The American Gentleman's Guide to Politeness and Fashion Part 38

Some knowledge of modern languages, especially of the French, has now become an essential part of education. The value of this acquisition, even for _home use_, can scarcely be over-estimated, and without a familiarity with colloquial French, a man can hardly hope to pa.s.s muster abroad. I will, however, hazard the general observation that, as a rule, it is better to acquire a _thorough knowledge of one language_ (and of French, pre-eminently, for practical availability) than a slight acquaintance with several. Few persons, comparatively, in our active, busy land, have leisure, at any period of life, for familiarizing themselves with the literature of more than one language, besides their own, and to possess the mere nomenclature of a foreign tongue is but to have _the key_ to information. There is, of late, a fashion in this matter, which has little else to recommend it than that it _is the fashion_; and with persons of sense and intelligence there should be some more powerful and satisfactory motive for the devotion of any considerable portion of "_Time, nature's stock_."

_Apropos_ of this, nothing is more likely to teach a true estimate of the _value_ of _time_ than that perfection of education p.r.o.nounced by the philosopher of old to be the knowledge that we _know nothing_! In other words, they only, who in some sort discern, by the light of education, the vast field that lies unexplored before them, can have any adequate conception of the care and discrimination with which they should use that treasure of which alone it is '_a virtue to be covetous_.'

Nothing, perhaps, more unmistakably indicates successful self-culture than the habitual exhibition of Tact. It may almost be called another sense, growing out of the proper training of the several faculties of body and mind. And though there is a vast natural difference between persons of similar outward circ.u.mstances, in this respect, much may be effected by attention and practice, in the acquisition of this invaluable possession. Like self-possession, tact is one of the essential, distinctive characteristics of good-breeding--the legitimate expression of natural refinement, quick perceptions and kindly sympathies. Cultivate it, then, my young friends, in common with every elegant embellishment of the true gentleman! Do not confound it with dissimulation or hypocrisy, nor yet regard it as the antagonist of truthfulness, self-respect and manly dignity. On the contrary, it is the best safeguard of courtesy, as well as of sensibility.

Among useful methods of self-discipline, let me instance the benefit resulting from the early adoption of a _code of private morality_, if you will permit me to coin a phrase, composed of rules and maxims adapted to your own personal needs and peculiarities of position and mental const.i.tution. Washington, I remember, adopted this practice, and Mr. Sparks, or some one of his biographers, has preserved the record from oblivion. It is many years since I came across these rules, and I can no longer recall more than the fixed, though general, impression that they embodied much practical wisdom and clearly indicated the patient spirit of self-improvement for which the author was remarkable.

I commend them to you as a model. Perhaps the immortal biographer who has now given the world a new life of his great namesake, will afford you the means of satisfying yourselves personally of the correctness of my impressions of them.

In preparing this code for yourselves, I can give you no better guide than that afforded by the truth expressively conveyed in the following lines:

"_'Tis wisely great to talk with our past hours, To ask them what report they bore to Heaven, And how they might have borne more welcome news._"

That is a very imperfect conception of education which limits its significance to _knowledge gained from books_. A profound acquaintance with literary lore is often a.s.sociated with total ignorance of the actual world, of the laws that govern our moral and intellectual being, and with an incapacity to discern the Beautiful, the True, the Good.

They only are _educated_, who have acquired that self-knowledge and self-discipline which inspire a _disinterested love of our fellow-beings, a reverence for Truth_--in the largest sense of the term--_and the power of habitually exalting the higher faculties over the animal propensities of our nature_.

It is only, therefore, when man unites moral discipline with intellectual culture, that he can be said to be truly educated; and the most ambitious student of books should always bear in mind the truth that the _free play of the intellect is promoted by the development of moral perceptions_, and that mental education, even, does not so much consist in loading the memory with facts, as in strengthening the capacity for independent action--for judging, comparing, reflecting.

"The connection between moral and intellectual culture is often overlooked," says a celebrated ethical writer, "and the former sacrificed to the latter. The exaltation of talent, as it is called, above virtue and religion, is the curse of the age. Education is now chiefly a stimulus to learning, and thus may acquire power without the principles which alone make it a good. Talent is worshipped, but, if divorced from rect.i.tude, it will prove more of a demon than a G.o.d."

Holding the opinion, then, that a fixed religious belief is the legitimate result of a thorough cultivation of the mental and moral endowments, and that their united and co-equal development const.i.tutes education, you will permit me to impress upon your attention the importance of securing all the aid afforded by the _best lights_ vouchsafed to us, in the search after Truth. Conscience is a blind guide, until a.s.sisted by discriminating teaching, and honest, persevering endeavors at self-enlightenment. For myself, my experience, in this respect, has afforded me no a.s.sistance so reliable and efficient as that to be gathered from the _Life of Jesus Christ_, as recorded by his various biographers, and collected in the New Testament. I commend its study, renewedly, to you, not in search of a substantiation of human doctrines, not to determine the accuracy of particular creeds, but to possess yourself of simple, intelligible, practicable directions for the wise regulation of your daily life, and those ceaseless efforts at self-advancement which should be the highest purpose of

"A being breathing thoughtful breath, A creature between life and death!"

Accustomed to the standard established by Him who said, "Be ye, therefore, perfect, even as I am perfect," we will not be deterred from the steadfast pursuit of right by the imperfect exhibitions, so frequently made, of its efficacy, in the lives of the professed followers of the wonderful Nazarine. Conscious of the difficulties, the temptations and the discomfitures that we ourselves encounter, we will learn, not only to discriminate between the imperfections of the disciple and the perfection of the Master, but to exercise that charity toward others, of which self-examination teaches us the need, in our own case. Thus, the Golden Rule, which so inclusively epitomizes the _moral code_ of the Great Teacher, will come to be our guide in determining the path of practical duty, and the course of self-culture, most essential to the security of present happiness, and as a preparative for that eternal state of existence, of which this is but the embryo.

Thus, making G.o.d and conscience--which is the voice of G.o.d speaking within us--the arbiter between our better nature and the impulses excited by the grosser faculties, we shall be less tempted by outward influences to lower the abstract standard we originally establish, or to reconcile ourselves to an imperfect conformity to its requisitions. Far less, will we permit ourselves to indulge the delusion that we are not, each of us, personally obligated, by our moral responsibilities, _to develop all the powers with which we are endowed, to their utmost capacity_:--

"They build too low who build below the skies!"

The most perfect of human beings was also the most humble and self-sacrificing, so that they who endeavor to follow his example will not only be devoid of self-righteous a.s.sumption, but actively devoted to the good of their fellow-creatures, and, like Him, pityingly sensible of the wants and the woes of humanity.

That reverence for the spiritual nature of man, as a direct emanation from Deity, which all should cherish, is, also, to be regarded as a part of judicious self-culture. Cultivate an habitual recognition of your celestial attributes, and strive to elevate your whole being into congenial a.s.sociation with the divinity within you:--this do for the benefit of others,

"Be n.o.ble! and the n.o.bleness that lies In other men, sleeping, but never dead, Will rise, in majesty, to meet thine own!"

With so exalted an aim as I have proposed for your adoption, you will be slow to tolerate _peccadilloes_, as of little moment, either in a metaphysical or ethical point of view. Dread such tolerance, as sapping the foundations of principle; learn to detect the insidious poison lurking in Burke's celebrated aphorism, and in the infidel philosophy that a.s.sumes the brightest semblances that genius can invent, the more readily to deceive. Establish fixed principles of benevolence, justice, truthfulness, religious belief, and adhere steadfastly to them, despite the allurements of the world, the temptings of ambition, or weariness of self-conflict.

The _Pursuit of Happiness_ is but concentrated phraseology for the purposes and endeavors of every human being. May you early learn to distinguish between the _false_ and the _true_, between _pleasure_ and _happiness_, early know your duty to yourselves, your country, and your G.o.d!

I will but add to these crude, but heart-engendered, observations, a few lines, embodying my own sentiments, and in a form much more impressive than I can command:--

"We live in deeds, not years; in thoughts, not breaths; In feelings, not in figures on a dial.

We should count time by heart-throbs. _He most lives Who thinks most, feels the n.o.blest, acts the best._"

I have somewhere met with a little bagatelle, somewhat like this:--

Apollo, the G.o.d of love, of music, and of eloquence, weary of the changeless brilliancy of Olympus, determined to descend to earth, and to secure maintenance and fame, in the guise of a mortal, by _authorship_.

Accordingly, the incognito divinity established himself in an attic, after the usual fashion of the sons of genius, and commenced inditing a poem--a long epic poem, plying his pen with the patient industry inspired by necessity, the best stimulus of human effort. At length, the task of the G.o.d completed, he, with great difficulty, procured the means of offering it to the world in printed form. The Epic of Apollo, the G.o.d of Poetry, _fell, pre-doomed, from the press_. No commendatory review had been secured, no fashionable publisher endorsed its merits.

Disgusted with the pursuit of the wealth and honors of earth, Apollo returned to Olympus, bequeathing to mortals, this advice:--"_Would you secure earthly celebrity and riches, do not attempt intellectual and moral culture, but_ INVENT A PILL!"

Instances of the successful _pursuit of knowledge under difficulties_ frequently present themselves in our contemporaneous history, both in our own country and in foreign lands. Indeed, the history of the human mind goes far toward proving that, not the pampered scions of rank and luxury, but the hardy sons of poverty and toil, have been, most frequently, the benefactors of the race. Well has the poet said:--

"The busy world shoves angrily aside The man who stands with arms a-kimbo set, Until occasion tell him what to do; And he who waits to have his task marked out, Shall die, and leave his errand unfulfilled."

The _Learned Blacksmith_, as he is popularly called, acquired thirty, or more, different languages, while daily working at his laborious trade.

He was accustomed to study while taking his meals, and to have an open book placed upon the anvil, while he worked. A celebrated physiological writer, alluding to the habits of this persevering devotee of philology, says, that nothing but his uninterrupted practice of his Vulcan-tasks preserved his health under the vast amount of mental labor he imposed upon himself.

Another of our distinguished countrymen, now a prominent popular orator, is said to have acc.u.mulated food for future usefulness, while devoting the energies of the outer man to the employment of _a wagoner_, amid the grand scenic influences of the majestic Alleghanies. The early life of Franklin, of the "Mill-boy of the Slashes," of Webster, and of many others whose names have become watchwords among us, are, doubtless, familiar to you, as examples in this respect.

Looking upon the busy active world around me,--as I sometimes like to do--from behind the screen of my newspaper, seated in the reading-room of a hotel, I became the auditor of the following conversation, between two young men, who were stationed near a window, watching the pa.s.sing throng of a crowded thoroughfare.

"By George! there's Van K----," exclaimed one, with unusual animation.

"Which one,--where?" eagerly interrogated his companion.

"That's he, this side, with the Byronic nose, and short steps--he's great! What a fellow he is for making money, though!"

"Does it by his talents, don't he?--n.o.body like him, in the Bar of this State, for genius,--that's a fact--carries everything through by the _force of genius_!"

"Dev'lish clever, no doubt," a.s.sented the other, "but he used to study, I tell you, like a hero, when he was younger."

"Never heard that of him," answered the other youth, "how the deuce could he? He has always been a _man about town_--real fashionable fellow--practised always, since he was admitted, and everybody knows no one dines out, and goes to parties with more of a rush than Van K----, and he always has."

"That may all be, but my mother, who has known him well for years, was telling me, the other day, that those who were most charmed with his wit, and belle-lettre scholarship, when he first came upon the _tapis_, little knew the pains he took to accomplish himself. '_He exhibited the result, not the machinery_,' she said, but he _did_ study, and study hard, when other young fellows were asleep, or raising h----!"

"As for that," interrupted the other, "he always did his full share of all the deviltry going, or I am shrewdly mistaken!"

"n.o.body surpa.s.ses him at that, any more than at his regular trade,"

laughed his companion--"oh, but he's rich! Jim Williams was telling me (Jim studies with S---- and Van K----) how he put down old S---- the other day. It seems S---- had been laid on the shelf with a tooth-ache--dev'lish bad--face all swelled up--old fellow real sick, and no mistake. Well, one morning, after he'd been gone several days, he managed to pull up, and make his appearance at the office. It was early--no one there but Van K---- and the boys--Jim and the rest of the fellows--tearing away at the books and papers. So old S---- dropped down in an arm-chair by the stove, and began a hifalutin description of his sorrows and sufferings while he had been sick--quite in the 'pile on the agony' style! Well, just as the old boy got fairly warmed up, and was going it smoothly, Van K---- bawled out:--'Y-a-s! Mr. S----! will you have time, this morning, to look over these papers, in the case of Smith against Brown?' Jim said he never saw an old rip so cut down in all his life, and, as soon as he went out, there was a general bust up, at his expense!"

"How confounded heartless!" exclaimed the elder youth, rising--"by Heaven, I hope a man needn't set aside the common sympathies and decencies of humanity, to secure success in his profession, or in society!" and as he pa.s.sed me, I caught the flush of manly indignation that mantled his beardless cheek, and the lightning-flash of youthful genius that enkindled his large blue eyes.

"What are you doing there, sir?" inquired one of the early Presidents of our Republic, of his nephew, who was standing before an open writing-desk, in his private apartment.

"Only getting some paper and pencils, sir," replied the young man.

"That stationery, sir, belongs to the Federal Government!" returned the American patriot, impressively, and sternly, and resumed his previous occupation.

Daniel Webster, in conversation with a familiar friend, said: