presence of Sardanapalus at Harvard was criticised as dangerous + and lamentable, the President promptly denied that the youth abounded at + the university, or that his influence was wide-spread. He was there + undoubtedly, and he sometimes misused his riches. But he had not + established a standard, and he had not affected the life of the + university, whose moral character could be favorably compared with that of + any college. But even if the case were worse, it is not evident that a + remedy is at hand. As the President suggested, there are two kinds of rich + youth at college. There are the sons of those who have been always + accustomed to riches, and who are generally neither vulgar nor + extravagant, neither ostentatious nor profuse; and the sons of the "new + rich," who are like men drunk with new wine, and who act accordingly. + </p> + <p> + The "new rich" parent will naturally send his son to Harvard, because it + is the oldest of our colleges and of great renown, and because he supposes + that through his college associations his son may pave a path with gold + into "society." Harvard, on her part, opens her doors upon the same + conditions to rich and poor, and gives her instruction equally, and + requires only obedience to her rules of order and discipline. If + Sardanapalus fails in his examination he will be dropped, and that he is + Sardanapalus will not save him. If his revels disturb the college peace, + he will be warned and dismissed. All that can be asked of the college is + that it shall grant no grace to the golden youth in the hope of endowment + from his father, and that it shall keep its own peace. + </p> + <p> + This last condition includes more than keeping technical order. To remove + for cause in the civil service really means not only to remove for a penal + offence, but for habits and methods that destroy discipline and + efficiency. So to keep the peace in a college means to remove the + necessary causes of disturbance and disorder. If young Sardanapalus, by + his extravagance and riotous profusion and dissipation, constantly thwarts + the essential purpose of the college, demoralizing the students and + obstructing the peaceful course of its instruction, he ought to be + dismissed. The college must judge the conditions under which its work may + be most properly and efficiently accomplished, and to achieve its purpose + it may justly limit the liberty of its students. + </p> + <p> + The solution of the difficulty lies more in the power of the students than + of the college. If the young men who are the natural social leaders make + simplicity the unwritten law of college social life, young Sardanapalus + will spend his money and heap up luxury in vain. The simplicity and good + sense of wealth will conquer its ostentation and reckless waste. + </p> + <p> + (<i>October</i>, 1886) + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0003" id="link2H_4_0003"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + BRAINS AND BRAWN + </h2> + <p> + It is towards the end of June and in the first days of July that the great + college aquatic contests occur, and it is about that time, as the soldiers + at Monmouth knew in 1778, that Sirius is lord of the ascendant. This year + it was the hottest day of the summer, as marked by the mercury in New + York, when the Harvard and Yale men drew out at New London for their race. + Fifty years ago the crowd at Commencement filled the town green and + streets, and the meeting-house in which the graduating class were the + heroes of the hour. The valedictorian, the salutatorian, the philosophical + orator, walked on air, and the halo of after-triumphs of many kinds was + not brighter or more intoxicating than the brief glory of the moment on + which they took the graduating stage, under the beaming eyes of maiden + beauty and the profound admiration of college comrades. + </p> + <p> + Willis, as Phil Slingsby, has told the story of that college life fifty + and sixty years ago. The collegian danced and drove and flirted and dined + and sang the night away. Robert Tomes echoed the strain in his tale of + college life a little later, under stricter social and ecclesiastical + conditions. There was a more serious vein also. In 1827 the Kappa Alpha + Society was the first of the younger brood of the Greek alphabet—descendants + of the Phi Beta Kappa of 1781—and in 1832 Father Eells, as he is + affectionately called, founded Alpha Delta Phi, a brotherhood based upon + other aims and sympathies than those of Mr. Philip Slingsby, but one which + appealed instantly to clever men in college, and has not ceased to attract + them to this happy hour, as the Easy Chair has just now commemorated. + </p> + <p> + But neither in the sketches of Slingsby nor in the memories of those + Commencement triumphs is there any record of an absorbing and universal + and overpowering enthusiasm such as attends the modern college boat-race. + The race of this year between the two great New England universities, + Harvard and Yale—the Crimson and the Blue—was a twilight + contest, for "high-water," says the careful chronicler, "did not occur + until seven o'clock." At half-past six he describes the coming of the + grand armada and the expectant scene in these words: "The <i>Block Island</i> + came down from Norwich with every square foot of her three decks occupied, + the <i>Elm City</i> brought a mass of Yale sympathizers from New Haven, + and the big <i>City of New York</i> filled her long saloon-deck with New + London spectators. A special train of eighteen cars came up from New + Haven, a blue flag fluttering from every window. The striking contrast to + the life and bustle of the lower end of the course was the quiet river at + the starting-point. The college launches, the huge tug <i>America</i>, the + press-boat <i>Manhasset</i>, loaded with correspondents, the tug <i>Burnside</i>, + swathed in crimson by her charter party of Harvard men, and the + steam-yacht <i>Norma</i>, gay with party-colored bunting, floated idly + up-stream, waiting for the start. The long train of twenty-five + observation-cars stood quietly by the river-side, its occupants closely + watching the boat-houses across the river." + </p> + <p> + Did any fleet of steamers solid with eager spectators, or special train of + eighteen cars, or long train of twenty-five observation-cars, a vast, + enthusiastic multitude, ever arrive at any college upon any Commencement + Day in Philip Slingsby's time to greet with prolonged roars of cheers and + frenzied excitement the surpassing eloquence of Salutatorian Smith, or the + melting pathos of Valedictorian Jones? Did ever—for so we read in + the veracious history of a day, the newspaper—did ever a college + town resound with "a perfect babel of noises" from eight in the summer + evening until three in the summer morning, the town lighted with burning + tar-barrels and blazing with fireworks, the chimes ringing, and ten + thousand people hastening to the illuminated station to receive the + victors in triumph—because Brown had vanquished the calculus, or + Jones discovered a comet, or Robinson translated the <i>Daily Gong and Gas + Blower</i> into the purest Choctaw? In a word, was such tumult of + acclamation—even the President himself swinging his reverend hat, + and the illustrious alumni, far and near, when the glad tidings were told, + beaming with joyful complacency, like Mr. Pickwick going down the slide, + while Samivel Weller adjured him and the company to keep the pot a-bilin'—ever + produced by any scholastic performance or success or triumph whatever? + </p> + <p> + Echo undoubtedly answers No; and she asks, also, whether in such a + competition, when the appeal is to youth, eager, strong, combative, full + of physical impulse and prowess, in the time of romantic enjoyment and + heroic susceptibility, study is not heavily handicapped, and books at a + sorry disadvantage with boats. This is what Echo distinctly inquiries; and + what answer shall be made to Echo? Who is the real hero to young Slingsby, + who has just fitted himself to enter college—the victor in the + boat-race or the noblest scholar of them all? The answer seems to be given + unconsciously in the statement that the number of students applying for + entrance is notably larger when the college has scored an athletic + victory. But this answer is not wholly satisfactory. There may be an + observable coincidence, but young men usually prepare themselves to enter + a particular college, and do not await the result of boat-races. + </p> + <p> + But the fact remains that the true college hero of to-day is the victor in + games and sports, not in studies; and it is not unnatural that it should + be so. It is partly a reaction of feeling against the old notion that a + scholar is an invalid, and that a boy must be down in his muscle because + he is up in his mathematics. But, as Lincoln said in his debate with + Douglas, it does not follow, because I think that innocent men should have + equal rights, that I wish my daughter to marry a negro. It does not + follow, because the sound mind should be lodged in a sound body, that the + care of the body should become the main, and virtually the exclusive, + interest. + </p> + <p> + Yet that this is now somewhat the prevailing tendency of average feeling + is undeniable, and it is a tendency to be considered by intelligent + collegians themselves. For the true academic prizes are spiritual, not + material; and the heroes for college emulation are not the gladiators, but + the sages and poets of the ancient day and of all time. The men that the + college remembers and cherishes are not ball-players, and boat-racers, and + high-jumpers, and boxers, and fencers, and heroes of single-stick, good + fellows as they are, but the patriots and scholars and poets and orators + and philosophers. Three cheers for brawn, but three times three for brain! + </p> + <p> + (<i>September</i>, 1887) + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0004" id="link2H_4_0004"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + HAZING + </h2> + <p> + As if a bell had rung, and the venerable dormitories and halls upon the + green were pouring forth a crowd of youth loitering towards the + recitation-room, the Easy Chair, like a college professor, meditating + serious themes, and with a grave purpose, steps to the lecture-desk. It + begins by asking the young gentlemen who have loitered into the room, and + are now seated, what they think of bullying boys and hunting cats and + tying kettles to a dog's tail, and seating a comrade upon tacks with the + point upward. Undoubtedly they reply, with dignified nonchalance, that it + is all child's play and contemptible. Undoubtedly, young gentlemen, + answers the professor, and, to multiply Nathan's remark to David, You are + the men! + </p> + <p> + As American youth you cherish wrathful scorn for the English boy who makes + another boy his fag, and you express a sneering pity for the boy who + consents to fag. You have read <i>Dr. Birch and His Young Friends</i>, and + you would like to break the head of Master Hewlett, who shies his shoe at + the poor shivering, craven Nightingale, and you justly remark that close + observation of John Bull seems to warrant the conclusion that the nature + of his bovine ancestor is still far from eliminated from his descendant. + And what is the secret of your feeling? Simply that you hate bullying. + Why, then, young gentlemen, do you bully? + </p> + <p> + You retort perhaps that fagging is unknown in America, and that + high-spirited youth would not tolerate it. But permit the professor to + tell you what is not unknown in America: a crowd of older young gentlemen + surrounding one younger fellow, forcing him to do disagreeable and + disgusting things, pouring cold water down his back, making a fool of him + to his personal injury, he being solitary, helpless, and abused—all + this is not unknown in America, young gentlemen. But it is all very + different from what we have been accustomed to consider American. If we + would morally define or paraphrase the word America, I think we should say + fair-play. That is what it means. That is what the Brownist Puritans, the + precursors of the Plymouth Pilgrims, left England to secure. They did not + bring it indeed, at least in all its fulness, across the sea. Let us say, + young gentlemen, that its potentiality, its possibility, rather than its + actuality, stepped out of the <i>Mayflower</i> upon Plymouth Rock. But + from the moment of its landing it has been asserting itself. You need not + say "Baptist" and "Quaker." I understand it and allow for it all. But + fair-play has prevailed over ecclesiastical hatred and over personal + slavery, and what are called the new questions—corporate power, + monopoly, capital, and labor—are only new forms of the old effort to + secure fair-play. + </p> + <p> + Now the petty bullying of hazing and the whole system of college tyranny + is a most contemptible denial of fair-play. It is a disgrace to the + American name, and when you stop in the wretched business to sneer at + English fagging you merely advertise the beam in your own eyes. It is not + possible, surely, that any honorable young gentleman now attending to the + lecture of the professor really supposes that there is any fun or humor or + joke in this form of college bullying. Turn to your <i>Evelina</i> and see + what was accounted humorous, what passed for practical joking, in Miss + Burney's time, at the end of the last century. It is not difficult to + imagine Dr. Johnson, who greatly delighted in <i>Evelina</i>, supposing + the intentional upsetting into the ditch of the old French lady in the + carriage to be a joke. For a man who unconsciously has made so much fun + for others as "the great lexicographer," Dr. Johnson seems to have been + curiously devoid of a sense of humor. But he was a genuine Englishman of + his time, a true John Bull, and the fun of the John Bull of that time, + recorded in the novels and traditions, was entirely bovine. + </p> + <p> + The bovine or brutal quality is by no means wholly worked out of the blood + even yet. The taste for pugilism, or the pummelling of the human frame + into a jelly by the force of fisticuffs, as a form of enjoyment or + entertainment, is a relapse into barbarism. It is the instinct of the + tiger still surviving in the white cat transformed into the princess. I + will not call it, young gentlemen, the fond return of Melusina to the + gambols of the mermaid, or Undine's momentary unconsciousness of a soul, + because these are poetic and pathetic suggestions. The prize-ring is + disgusting and inhuman, but at least it is a voluntary encounter of two + individuals. But college bullying is unredeemed brutality. It is the + extinction of Dr. Jekyll in Mr. Hyde. It is not humorous, nor manly, nor + generous, nor decent. It is bald and vulgar cruelty, and no class in + college should feel itself worthy of the respect of others, or respect + itself, until it has searched out all offenders of this kind who disgrace + it, and banished them to the remotest Coventry. + </p> + <p> + The meanest and most cowardly fellows in college may shine most in hazing. + The generous and manly men despise it. There are noble and inspiring ways + for working off the high spirits of youth: games which are rich in poetic + tradition; athletic exercises which mould the young Apollo. To drive a + young fellow upon the thin ice, through which he breaks, and by the icy + submersion becomes at last a cripple, helpless with inflammatory + rheumatism—surely no young man in his senses thinks this to be + funny, or anything but an unspeakable outrage. Or to overwhelm with terror + a comrade of sensitive temperament until his mind reels—imps of + Satan might delight in such a revel, but young Americans!—never, + young gentlemen, never! + </p> + <p> + The hazers in college are the men who have been bred upon dime novels and + the prize-ring—in spirit, at least, if not in fact—to whom the + training and instincts of the gentleman are unknown. That word is one of + the most precious among English words. The man who is justly entitled to + it wears a diamond of the purest lustre. Tennyson, in sweeping the whole + range of tender praise for his dead friend Arthur Hallam, says that he + bore without abuse the grand old name of gentleman. "Without abuse"—that + is the wise qualification. The name may be foully abused. I read in the + morning's paper, young gentlemen, a pitiful story of a woman trying to + throw herself from the bridge. You may recall one like it in Hood's + "Bridge of Sighs." The report was headed: "To hide her shame." "<i>Her</i> + shame?" Why, gentlemen, at that very moment, in bright and bewildering + rooms, the arms of Lothario and Lovelace were encircling your sisters' + waists in the intoxicating waltz. These men go unwhipped of an epithet. + They are even enticed and flattered by the mothers of the girls. But, for + all that, they do not bear without abuse the name of gentleman, and Sidney + and Bayard and Hallam would scorn their profanation and betrayal of the + name. + </p> + <p> + The soul of the gentleman, what is it? Is it anything but kindly and + thoughtful respect for others, helping the helpless, succoring the needy, + befriending the friendless and forlorn, doing justice, requiring + fair-play, and withstanding with every honorable means the bully of the + church and caucus, of the drawing-room, the street, the college? Respect, + young gentlemen, like charity, begins at home. Only the man who respects + himself can be a gentleman, and no gentleman will willingly annoy, + torment, or injure another. + </p> + <p> + There will be no further recitation today. The class is dismissed. + </p> + <p> + (<i>March</i>, 1888) + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0005" id="link2H_4_0005"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + THE SOUL OF THE GENTLEMAN + </h2> + <p> + To find a satisfactory definition of gentleman is as difficult as to + discover the philosopher's stone; and yet if we may not say just what a + gentleman is, we can certainly say what he is not. We may affirm + indisputably that a man, however rich, and of however fine a title in + countries where rank is acknowledged, if he behave selfishly, coarsely, + and indecently, is not a gentleman. "From which, young gentlemen, it + follows," as the good professor used to say at college, as he emerged from + a hopeless labyrinth of postulates and preliminaries an hour long, that + the guests who abused the courtesy of their hosts, upon the late + transcontinental trip to drive the golden spike, may have been persons of + social eminence, but were in no honorable sense gentlemen. + </p> + <p> + It is undoubtedly a difficult word to manage. But gentlemanly conduct and + ungentlemanly conduct are expressions which are perfectly intelligible, + and that fact shows that there is a distinct standard in every intelligent + mind by which behavior is measured. To say that a man was born a gentleman + means not at all that he is courteous, refined, and intelligent, but only + that he was born of a family whose circumstances at some time had been + easy and agreeable, and which belonged to a traditionally "good society." + But such a man may be false and mean, and ignorant and coarse. Is he a + gentleman because he was born such? On the other hand, the child of long + generations of ignorant and laborious boors may be humane, honorable, and + modest, but with total ignorance of the usages of good society. He may be + as upright as Washington, as unselfish as Sidney, as brave as Bayard, as + modest as Falkland. But he may also outrage all the little social + proprieties. Is he a gentleman because he is honest and modest and humane? + In describing Lovelace, should we not say that he was a gentleman? Should + we naturally say so of Burns? But, again, is it not a joke to describe + George IV. as a gentleman, while it would be impossible to deny the name + to Major Dobbin? + </p> + <p> + The catch, however, is simple. Using the same word, we interchange its + different meanings. To say that a man is born a gentleman is to say that + he was born under certain social conditions. To say in commendation or + description of a man that he is a gentleman, or gentlemanly, is to say + that he has certain qualities of character or manner which are wholly + independent of the circumstances of his family or training. In the latter + case, we speak of individual and personal qualities; in the former, we + speak of external conditions. In the one case we refer to the man himself; + in the other, to certain circumstances around him. The quality which is + called gentlemanly is that which, theoretically, and often actually, + distinguishes the person who is born in a certain social position. It + describes the manner in which such a person ought to behave. + </p> + <p> + Behavior, however, can be imitated. Therefore, neither the fact of birth + under certain conditions, nor a certain ease and grace and charm of + manner, certify the essential character of gentleman. Lovelace had the air + and breeding of a gentleman like Don Giovanni; he was familiar with polite + society; he was refined and pleasing and fascinating in manner. Even the + severe Astarte could not call him a boor. She does not know a gentleman, + probably, more gentlemanly than Lovelace. She must, then, admit that she + can not arbitrarily deny Lovelace to be a gentleman because he is a + libertine, or because he is false, or mean, or of a coarse mind. She may, + indeed, insist that only upright and honorable men of refined mind and + manner are gentlemen, and she may also maintain that only men of truly + lofty and royal souls are princes; but there will still remain crowds of + immoral gentlemen and unworthy kings. + </p> + <p> + The persons who abused the generous courtesy of the Northern Pacific trip + were gentlemen in one sense, and not in the other. They were gentlemen so + far as they could not help themselves, but they were not gentlemen in what + depended upon their own will. According to the story, they did not even + imitate the conduct of gentlemen, and Astarte must admit that they + belonged to the large class of ungentlemanly gentlemen. + </p> + <p> + (<i>December</i>, 1883) + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0006" id="link2H_4_0006"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + THEATRE MANNERS + </h2> + <p> + An admirable actress said the other day that the audience in the theatre + was probably little aware how much its conduct affected the performance. A + listless, whispering, uneasy house makes a distracted and ineffective + play. To an orator, or an actor, or an artist of any kind who appeals + personally to the public, nothing is so fatal as indifference. In the + original Wallack's Theatre, many years ago, the Easy Chair was one of a + party in a stage-box during a fine performance of one of the plays in + which the acting of the manager was most effective. It was a gay party, + and with the carelessness of youth it made merry while the play went on. + As the box was directly upon the stage, the merriment was a gross + discourtesy, although unintentional, both to the actors and to the + audience; and at last the old Wallack, still gayly playing his part, moved + towards the box, and without turning his head, in a voice audible to the + offenders but not to the rest of the audience, politely reminded the + thoughtless group that they were seriously disturbing the play. There was + some indignation in the box, but the rebuke was courteous and richly + deserved. Nothing is more unpardonable than such disturbance. + </p> + <p> + During this winter a gentleman at one of the theatres commented severely + upon the loud talking of a party of ladies, which prevented his enjoyment + of the play, and when the gentleman attending the ladies retorted warmly, + the disturbed gentleman resorted to the wild justice of a blow. There was + an altercation, a publication in the newspapers, and finally an apology + and a reconciliation. But it is to be hoped that there was some good + result from the incident. A waggish clergyman once saw a pompous clerical + brother march quite to the head of the aisle of a crowded church to find a + seat, with an air of expectation that all pew-doors would fly open at his + approach. But as every seat was full, and nobody stirred, the crestfallen + brother was obliged to retrace his steps. As he retreated by the pew, far + down the aisle, where the clerical wag was sitting, that pleasant man + leaned over the door, and greeted his comrade with the sententious + whisper, "May it be sanctified to you, dear brother!" Every right-minded + man will wish the same blessing to the rebuke of the loud-talking maids + and youths in theatres and concert-halls, whose conversation, however + lively, is not the entertainment which their neighbors have come to hear. + </p> + <p> + Two or three winters ago the Easy Chair applauded the conduct of Mr. + Thomas, who, at the head of his orchestra, was interrupted in the midst of + a concert in Washington by the entry of a party, which advanced towards + the front of the hall with much chattering and rustling, and seated + themselves and continued the disturbance. The orchestra was in full + career, but Thomas rapped sharply upon his stand, and brought the + performance to an abrupt pause. Then, turning to the audience, he said—and + doubtless with evident and natural feeling: "I am afraid that the music + interrupts the conversation." The remark was greeted with warm and general + applause; and, waiting until entire silence was restored, the conductor + raised his baton again, and the performance ended without further + interruption. + </p> + <p> + The Easy Chair improved the occasion to preach a short sermon upon bad + manners in public places. But to its great surprise it was severely + rebuked some time afterward by Cleopatra herself, who said, with some + feeling, that she had two reasons for complaint. The first was, that her + ancient friend the Easy Chair should place her in the pillory of its + public animadversion; and the other was, that the Easy Chair should + gravely defend such conduct as that of Mr. Thomas. No remonstrance could + be more surprising and nothing more unexpected than that Cleopatra should + differ in opinion upon such a point. To the personal aspect of the matter + the Easy Chair could say only that it had never heard who the offenders + were, and that it declined to believe that Cleopatra herself could ever be + guilty of such conduct. Her Majesty then explained that she was not + guilty. She was not of the party. But it was composed of friends of hers + who seated themselves near her, and when the words of Mr. Thomas + concentrated the gaze of the audience upon the disturbers of the peace, + her Majesty, known to everybody, was supposed to be the ringleader of the + <i>émeute</i>. The story at once flew abroad, upon the wings of those + swift birds of prey—as she called them—the Washington + correspondents, and she was mentioned by name as the chief offender. + </p> + <p> + It was not difficult to persuade the most placable of queens that the Easy + Chair could not have intended a personal censure. But the Chair could not + agree that Thomas's conduct was unjustifiable. Cleopatra urged that the + conductor of an orchestra at a concert is not responsible for the behavior + of the audience. An audience, she said, can take care of itself, and it is + an unwarrantable impertinence for a conductor to arrest the performance + because he is irritated by a noise of whispering voices or of slamming + doors. "I saw you, Mr. Easy Chair," she said, "on the evening of Rachel's + first performance in this country. What would you have thought if she had + stopped short in the play—it was Corneille's <i>Les Horaces</i>, you + remember—because she was annoyed by the rustling of the leaves of a + thousand books of the play which the audience turned over at the same + moment?" + </p> + <p> + The Easy Chair declined to step into the snare which was plainly set in + its sight. It would not accept an illustration as an argument. The + enjoyment at a concert, it contended, for which the audience has paid in + advance, and to which it is entitled, depends upon conditions of silence + and order which it can not itself maintain without serious disturbance. It + may indeed cry "Hush!" and "Put him out!" but not only would that cry be + of doubtful effect, but experience proves that a concert audience will not + raise it. If the audience were left to itself, it would permit late + arrivals, and all the disturbance of chatter and movement. To twist the + line of Goldsmith, those who came to pray would be at the mercy of those + who came to scoff; and such mercy is merciless. The conductor stands <i>in + loco parentis</i>. He is the <i>advocatus angeli</i>. He does for the + audience what it would not do for itself. He protects it against its own + fatal good-nature. He insists that it shall receive what it has paid for, + and he will deal with disturbers as they deserve. The audience, conscious + of its own good-humored impotence, recognizes at once its protector, and + gladly applauds him for doing for it what it has not the nerve to do for + itself. No audience whose rights were defended as Thomas defended those of + his Washington audience ever resented the defence. + </p> + <p> + "No," responded Cleopatra, briskly; "the same imbecility prevents." + </p> + <p> + "Very well; then such an audience plainly needs a strong and resolute + leadership; and that is precisely what Thomas supplied. A crowd is always + grateful to the man who will do what everybody in the crowd feels ought to + be done, but what no individual is quite ready to undertake." + </p> + <p> + When Cleopatra said that an audience is quite competent to take care of + itself, her remark was natural, for she instinctively conceived the + audience as herself extended into a thousand persons. Such an audience + would certainly be capable of dispensing with any mentor or guide. But + when the Easy Chair asked her if she was annoyed by the chattering + interruption which Thomas rebuked, she replied that of course she was + annoyed. Yet when she was further asked if she cried "Hush!" or resorted + to any means whatever to quell the disturbance, the royal lady could not + help smiling as she answered, "I did not," and the Easy Chair retorted, + "Yet an audience is capable of protecting itself!" + </p> + <p> + Meanwhile, whatever the conductor or the audience may or may not do, + nothing is more vulgar than audible conversation, or any other kind of + disturbance, during a concert. Sometimes it may be mere thoughtlessness; + sometimes boorishness, the want of the fine instinct which avoids + occasioning any annoyance; but usually it is due to a desire to attract + attention and to affect superiority to the common interest. It is, indeed, + mere coarse ostentation, like wearing diamonds at a hotel table or a + purple velvet train in the street. If the audience had the courage which + Cleopatra attributed to it, that part which was annoyed by the barbarians + who chatter and disturb would at once suppress the annoyance by an + emphatic and unmistakable hiss. If this were the practice in public + assemblies, such incidents as that at the Washington concert would be + unknown. Until it is the practice, even were Cleopatra's self the + offender, every self-respecting conductor who has a proper sense of his + duties to the audience will do with its sincere approval what Mr. Thomas + did. + </p> + <p> + (<i>April</i>, 1883) + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0007" id="link2H_4_0007"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + WOMAN'S DRESS + </h2> + <p> + The American who sits in a street omnibus or railroad-car and sees a young + woman whose waist is pinched to a point that makes her breathing mere + panting and puffing, and whose feet are squeezed into shoes with a high + heel in the middle of the sole, which compels her to stump and hobble as + she tries to walk, should be very wary of praising the superiority of + European and American civilization to that of the East. The grade of + civilization which squeezes a waist into deformity is not, in that respect + at least, superior to that which squeezes a foot into deformity. It is in + both instances a barbarous conception alike of beauty and of the function + of woman. The squeezed waist and the squeezed foot equally assume that + distortion of the human frame may be beautiful, and that helpless idleness + is the highest sphere of woman. + </p> + <p> + But the imperfection of our Western civilization shows itself in more + serious forms involving women. The promiscuous herding of men and women + prisoners in jails, the opposition to reformatories and penitentiaries + exclusively for women, and, in general, the failure to provide, as a + matter of course, women attendants and women nurses for all women + prisoners and patients, is a signal illustration of a low tone of + civilization. The most revolting instance of this abuse was the discovery + during the summer that the patients in a woman's insane hospital in New + Orleans were bathed by male attendants. + </p> + <p> + It should not need such outrages to apprise us of the worth of the general + principle that humanity and decency require that in all public + institutions women should be employed in the care of women. A wise + proposition during the year to provide women at the police-stations for + the examination of women who are arrested failed to become law. It is + hard, upon the merits of the proposal, to understand why. Women who are + arrested may be criminals, or drunkards, or vagabonds, or insane, or + witless, or sick. But whatever the reason of the arrest, there can be no + good reason whatever, in a truly civilized community, that a woman taken + under such circumstances should be abandoned to personal search and + examination by the kind of men to whom that business is usually allotted. + The surest sign of the civilization of any community is its treatment of + women, and the progress of our civilization is shown by the constant + amelioration of that condition. But the unreasonable and even revolting + circumstances of much of the public treatment of them may wisely modify + ecstasies over our vast superiority. + </p> + <p> + The squeezed waists and other tokens of the kind show that our + civilization has not yet outgrown the conception of the most meretricious + epochs, that woman exists for the delight of man, and is meant to be a + kind of decorated appendage of his life, while the men attendants and men + nurses of women prisoners and patients show a most uncivilized disregard + of the just instincts of sex. We are far from asserting that therefore the + position of women in this country is to be likened to their position in + China, where the contempt of men denied them souls, or to that among + savage tribes, where they are treated as beasts of burden. But because we + are not wallowing in the Slough of Despond, it does not follow that we are + sitting in the House Beautiful. The traveller who has climbed to the <i>mer + de glace</i> at Chamouni, and sees the valley wide outstretched far below + him, sees also far above him the awful sunlit dome of "Sovran Blanc." + Whatever point we may have reached, there is still a higher point to gain. + Nowhere in the world are women so truly respected as here, nowhere ought + they to be more happy than in this country. But that is no reason that the + New Orleans outrage should be possible, while the same good sense and love + of justice which have removed so many barriers to fair-play for women + should press on more cheerfully than ever to remove those that remain. + </p> + <p> + (<i>December</i>, 1882) + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0008" id="link2H_4_0008"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + SECRET SOCIETIES + </h2> + <p> + The melancholy death of young Mr. Leggett, a student at the Cornell + University, has undoubtedly occasioned a great deal of thought in every + college in the country upon secret societies. Professor Wilder, of + Cornell, has written a very careful and serious letter, in which he + strongly opposes them, plainly stating their great disadvantages, and + citing the order of Jesuits as the most powerful and thoroughly organized + of all secret associations, and therefore the one in which their character + and tendency may best be observed. The debate recalls the history of the + Antimasonic excitement in this country, which is, however, seldom + mentioned in recent years, so that the facts may not be familiar to the + reader. + </p> + <p> + In the year 1826 William Morgan, living in Batavia, in the western part of + New York, near Buffalo, was supposed to intend the publication of a book + which would reveal the secrets of Masonry. The Masons in the vicinity were + angry, and resolved to prevent the publication, and made several forcible + but ineffective attempts for that purpose. On the 11th of September, 1826, + a party of persons from Canandaigua came to Batavia and procured the + arrest of Morgan upon a criminal charge, and he was carried to Canandaigua + for examination. He was acquitted, but was immediately arrested upon a + civil process, upon which an execution was issued, and he was imprisoned + in the jail at Canandaigua. The next evening he was discharged at the + instance of those who had caused his arrest, and was taken from the jail + after nine o'clock in the evening. Those who had obtained the discharge + instantly seized him, gagged and bound him, and throwing him into a + carriage, hurried off to Rochester. By relays of horses and by different + hands he was borne along, until he was lodged in the magazine of Fort + Niagara, at the mouth of the Niagara River. + </p> + <p> + The circumstances of his arrest, and those that had preceded it, had + aroused and inflamed the minds of the people in Batavia and the + neighborhood. A committee was appointed at a public meeting to ascertain + all the facts, and to bring to justice any criminals that might be found. + They could discover only that Morgan had been seized upon his discharge in + Canandaigua and hurried off towards Rochester; but beyond that, nothing. + The excitement deepened and spread. A great crime had apparently been + committed, and it was hidden in absolute secrecy. Other meetings were held + in other towns, and other committees were appointed, and both meetings and + committees were composed of men of both political parties. Investigation + showed that Masons only were implicated in the crime, and that scarcely a + Mason aided the inquiry; that many Masons ridiculed and even justified the + offence; that the committees were taunted with their inability to procure + the punishment of the offenders in courts where judges, sheriffs, juries, + and witnesses were Masons; that witnesses disappeared; that the committees + were reviled; and gradually Masonry itself was held responsible for the + mysterious doom of Morgan. + </p> + <p> + The excitement became a frenzy. The Masons were hated and denounced as the + Irish were in London after the "Irish night," or the Roman Catholics + during the Titus Oates fury. In January, 1827, some of those who had been + arrested were tried, and it was hoped that the evidence at their trials + would clear the mystery. But they pleaded guilty, and this hope was + baffled. Meanwhile a body of delegates from the various committees met at + Lewiston to ascertain the fate of Morgan, and they discovered that in or + near the magazine in which he had been confined he had been put to death. + His book, with its revelations, had been published, and what was not told + was, of course, declared to be infinitely worse than the actual + disclosures. The excitement now became political. It was alleged that + Masonry held itself superior to the laws, and that Masons were more loyal + to their Masonic oaths than to their duty as citizens. Masonry, therefore, + was held to be a fatal foe to the government and to the country, which + must be destroyed; and in several town-meetings in Genesee and Monroe + counties, in the spring of 1827, Masons, as such, were excluded from + office. At the next general election the Antimasons nominated a separate + ticket, and they carried the counties of Genesee, Monroe, Livingston, + Orleans, and Niagara against both the great parties. A State organization + followed, and in the election of 1830 the Antimasonic candidate, Francis + Granger, was adopted by the National Republicans, and received one hundred + and twenty thousand votes, against one hundred and twenty-eight thousand + for Mr. Throop. From a State organization the Antimasons became a national + party, and in 1832 nominated William Wirt for the presidency. The + Antimasonic electoral ticket was adopted by the National Republicans, and + the union became the Whig party, which, in 1838, elected Mr. Seward + Governor of New York, and in 1840 General Harrison President of the United + States. + </p> + <p> + The spring of this triumphant political movement was hostility to a secret + society. Many of the most distinguished political names of Western New + York, including Millard Fillmore, William H. Seward, Thurlow Weed, Francis + Granger, James Wadsworth, George W. Patterson, were associated with it. + And as the larger portion of the Whig party was merged in the Republican, + the dominant party of to-day has a certain lineal descent from the + feelings aroused by the abduction of Morgan from the jail at Canandaigua. + And as his disappearance and the odium consequent upon it stigmatized + Masonry, so that it lay for a long time moribund, and although revived in + later years, cannot hope to regain its old importance, so the death of + young Leggett is likely to wound fatally the system of college secret + societies. + </p> + <p> + The young man was undergoing initiation into a secret society. He was + blind-folded, and two companions were leading him along the edge of a + cliff over a deep ravine, when the earth gave way, or they slipped and + fell from the precipice, and Leggett was so injured that he died in two + hours. There was no allegation or suspicion of blame. There was, indeed, + an attempt of some enemies of the Cornell University—a hostility due + either to supposed conflict of interests or sectarian jealousy—to + stigmatize the institution, but it failed instantly and utterly. Indeed, + General Leggett, of the Patent-office in Washington, the father of the + unfortunate youth, at once wrote a very noble and touching letter to + shield the university and the companions of his son from blame or + responsibility. He would not allow his grief to keep him silent when a + word could avert injustice, and his modest magnanimity won for his sorrow + the tender sympathy of all who read his letter. + </p> + <p> + Every collegian knows that there is no secrecy whatever in what is called + a secret society. Everybody knows, not in particular, but in general, that + its object is really "good-fellowship," with the charm of mystery added. + Everybody knows—for the details of such societies in all countries + are essentially the same—that there are certain practical jokes of + initiation—tossings in blankets, layings in coffins, dippings in + cold water, stringent catechisms, moral exhortations, with darkness and + sudden light and mysterious voices from forms invisible, and then mystic + signs and clasps and mottoes, "the whole to conclude" with the best supper + that the treasury can afford. Literary brotherhood, philosophic + fraternity, intellectual emulation, these are the noble names by which the + youth deceive themselves and allure the Freshmen; but the real business of + the society is to keep the secret, and to get all the members possible + from the entering class. + </p> + <p> + Each society, of course, gets "the best fellows." Every touter informs the + callow Freshman that all men of character and talent hasten to join his + society, and impresses the fresh imagination with the names of the famous + honorary members. The Freshman, if he be acute—and he is more so + every year—naturally wonders how the youth, who are undeniably + commonplace in the daily intercourse of college, should become such lofty + beings in the hall of a secret society; or, more probably, he thinks of + nothing but the sport or the mysterious incentive to a studious and higher + life which the society is to furnish. He feels the passionate curiosity of + the neophyte. He is smitten with the zeal of the hermetical philosophy. He + would learn more than Rosicrucian lore. That is a vision soon dispelled. + But the earnest curiosity changes into <i>esprit du corps</i>, and the + mischief is that the secrecy and the society feeling are likely to take + precedence of the really desirable motives in college. There is a + hundredfold greater zeal to obtain members than there is generous rivalry + among the societies to carry off the true college honors. And if the + purpose be admirable, why, as Professor Wilder asks, the secrecy? What + more can the secret society do for the intellectual or social training of + the student than the open society? Has any secret society in an American + college done, or can it do, more for the intelligent and ambitious young + man than the Union Debating Society at the English Cambridge University, + or the similar club at Oxford? There Macaulay, Gladstone, the Austins, + Charles Buller, Tooke, Ellis, and the long illustrious list of noted and + able Englishmen were trained, and in the only way that manly minds can be + trained, by open, free, generous rivalry and collision. The member of a + secret society in college is really confined, socially and intellectually, + to its membership, for it is found that the secret gradually supplant the + open societies. But that membership depends upon luck, not upon merit, + while it has the capital disadvantage of erecting false standards of + measurement, so that the <i>Mu Nu</i> man cannot be just to the hero of <i>Zeta + Eta</i>. The secrecy is a spice that overbears the food. The mystic + paraphernalia is a relic of the baby-house, which a generous youth + disdains. + </p> + <p> + There is, indeed, an agreeable sentiment in the veiled friendship of the + secret society which every social nature understands. But as students are + now becoming more truly "men" as they enter college, because of the higher + standard of requirement, it is probable that the glory of the secret + society is already waning, and that the allegiance of the older + universities to the open arenas of frank and manly intellectual contests, + involving no expense, no dissipation, and no perilous temptation, is + returning. At least there will now be an urgent question among many of the + best men in college whether it ought not to return. + </p> + <p> + (<i>January</i>, 1874) + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0009" id="link2H_4_0009"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + TOBACCO AND HEALTH + </h2> + <p> + We do not know if readers upon your side of the water have watched with + any interest the present violent onslaught in both England and France upon + the use of tobacco. Sir Benjamin Brodie (of London) has declared strongly + against its use; and at a recent meeting at Edinburgh of the British + Anti-Tobacco Society, Professor Miller, moving the first resolution, as + follows: "That as the constituent principles which tobacco contains are + highly poisonous, the practices of smoking and snuffing tend in a variety + of ways to injure the physical and mental constitution," continued: "No + man who was a hard smoker had a steady hand. But not only had it a + debilitating and paralyzing effect; but he could tell of patients who were + completely paralyzed in their limbs by inveterate smoking. He might tell + of a patient of his who brought on an attack of paralysis by smoking; who + was cured, indeed, by simple means enough, accompanied with the complete + discontinuance of the practice; but who afterwards took to it again, and + got a new attack of paralysis; and who could now play with himself, as it + were, because when he wanted a day's paralysis or an approach to it, he + had nothing to do but to indulge more or less freely with the weed. Only + the other day, the French—among whom the practice was carried even + to a greater extent than with us—made an estimate of its effects in + their schools, and academies, and colleges. They took the young men + attending these institutions, classified them into those who smoked + habitually and those who did not, and estimated their physical and + intellectual standing, perhaps their moral standing too, but he could not + say. The result was, that they found that those who did not smoke were the + stronger lads and better scholars, were altogether more reputable people, + and more useful members of society than those who habitually used the + drug. What was the consequence? Louis Napoleon—one of the good + things which he had done—instantly issued an edict that no smoking + should be permitted in any school, college, or academy. In one day he put + out about 30,000 pipes in Paris alone. Let our young smokers put that in + their pipe and smoke it." The resolution was agreed to. + </p> + <p> + Is it possible to entertain the idea that Louis Napoleon has increased the + tax on tobacco, latterly, very largely, in the hope of discouraging its + use, and so contributing to the weal of the nation? If so, it would + illustrate one of the beautiful uses of despotic privilege. + </p> + <p> + (<i>February</i>, 1861) + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0010" id="link2H_4_0010"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + TOBACCO AND MANNERS + </h2> + <h3> + I + </h3> + <p> + The "old school" of manners has fallen into disrepute. Sir Charles + Grandison is a comical rather than a courtly figure to this generation; + and the man whose manners may be described as Grandisonian is usually + called a pompous and grandiloquent old prig. Certainly the elaborately + dressed gentleman speaking to a lady only with polished courtesy of + phrase, and avoiding in her presence all coarse words and acts, handing + her in the minuet with inexpressible grace and deference, and showing an + exquisite homage in every motion, was a very different figure from the + gentleman in a shooting-jacket or morning sack "chaffing" a lady with the + freshest slang, and smoking in her face. They are undeniably different, + and the later figure is wholly free from Grandisonian elegance and + elaboration. But is he much more truly a gentleman? Is he our Sidney, our + Chevalier Bayard, our Admirable Crichton? Is that refined consideration + and gentle deference, which is the flower of courtesy, an old-fashioned + folly? + </p> + <p> + The overwrought politeness is made very ridiculous upon the stage, and + Richardson is undoubtedly hard reading for the general consumer of novels. + It is true, also, that fine morals do not always go with fine manners, and + that Lovelace had a fascination of address which John Knox lacked. The + chaff and slang of the Bayard of to-day are at least decent, and his + morals probably purer than those of the courtly and punctilious old Sir + Roger de Coverleys. Possibly; but it has been wisely said that hypocrisy + is the homage paid by vice to virtue. The good manners of a bad man are a + rich dress upon a diseased body. They are the graceful form of a vase full + of dirty water. The liquid may be poisonous, but the vessel is beautiful. + Some of the worst Lotharios in the world have a personal charm which is + irresistible. Many a stately compliment was paid by a graciously bowing + satyr in laced velvet coat and periwig, at the court of Louis the Great, + and paid for the basest purpose; but the grace and the courtesy were + borrowed, like plumage of living hues to deck carrion. They were not a + part of the baseness, and you do not escape dirty water by breaking the + vase. If the older morals were worse than the new, and the older manners + were better, cannot we who live to-day, and who may have everything, + combine the new morals and the old manners? + </p> + <p> + We can spare some elaboration of form, but we cannot safely spare the + substance of refined deference. If Romeo be permitted to treat Juliet as + hostlers are supposed to treat barmaids, and as the heroes of Fielding and + Smollett treat Abigails upon a journey, they will both lose self-respect + and mutual respect. It was a wise father who said to his son, "Beware of + the woman who allows you to kiss her." The woman who does not require of a + man the form of respect invites him to discard the substance. And there is + one violation of the form which is recent and gross, and might be well + cited as a striking illustration of the decay of manners. It is the + practice of smoking in the society of ladies in public places, whether + driving, or walking, or sailing, or sitting. There are <i>preux chevaliers</i> + who would be honestly amazed if they were told they did not behave like + gentlemen, who, sitting with a lady on a hotel piazza, or strolling on a + public park, whip out a cigarette, light it, and puff as tranquilly as if + they were alone in their rooms. Or a young man comes alone upon the deck + of a steamer, where throngs of ladies are sitting, and blows clouds of + tobacco smoke in their faces, without even remarking that tobacco is + disagreeable to some people. This is not, indeed, one of the seven deadly + sins, but a man who unconcernedly sings false betrays that he has no ear + for music, and the man who smokes in this way shows that he is not quite a + gentleman. + </p> + <p> + But some ladies smoke? Yes, and some ladies drink liquor. Does that mend + the matter? The Easy Chair has seen a lady at the head of her own table + smoking a fine cigar. You will see a great many highly dressed women in + Paris smoking cigarettes. Does all this change the situation? Does this + make it more gentlemanly to smoke with a lady beside you in a carriage, or + upon a bench on the piazza? But some ladies like the odor of a cigar? Not + many; and the taste of those who sincerely do so cannot justify the habit + of promiscuous puffing in their presence. The intimacy of domesticity is + governed by other rules; but a gentleman smoking would hardly enter his + own drawing-room, where other ladies sat with his wife, without a word of + apology. The Easy Chair is no King James, and is more likely to issue + blasts of tobacco than blasts against it. But King James belonged to a + very selfish sex—a sex which seems often to suppose that its + indulgences and habits are to be tenderly tolerated, for no other reason + than that they are its habits. Therefore the young woman must defend + herself by showing plainly that she prohibits the intrusion of which, if + suffered, she is really the victim. In other times the Easy Chair has seen + the lovely Laura Matilda unwilling to refuse to dance with the partner who + had bespoken her hand for the german, although when he presented himself + he was plainly flown with wine. The Easy Chair has seen the hapless, + foolish maid encircled by those Bacchic arms, and then a headlong whirl + and dash down the room, ending in the promiscuous overthrow and downfall + of maid, Bacchus, and musicians. + </p> + <p> + If in the Grandisonian day the morals were wanting, it was something to + have the manners. They at least were to the imagination a memory and a + prophecy. They recalled the idyllic age when fine manners expressed fine + feelings, and they foretold the return of Astrća to her ancient haunts. + Here is young Adonis dreaming of a four-in-hand and a yacht, like any + other gentleman. Let us hope that he knows the test of a gentleman not to + be the ownership of blood-horses and a unique drag, but perfect courtesy + founded upon fine human feeling—that rare and indescribable + gentleness and consideration which rests upon manner as lightly as the + bloom upon a fruit. It may be imitated, as gold and diamonds are. But no + counterfeit can harm it; and, Adonis, it is incompatible with smoking in a + lady's face, even if she acquiesces. + </p> + <p> + (<i>September</i>, 1879) + </p> + <h3> + II + </h3> + <p> + Apollodorus came in the other morning and announced to the Easy Chair that + it had been made by common consent arbiter of a dispute in a circle of + young men. "The question," said he, "is not a new one in itself, but it + constantly recurs, for it is the inquiry under what conditions a gentleman + may smoke in the presence of ladies." + </p> + <p> + The Easy Chair replied that it could not answer more pertinently than in + the words of the famous Princess Emilia, who, upon being asked by a youth + who was attending her in a promenade around the garden, "What should you + say if a gentleman asked to smoke as he walked with you?" replied, "It is + not supposable, for no gentleman would propose it." + </p> + <p> + Naturally that youth did not venture to light even a cigarette. Emilia had + parried his question so dexterously that, although the rebuke was + stinging, he could not even pretend to be offended. His question was + merely a form of saying, "I am about to smoke, and what have you to say?" + That he asked the question was evidence of a lingering persuasion, + inherited from an ancestry of gentlemen, that it was not seemly to puff + tobacco smoke around a lady with whom he was walking. + </p> + <p> + Apollodorus was silent for a moment, as if reflecting whether this + anecdote was to be regarded as a general judgment of the arbiter that a + gentleman will never smoke in the presence of a lady. But the Easy Chair + broke in upon his meditation with a question, "If you had a son, should + you wish to meet him smoking as he accompanied a lady upon the avenue? or, + were you the father of a daughter, should you wish to see her cavalier + smoking as he walked by her side? Upon your own theory of what is + gentlemanly and courteous and respectful and becoming in the manner of a + man towards a woman, should you regard the spectacle with satisfaction?" + </p> + <p> + "Well," replied Apollodorus, "isn't that rather a high-flying view? When + can a man smoke—" + </p> + <p> + "But you are not answering," interrupted the Easy Chair. "Of two youths + walking with your daughter, one of whom was smoking a cigarette, or a + cigar, or a pipe, as he attended her, and the other was not smoking, which + would seem to you the more gentlemanly?" + </p> + <p> + "The latter," said Apollodorus, promptly and frankly. + </p> + <p> + "It appears, then," returned the Easy Chair, assuming the Socratic manner, + "that there are circumstances under which a gentleman will not smoke in + the presence of a lady. But to answer your question directly, it is not + possible to prescribe an exact code, although certain conditions may be + definitely stated. For instance, a gentleman will not smoke while walking + with a lady in the street. He will not smoke while paying her an evening + visit in her drawing-room. He will not smoke while driving with her in the + Park." + </p> + <p> + It is significant of a radical change in manners that such rules can be + laid down, because formerly the question could not have arisen. The + grandfather of Apollodorus, who was the flower of courtesy, could no more + have smoked with a lady with whom he was walking or driving than he could + have attended her without a coat or collar. Yet manners change, and the + grandfather must not insist that those of his time were best because they + were those of his time. It is but a little while since that a gentleman + who appeared at a party without gloves would have been a "queer" figure. + But now should he wear gloves he would be remarked as unfamiliar with good + usage. + </p> + <p> + It does not argue a decline of courtesy that the Grandisonian compliment + and the ineffable bending over a lady's hand and respectful kissing of the + finger-tips have yielded to a simpler and less stately manner. The woman + of the minuet was not really more respected than the woman of the waltz. + However the word gentlemanly may be defined, it will not be questioned + that the quality which it describes is sympathetic regard for the feelings + of others and the manner which evinces it. The manner, of course, may be + counterfeited and put to base uses. To say that Lovelace has a gentlemanly + manner is not to say that he is a gentleman, but only that he has caught + the trick of a gentleman. To call him or Robert Macaire or Richard Turpin + a gentleman is to say only that he behaves as a gentleman behaves. But he + is not a gentleman, unless that word describes manners and nothing more. + </p> + <p> + This is the key to the question of Apollodorus. It is not easy to define a + gentleman, but it is perfectly easy to see that in his pleasures and in + the little indifferent practices of society the gentleman will do nothing + which is disagreeable to others. He certainly will not assume that a + personal gratification or indulgence must necessarily be pleasant to + others, nor will he make the selfish habits of others a plea for his own. + </p> + <p> + Apollodorus listened patiently, and then said slowly that he understood + the judgment to be that a gentleman would smoke in the presence of ladies + only when he knew that it was agreeable to them, but that, as the infinite + grace and courtesy of women often led them, as an act of self-denial, to + persuade themselves that what others wish to do ought not to annoy them, + it was very difficult to know whether the practice was or was not + offensive to any particular lady, and therefore—therefore— + </p> + <p> + The youth seemed to be unable to draw the conclusion. + </p> + <p> + "Therefore," said the mentor, "it is well to remember the old rule in + whist." + </p> + <p> + "Which is—?" asked Apollodorus. + </p> + <p> + "When in doubt, trump the trick." + </p> + <p> + "But what is the special application of that rule to this case?" + </p> + <p> + "Precisely this, that the doubting smoker should follow the advice of <i>Punch</i> + to those about to marry." + </p> + <p> + "Which is—?" asked Apollodorus. + </p> + <p> + "Don't." + </p> + <p> + (<i>September</i>, 1883) + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0011" id="link2H_4_0011"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + DUELLING + </h2> + <p> + Twenty-five years ago, at the table of a gentleman whose father had fallen + in a duel, the conversation fell upon duelling, and after it had proceeded + for some time the host remarked, emphatically, that there were occasions + when it was a man's solemn duty to fight. The personal reference was too + significant to permit further insistence at that table that duelling was + criminal folly, and the subject of conversation was changed. + </p> + <p> + The host, however, had only reiterated the familiar view of General + Hamilton. His plea was, that in the state of public opinion at the time + when Burr challenged him, to refuse to fight under circumstances which by + the "code of honor" authorized a challenge, was to accept a brand of + cowardice and of a want of gentlemanly feeling, which would banish him to + a moral and social Coventry, and throw a cloud of discredit upon his + family. So Hamilton, one of the bravest men and one of the acutest + intellects of his time, permitted a worthless fellow to murder him. Yet + there is no doubt that he stated accurately the general feeling of the + social circle in which he lived. There was probably not a conspicuous + member of that society who was of military antecedents who would not have + challenged any man who had said of him what Hamilton had said of Burr. + Hamilton disdained explanation or recantation, and the result was accepted + as tragical, but in a certain sense inevitable. + </p> + <p> + Yet that result aroused public sentiment to the atrocity of this barbarous + survival of the ordeal of private battle. That one of the most justly + renowned of public men, of unsurpassed ability, should be shot to death + like a mad dog, because he had expressed the general feeling about an + unprincipled schemer, was an exasperating public misfortune. But that he + should have been murdered in deference to a practice which was approved in + the best society, yet which placed every other valuable life at the mercy + of any wily vagabond, was a public peril. From that day to this there has + been no duel which could be said to have commanded public sympathy or + approval. From the bright June morning, eighty years ago, when Hamilton + fell at Weehawken, to the June of this year, when two foolish men shot at + each other in Virginia, there has been a steady and complete change of + public opinion, and the performance of this year was received with almost + universal contempt, and with indignant censure of a dilatory police. + </p> + <p> + The most celebrated duel in this country since that of Hamilton and Burr + was the encounter between Commodores Decatur and Barron, in 1820, near + Washington, in which Decatur, like Hamilton, was mortally wounded, and + likewise lived but a few hours. The quarrel was one of professional, as + Burr's of political, jealousy. But as the only conceivable advantage of + the Hamilton duel lay in its arousing the public mind to the barbarity of + duelling, the only gain from the Decatur duel was that it confirmed this + conviction. In both instances there was an unspeakable shock to the + country and infinite domestic anguish. Nothing else was achieved. Neither + general manners nor morals were improved, nor was the fame of either + combatant heightened, nor public confidence in the men or admiration of + their public services increased. In both cases it was a calamity + alleviated solely by the resolution which it awakened that such calamities + should not occur again. + </p> + <p> + Such a resolution, indeed, could not at once prevail, and eighteen years + after Decatur was killed, Jonathan Cilley, of Maine, was killed in a duel + at Washington by William J. Graves, of Kentucky. This event occurred + forty-five years ago, but the outcry with which it was received even at + that time—one of the newspaper moralists lapsing into rhyme as he + deplored the cruel custom which led excellent men to the fatal field, + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "where Cilleys meet their Graves"— +</pre> + <p> + and the practical disappearance of Mr. Graves from public life, showed how + deep and strong was the public condemnation, and how radically the general + view of the duel was changed. + </p> + <p> + Even in the burning height of the political and sectional animosity of + 1856, when Brooks had assaulted Charles Sumner, the challenge of Brooks by + some of Sumner's friends met with little public sympathy. During the + excitement the Easy Chair met the late Count Gurowski, who was a constant + and devoted friend of Mr. Sumner, but an old-world man, with all the + hereditary social prejudices of the old world. The count was furious that + such a dastardly blow had not been avenged. "Has he no friends?" he + exclaimed. "Is there no honor left in your country?" And, as if he would + burst with indignant impatience, he shook both his fists in the air, and + thundered out, "Good God! will not somebody challenge anybody?" + </p> + <p> + No, that time is passed. The elderly club dude may lament the decay of the + good old code of honor—a word of which he has a very ludicrous + conception—as Major Pendennis, when he pulled off his wig, and took + out his false teeth, and removed the padded calves of his legs, used to + hope that the world was not sinking into shams in its old age. Quarrelling + editors may win a morning's notoriety by stealing to the field, furnishing + a paragraph for the reporters, and running away from the police. But they + gain only the unsavory notoriety of the man in a curled wig and flowered + waistcoat and huge flapped coat of the last century who used to parade + Broadway. The costume was merely an advertisement, and of very + contemptible wares. The man who fights a duel to-day excites but one + comment. Should he escape, he is ridiculous. Should he fall, the common + opinion of enlightened mankind writes upon his head-stone, "He died as the + fool dieth." + </p> + <p> + (<i>September</i>, 1883) + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0012" id="link2H_4_0012"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + NEWSPAPER ETHICS + </h2> + <h3> + I + </h3> + <p> + Newspaper manners and morals hardly fall into the category of minor + manners and morals, which are supposed to be the especial care of the Easy + Chair, but there are frequent texts upon which the preacher might dilate, + and push a discourse upon the subject even to the fifteenthly. Indeed, in + this hot time of an opening election campaign, the stress of the contest + is so severe that the first condition of a good newspaper is sometimes + frightfully maltreated. The first duty of a newspaper is to tell the news; + to tell it fairly, honestly, and accurately, which are here only differing + aspects of the same adverb. "Cooking the news" is the worst use to which + cooking and news can be put. The old divine spoke truly, if with exceeding + care, in saying, "It has been sometimes observed that men will lie." So it + has been sometimes suspected that newspapers will cook the news. + </p> + <p> + A courteous interviewer called upon a gentleman to obtain his opinions, + let us say, upon the smelt fishery. After the usual civilities upon such + occasions, the interviewer remarked, with conscious pride: "The paper that + I represent and you, sir, do not agree upon the great smelt question. But + it is a newspaper. It prints the facts. It does not pervert them for its + own purpose, and it finds its account in it. You may be sure that whatever + you may say will be reproduced exactly as you say it. This is the news + department. Meanwhile the editorial department will make such comments + upon the news as it chooses." This was fair, and the interviewer kept his + word. The opinions might be editorially ridiculed from the other smelt + point of view, and they probably were so. But the reader of the paper + could judge between the opinion and the comment. + </p> + <p> + Now an interview is no more news than much else that is printed in a + paper, and it is no more pardonable to misrepresent other facts than to + distort the opinions of the victim of an interview. Yet it has been + possible at times to read in the newspapers of the same day accounts of + the same proceedings of—of—let us say, as this is election + time—of a political convention. The <i>Banner</i> informs us that + the spirit was unmistakable, and the opinion most decided in favor of + Jones. True, the convention voted, by nine hundred to four, for Smith, but + there is no doubt that Jones is the name written on the popular heart. The + <i>Standard</i>, on the other hand, proclaims that the popular heart is + engraved all over with the inspiring name of Smith, and that it is + impossible to find any trace of feeling for Jones, except, possibly, in + the case of one delegate, who is probably an idiot or a lunatic. This is + gravely served up as news, and the papers pay for it. They even hire men + to write this, and pay them for it. How Ude and Caręme would have + disdained this kind of cookery! It is questionable whether hanging is not + a better use to put a man to than cooking news. Sir Henry Wotton defined + an ambassador as an honest man sent to lie abroad for the commonwealth. + This kind of purveyor, however, does not lie for his country, but for a + party or a person. + </p> + <p> + It is done with a purpose, the purpose of influencing other action. It is + intended to swell the paean for Jones or for Smith, and to procure results + under false pretences. Procuring goods under false pretences is a crime, + but everybody is supposed to read the newspapers at his own risk. Has the + reader yet to learn that newspapers are very human? A paper, for instance, + takes a position upon the Jones or Smith question. It decides, upon all + the information it can obtain, and by its own deliberate judgment, that + Jones is the coming man, or ("it has been observed that men will sometimes + lie") it has illicit reasons for the success of Smith. Having thus taken + its course, it cooks all the news upon the Smith and Jones controversy, in + order that by encouraging the Jonesites or the Smithians, according to the + color that it wears, it may promote the success of the side upon which its + opinion has been staked. It is a ludicrous and desperate game, but it is + certainly not the honest collection and diffusion of news. It is a losing + game also, because, whatever the sympathies of the reader, he does not + care to be foolishly deceived about the situation. If he is told day after + day that Smith is immensely ahead and has a clear field, he is terribly + shaken by the shock of learning at the final moment that he has been + cheated from the beginning, and that poor Smith is dead upon the field of + dishonor. + </p> + <p> + Everybody is willing to undertake everybody else's business, and an Easy + Chair naturally supposes, therefore, that it could show the able editor a + plan of securing and retaining a large audience. The plan would be that + described by the urbane reporter as the plan of his own paper. It is + nothing else than truth-telling in the news column, and the peremptory + punishment of all criminals who cook the news, and "write up" the + situation, not as it is, but as the paper wishes it to be. This is more + than an affair of the private wishes or preferences of the paper. To cook + the news is a public wrong, and a violation of the moral contract which + the newspaper makes with the public to supply the news, and to use every + reasonable effort to obtain it, not to manufacture it, either in the + office or by correspondence. + </p> + <p> + (<i>July</i>, 1880) + </p> + <h3> + II + </h3> + <p> + If, as a New York paper recently said, the journalist is superseding the + orator, it is full time for the work upon <i>Journals and Journalism</i>, + which has been lately issued in London. The New York writer holds that in + our political contests the "campaign speech" is not intended or adapted to + persuade or convert opponents, but merely to stimulate and encourage + friends. The party meetings on each side, he thinks, are composed of + partisans, and the more extravagant the assertion and the more unsparing + the denunciation of "the enemy," the more rapturous the enthusiasm of the + audience. In fact, his theory of campaign speeches is that they are merely + the addresses of generals to their armies on the eve of battle, which are + not arguments, since argument is not needed, but mere urgent appeals to + party feeling. "Thirty centuries look down from yonder Pyramid" is the + Napoleonic tone of the campaign speech. + </p> + <p> + As an election is an appeal to the final tribunal of the popular judgment, + the apparent object of election oratory is to affect the popular decision. + But this, the journalist asserts, is not done by the orator, for the + reason just stated, but by the journal. The newspaper addresses the voter, + not with rhetorical periods and vapid declamation, but with facts and + figures and arguments which the voter can verify and ponder at his + leisure, and not under the excitement or the tedium of a spoken harangue. + The newspaper, also, unless it be a mere party "organ," is candid to the + other side, and states the situation fairly. Moreover, the exigencies of a + daily issue and of great space to fill produce a fulness and variety of + information and of argument which are really the source of most of the + speeches, so that the orator repeats to his audience an imperfect abstract + of a complete and ample plea, and the orator, it is asserted, would often + serve his cause infinitely better by reading a carefully written newspaper + article than by pouring out his loose and illogical declamation. + </p> + <p> + But the argument for the newspaper can be pushed still further. Since + phonographic reporting has become universal, and the speaker is conscious + that his very words will be spread the next morning before hundreds of + thousands of readers, it is of those readers, and not of the thousand + hearers before him, of whom he thinks, and for whom his address is really + prepared. Formerly a single charge was all that was needed for the + fusillade of a whole political campaign. The speech that was originally + carefully prepared was known practically only to the audience that heard + it. It grew better and brighter with the attrition of repeated delivery, + and was fresh and new to every new audience. But now, when delivered to an + audience, it is spoken to the whole country. It is often in type before it + is uttered, so that the orator is in fact repeating the article of + to-morrow morning. The result is good so far as it compels him to + precision of statement, but it inevitably suggests the question whether + the newspaper is not correct in its assertion that the great object of the + oration is accomplished not by the orator, but by the writer. + </p> + <p> + But this, after all, is like asking whether a chromo copy of a great + picture does not supersede painting, and prove it to be an antiquated or + obsolete art. Oratory is an art, and its peculiar charm and power cannot + be superseded by any other art. Great orations are now prepared with care, + and may be printed word for word. But the reading cannot produce the + impression of the hearing. We can all read the words that Webster spoke on + Bunker Hill at the laying of the corner-stone of the monument fifty years + after the battle. But those who saw him standing there, in his majestic + prime, and speaking to that vast throng, heard and saw and felt something + that we cannot know. The ordinary stump speech which imperfectly echoes a + leading article can well be spared. But the speech of an orator still + remains a work of art, the words of which may be accurately lithographed, + while the spirit and glow and inspiration of utterance which made it a + work of art cannot be reproduced. + </p> + <p> + The general statement of the critic, however, remains true, and the + effective work of a political campaign is certainly done by the newspaper. + The newspaper is of two kinds, again—that which shows exclusively + the virtue and advantage of the party it favors, and that which aims to be + judicial and impartial. The tendency of the first kind is obvious enough, + but that of the last is not less positive if less obvious. The tendency of + the independent newspaper is to good-natured indifference. The very ardor, + often intemperate and indiscreet, with which a side is advocated, + prejudices such a paper against the cause itself. Because the hot orator + exclaims that the success of the adversary would ruin the country, the + independent Mentor gayly suggests that the country is not so easily + ruined, and that such an argument is a reason for voting against the + orator. The position that in a party contest it is six on one side and + half a dozen on the other is too much akin to the doctrine that naught is + everything and everything is naught to be very persuasive with men who are + really in earnest. Such a position in public affairs inevitably, and often + very unjustly to them, produces an impression of want of hearty + conviction, which paralyzes influence as effectually as the evident + prejudice and partiality of the party advocate. Thorough independence is + perfectly compatible with the strongest conviction that the public welfare + will be best promoted by the success of this or that party. Such + independence criticises its own party and partisans, but it would not have + wavered in the support of the Revolution because Gates and Conway were + intriguers, and Charles Lee an adventurer, and it would have sustained Sir + Robert Walpole although he would not repeal the Corporation and Test laws, + and withdrew his excise act. + </p> + <p> + Journalism, if it be true that it really shapes the policy of nations, + well deserves to be treated as thoughtfully as Mr. "John Oldcastle" + apparently treats it in the book we have mentioned, for it is the most + exacting of professions in the ready use of various knowledge. Mr. Anthony + Trollope says that anybody can set up the business or profession of + literature who can command a room, a table, and pen, ink, and paper. Would + he also say that any man may set up the trade of an artist who can buy an + easel, a palette, a few brushes, and some colors? It can be done, indeed, + but only as a man who can hire a boat may set up for an East India + merchant. + </p> + <p> + (<i>December</i>, 1880) + </p> + <h3> + III + </h3> + <p> + "If you find that you have no case," the old lawyer is reported to have + said to the young, "abuse the plaintiff's attorney," and Judge Martin + Grover, of New York, used to say that it was apparently a great relief to + a lawyer who had lost a case to betake himself to the nearest tavern and + swear at the court. Abuse, in any event, seems to have been regarded by + both of these authorities as a consolation in defeat. It is but carrying + the theory a step further to resort to abuse in argument. Timon, who is a + club cynic—which is perhaps the most useless specimen of humanity—says + that 'pon his honor nothing entertains him more than to see how little + argument goes to the discussion of any question, and how immediate is the + recourse to blackguardism. "The other day," he said, recently, "I was + sitting in the smoking-room, and Blunt and Sharp began to talk about + yachts. Sharp thinks that he knows all that can be known of yachts, and + Blunt thinks that what he thinks is unqualified truth. Sharp made a strong + assertion, and Blunt smiled. It was that lofty smile of amused pity and + superiority, which is, I suppose, very exasperating. Sharp was evidently + surprised, but he continued, and at another observation Blunt looked at + him, and said, simply, 'Ridiculous!' As it seemed to me," said Timon, "the + stronger and truer were the remarks of Sharp, the more Blunt's tone + changed from contempt to anger, until he came to a torrent of + vituperation, under which Sharp retired from the room with dignity. + </p> + <p> + "I presume," said the cynic, "that Sharp was correct upon every point. But + the more correct Sharp was, the more angry Blunt became. It was very + entertaining, and it seems to me very much the way of more serious + discussion." Timon was certainly right, and those who heard his remarks, + and have since then seen him chuckling over the newspapers, are confident + it is because he observes in them the same method of carrying on + discussion. Much public debate recalls the two barbaric methods of + warfare, which consist in making a loud noise and in emitting vile odors. + A member of Congress pours out a flood of denunciatory words in the utmost + rhetorical confusion, and seems to suppose that he has dismayed his + opponent because he has made a tremendous noise. He is only an overgrown + boy, who, like some other boys, imagines that he is very heroic when he + shakes his head, and pouts his lip, and clinches his fist, and "calls + names" in a shrill and rasping tone. Other members, who ought to know + better, pretend to regard his performances as worthy of applause, and + metaphorically pat him on the back and cry, "St, boy!" They only share—and + in a greater degree, because they know better—the contempt with + which he is regarded. + </p> + <p> + In the same way a newspaper writer attacks views which are not acceptable + to him, not with argument, or satire, or wit, or direct refutation, but by + metaphorically emptying slops, and directing whirlwinds of bad smells upon + their supporters. The intention seems to be, not to confute the arguments, + but to disgust the advocates. The proceeding is a confession that the + views are so evidently correct that they will inevitably prevail unless + their supporters can be driven away. This is an ingenious policy, for guns + certainly cannot be served if the gunners are dispersed. Men shrink from + ridicule and ludicrous publicity. However conscious of rectitude a man may + be, it is exceedingly disagreeable for him to see the dead-walls and + pavements covered with posters proclaiming that he is a liar and a fool. + If he recoils, the enemy laughs in triumph; if he is indifferent, there is + a fresh whirlwind. + </p> + <p> + A public man wrote recently to a friend that he had seen an attack upon + his conduct in a great journal, and had asked his lawyer to take the + necessary legal steps to bring the offender to justice. His friend replied + that he had seen the attack, but that it had no more effect upon him than + the smells from Newtown Creek. They were very disgusting, but that was + all. This is the inevitable result of blackguardism. The newspaper reader, + as he sees that one man supports one measure because his wife's uncle is + interested in it, and another man another measure to gratify his grudge + against a rival, gradually learns from his daily morning mentor that there + is no such thing as honor, decency, or public spirit in public affairs; he + chuckles with the club cynic, although for a very different reason, and + forgets the contents of one column as he begins upon the next. If a man + covers his milk toast, his breakfast, his lunch, dinner, and supper with a + coating of Cayenne pepper, the pepper becomes as things in general became + to Mr. Toots—of no consequence. + </p> + <p> + This kind of fury in personal denunciation is not force, as young writers + suppose; it is feebleness. Wit, satire, brilliant sarcasm, are, indeed, + legitimate weapons. It was these which Sydney Smith wielded in the early + <i>Edinburgh Review</i>. But "calling names," and echoing the commonplaces + of affected contempt, that is too weak even for Timon to chuckle over, + except as evidence of mental vacuity. The real object in honest + controversy is to defeat your opponent and leave him a friend. But the + Newtown Creek method is fatal to such a result. Of course that method + often apparently wins. But it always fails when directed against a + resolute and earnest purpose. The great causes persist through seeming + defeat to victory. But to oppose them with sneers and blackguardism is to + affect to dam Niagara with a piece of paper. The crafty old lawyer advised + the younger to reserve his abuse until he felt that he had no case. Judge + Grover remarked that it was when the case was lost that the profanity + began. + </p> + <p> + (<i>September</i>, 1882) + </p> + <h3> + IV + </h3> + <p> + There is a delicate question in newspaper ethics which is sometimes widely + discussed, namely, whether "journalism" may be regarded as a distinct + profession which has a moral standard of its own. The question arises when + an editorial writer transfers his services from one journal to another of + different political opinions. Is a man justified in arguing strenuously + for free trade to-day and for protection to-morrow? Are political + questions and measures of public policy merely points of law upon which an + editor is an advocate to be retained indifferently and with equal morality + upon either side? + </p> + <p> + This question may be illuminated by another. Would John Bright be a man of + equal renown, character, and weight of influence if, being an adherent of + peace principles, he had remained in an administration whose policy was + war? This question will be thought to beg the whole question. But does it? + Must it not be assumed that a man of adequate ability for the proper + discussion of political questions must have positive political + convictions, and can a man who has such convictions honorably devote + himself to discrediting them, and to defeating the policy which they + demand, under the plea that he has professionally accepted a retainer or a + salary to do so? Would his arguments have any moral weight if they were + known to be those of a man who was not himself convinced by them? And is + not the concealment of the fact indispensable to the value of his + services? + </p> + <p> + To continue this interrogation: is not the parallel sought to be + established between the editorial writer and the lawyer vitiated by the + fact that it is universally understood that a lawyer's service is + perfunctory and official; that he takes one side rather than another + because he is paid for it, and because that is the condition of his + profession, and that that condition springs from the nature of legal + procedure, society not choosing to take life or to inflict punishment of + any kind until the whole case has been stated according to certain + stipulated forms? For this reason the advocate who defends a criminal is + not supposed necessarily to believe him to be innocent. But no such reason + existing in the case of the editor, is it not an equally universal + understanding that an editor does honestly and personally hold the view + that he presents and defends? For instance, the <i>Times</i> in New York + is a Republican and free-trade journal. If it should suddenly appear some + morning as a Democratic and protectionist paper, would not the general + conclusion be that it had changed hands? But if it should be announced + that it was in the same hands, and had changed its views because of a + pecuniary arrangement, could the <i>Times</i> continue to have the same + standing and influence which it has now? + </p> + <p> + A distinction may be attempted between the owner of a paper and the + editor. But for the public are they not practically the same? It is not, + in fact, the owner or the editor, it is the paper, which is known to the + public. If the public considers at all the probable relation of the owner + and editor, it necessarily assumes their harmony, because it does not + suppose that an owner would employ an editor who is injuring the property, + and if the paper flourishes under the editor, it is because the owner + yields his private opinion to the editor's, if they happen to differ, so + that there is no discord. On the other hand, if the paper flags and fails, + and the owner, to rescue his property, employs another editor, who holds + other views, and changes the tone of the paper, the result is the same so + far as the public is concerned. The profit of the paper may increase, but + its power and influence surely decline. In the illustration that we have + supposed, the proprietorship of the <i>Times</i> might decide that a + Democratic and protection paper would have a larger sale and greatly + increase the profit. But could the change be made without a terrible blow + to the character and influence of the paper? Now why is not an editor in + the same position? He has a certain standing, and he holds certain views, + like the paper. The paper changes its tone for a price. He does the same + thing. The paper loses character and influence. Why does not he? + </p> + <p> + Journalism is not a profession in the sense claimed. It does not demand a + certain course of study, which is finally tested by an examination and + certified by a degree. It is a pursuit rather than a profession. Of course + special knowledge in particular branches of information is of the highest + value, and indeed essential to satisfactory editorial writing, as to all + other public exposition. There are also certain details of the collection + of news, the organization of correspondence, and the "make up" of the + paper, the successful management of which depends upon an energetic + executive faculty, which is desirable in every pursuit. It is sometimes + said that an editor, like the late Mr. Delane of the London <i>Times</i>, + should not write himself, but select the topics and procure the writing + upon them by others. And so long as a man is merely an anonymous writer + for a paper, so long as he writes to sustain the views of the paper, his + actual opinions, being unknown to the reader, do not affect the power of + the paper. Such a man, indeed, may write at the same time upon both sides + of the same question for different papers. But if he have any convictions + or opinions upon the subject, he is with one hand consciously injuring + what he believes to be the truth, and a man cannot do that without serious + harm to himself. If he have no convictions, his influence will vanish the + moment that the fact is known. + </p> + <p> + Such strictures do not apply to papers which expressly renounce + convictions, and blow hot or cold as the chances of probable profit and + the apparent tenor of public opinion at the moment invite. Such papers, + properly speaking, have no legitimate influence whatever. They produce a + certain effect by mere publicity, and reiteration, and ridicule, and + distortion and suppression of facts, and appeals to prejudice. There is a + legitimate and an illegitimate power of the press. A lion and a skunk both + inspire terror. + </p> + <p> + But a paper which represents convictions, and promotes a public policy in + accordance with them, necessarily implies sincerity in its editorial + writing. The public assumes that among papers of all opinions the writer + attaches himself to one with which he agrees. The nature of the pursuit is + such that he cannot make himself a free lance without running the risk of + being thought an adventurer, a soldier without patriotism, a citizen + without convictions. If the best American press did not represent real + convictions, but only the clever ingenuity of paid advocates, it would be + worthless as an exponent of public opinion, and could not be the + beneficent power that it is. + </p> + <p> + (<i>October</i>, 1882) + </p> + <h3> + V + </h3> + <p> + One public man in a recent angry altercation with another taunted him with + elaborately preparing his invective, and some notoriously vituperative + speeches are known to have been written out and printed before they were + spoken. Such cold venom is undoubtedly as effective in reading as the hot + outbreak of the moment, and it may be even more effective in the delivery, + since self-command is as useful to the orator as to the actor. But if a + man be guilty of a gross offence who upon a dignified scene violates the + self-restraint and respect for the company which are not only becoming, + but so much assumed that whoever violates the requirement is felt to + insult his associates and the public, why do we not consider whether every + scene is not too dignified for mature and intelligent men to attempt to + rival in blackguardism the traditional fishwives of Billingsgate? + </p> + <p> + If an orator or a newspaper conducts a discussion without discharging the + fiercest and foulest epithets at the opponent, it is often declared to be + tame and feeble and indifferent. But to whom and to what does vituperation + appeal? When an advocate upon the platform shouts until he is very hot and + very red that the supporter of protection is a thief, a robber, a pampered + pet of an atrociously diabolical system, he inflames passion and + prejudice, indeed, to the highest fury, and he produces a state of mind + which is inaccessible to reason, but he does not show in any degree + whatever either that protection is inexpedient or how it is unjust. In the + same way, to assail an opponent who favors revision of the tariff and + incidental protection as a rascally scoundrel who is trying to ruin + American industry—as if he could have any purpose of injuring + himself materially and fatally—is absurd. The tirade merely injures + the cause which the blackguard intends to help. But the man who carried on + discussion in this style is described by other professors of the same art + as manly and virile and hitting from the shoulder, and he comes perhaps to + think himself a doughty champion of the right. + </p> + <p> + The weapon that demolishes an antagonist and an argument is not rhetoric, + but truth. This accumulation of "bad names" and ingenious combination of + scurrility is merely rhetoric. It serves the rhetorical purpose, but it + does not convince. It does not show the hearer or reader that one course + is more expedient than another, nor give him any reason whatever for any + opinion upon the subject. Virility, vigor, masculinity of mind, and + essential force in debate are revealed in quite another way. If an + American were asked to mention the most powerful speech ever made in the + debates of Congress, he would probably mention Mr. Webster's reply to + Hayne. It contained the great statement of nationality and the argument + for the national interpretation of the Constitution, and it was spoken in + the course of a famous controversy. Let any man read it, and ask himself + whether it would have gained in power, in effect, in weight, dignity, or + character, by personal invective and elaborate vituperation of any kind + and any degree whatever. + </p> + <p> + The truth is that the fury which is supposed to imply force is the + conclusive proof of weakness. The familiar advice, "If you have no + evidence, abuse the plaintiff's attorney," contains by implication the + whole philosophy of what is called the manliness and force of the + blackguard. He has no reason, therefore he sneers. He has no argument, + therefore he swears. He will get the laugh upon his adversary if he can, + forgetting that those who laugh at the clown may also despise him. + </p> + <p> + Of wit, humor, satire, sarcasm, we are not speaking. The ordinary + blackguardism of the political platform and press does not belong to that + category. Caricature, however, easily may. There are certain pictures in + American caricature which are wit made visible. They are the satire of + instructive truth. Indeed, they tell to the eye the indisputable truth as + words cannot easily tell it to the ear. In this way caricature is one of + the most powerful agents in public discussion. But, like speech or + writing, it may be merely blackguard. The incisive wit, the rich humor, + the withering satire of speech, gain all their point and effect from the + truth. They have no power when they are seen to be false. + </p> + <p> + So it is with caricature. Nobody can enjoy it more than its subject when + it is merely humorous; nobody perceive so surely its pungent touch of + truth; nobody disregard more completely its mere malice and falsehood. + True wit and humor, whether in controversial letters or art, whether in + the newspaper article or the "cartoon," as we now call it, often reveal to + the subject in himself what otherwise he might not have suspected. It is + very conceivable that an actor, seeing a really clever burlesque of + himself, may become aware of tendencies or peculiarities or faults which + otherwise he would not have known, and quietly address himself to their + correction. + </p> + <p> + This sanitary service of humor in every form, as well as that of the + honest wrath which shakes many a noble sentence of sinewy English as a + mighty man-of-war is shaken by her own broadside, is something wholly + apart from the billingsgate and blackguardism which are treated as if they + were real forces. Publicity itself, as the Easy Chair has often said, has + a certain power, and to call a man a rascal to a hundred thousand persons + at once produces an undeniable effect. But we must not mistake it for what + it is not. Being false, it is not an effect which endures, nor does it vex + the equal mind. + </p> + <p> + It is the fact that the public often seems to demand that kind of + titillation, to enjoy fury instead of force, and ridicule instead of + reason, which suggests the inquiry whether, if self-restraint and wise + discipline are desirable for every faculty of the mind and body, the + tongue and hand alone should be allowed to riot in wanton excess. If even + the legitimate superlative must be handled, like dynamite, with extreme + caution, blackguardism of every degree is a nuisance to be summarily + discountenanced and abated by those who know the difference between + grandeur and bigness, between Mercutio and Tony Lumpkin, between fair-play + and foul. + </p> + <p> + (<i>September</i>, 1888) + </p> + <h3> + VI + </h3> + <p> + The Easy Chair has been asked whether there is any code of newspaper + manners. It has no doubt that there is. But it is the universal code of + courtesy, and not one restricted to newspapers. Good manners in civilized + society are the same everywhere and in all relations. A newspaper is not a + mystery. It is the work of several men and women, and their manners in + doing the work are subject to the same principles that govern their + manners in society or in any other human relation. If a man is a + gentleman, he does not cease to be one because he enters a newspaper + office, and it would seem to be equally true that if his work on the paper + does not prove to be that of a gentleman, it could not have been a + gentleman who did the work. + </p> + <p> + A gentleman, we will suppose, does not blackguard his neighbors, nor talk + incessantly about himself and his achievements, nor behave elsewhere as he + would be ashamed to behave in his club or in his own family. If a + gentleman does not do these things, of course a gentleman does not do them + in a newspaper. And does it not seem to follow, if such things are done in + a newspaper, and are traced to a hand supposed to be that of a gentleman, + that there has been some mistake about the hand? + </p> + <p> + Good manners are essentially a disposition which moulds conduct. They can + be feigned, indeed, as gilt counterfeits gold, and plate silver. But the + clearest glass is not diamond. A man may smile and smile and be a villain. + Scoundrels are sometimes described as of gentlemanly manners, and Lothario + was not personally a boor. But he was not a gentleman, and he merely + affected good manners. A gentleman, indeed, may sometimes lose his temper + or his self-control, but no one who habitually does it, and swears and + rails vociferously, can be called properly by that name. Here again it is + easy to apply the canon to a newspaper. When a newspaper habitually takes + an insulting tone, and deliberately falsifies, whether by assertion of an + untruth or by a distortion and perversion of the truth, it is not the work + of a gentleman, and if the writer be responsible for the tone of the + paper, the manners of that newspaper are not good manners. + </p> + <p> + But there is no uniformity in newspaper manners, as there is none + elsewhere. Therefore it cannot be said that newspapers, as a whole, are + either well-mannered or unmannerly, as you cannot say that men, as a body, + are courteous or uncouth. Some newspapers are unmistakably vulgar, like + some people. They are not so of themselves, however; they are made vulgar + by vulgar people. There are very able newspapers which have very bad + manners, and some which have no other distinction than good manners. A + very dull man may be very urbane, and so may a very dull newspaper. On the + other hand, a newspaper which is both brilliant and clever may be + sometimes guilty of an injustice, a deliberate and persistent + misrepresentation, to attain a particular end—conduct which is + sometimes called "journalistic." But the person who is responsible for the + performance, for similar conduct would be metaphorically kicked out of a + club. But gentlemen are not kicked out of clubs. + </p> + <p> + A newspaper gains neither character nor influence by abandoning good + manners. It may indeed make itself disagreeable and annoying, and so + silence opposition, as a polecat may effectually close the wood path which + you had designed to take. It may be feared, and in the same way as that + animal—feared and despised. But this effect must not be confounded + with newspaper power and influence. It is exceedingly annoying, + undoubtedly, to be placarded all over town as a liar or a donkey, a + hypocrite or a sneak-thief. But although the effect is most unpleasant, + very little ability is required to produce it. A little paper and + printing, a little paste, a great deal of malice, and a host of + bill-stickers are all that are needed, and even the pecuniary cost is not + large. The effect is produced, but it does not show ability or force or + influence upon the part of its producer. + </p> + <p> + The manners of newspapers, as such, cannot be classified any more than the + manners of legislatures, or of the professions or trades. This, however, + seems to be true, that a well-mannered man will not produce an + ill-mannered newspaper. + </p> + <p> + (<i>April</i>, 1891) + </p> + <h3> + THE END + </h3> + <div style="height: 6em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Ars Recte Vivende, by George William Curtis + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ARS RECTE VIVENDE *** + +***** This file should be named 7445-h.htm or 7445-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/7/4/4/7445/ + + +Text file produced by Eric Eldred, William Flis and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team + +HTML file produced by David Widger +Distributed Proofreading Team + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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