HOW TO BE A GENTLEMAN.



WE want a few private words with the boys, says the Parish Visitor. The truth is, we have a great idea of boys. We used to think men were made of boys. We begin to think now that those were old-fashioned notions, that they are all out of date. 

We look around and see a great many persons grown up, with men's clothes on, who are called men. But they act and behave so that we feel certain they were never made out of boys. If they had been, they would have known how to behave better. 

Where they came from, we do not know. But what we wish to put-into the ears of boys is this be gentlemen. In this country every boy may grow up to be a gentleman if he will. It is not necessary that he should become rich most boys think it is nor is it necessary that he should become a great scholar, nor that he should become a distinguished man.

But some impatient ones are asking, "How can we become gentlemen?" How can a boy go about making himself one? 

Can he work for it? Yes, he can; and the harder he works in the right way, the better. But he must study with his eyes and his ears. Reading books and news-papers is not enough; he must think and feel, as well as speak and act. Can he buy it? No, he cannot. Money will buy a great many things, but it will not buy what makes a gentleman. If you have money, you can go to the shop and buy clothes; but hat, coat, pants, and boots, do not make a gentleman. They make fops, and sometimes come near making fools. 

Money will buy dogs and horses, but how many dogs and horses do you think it will take to make a gentleman? Let no boy, therefore, think he is to be made a gentle, man by the clothes he wears, the horse he rides, the stick he carries, the dog that trots after him, the house he lives in, or the money he spends. Not one or all these do it and yet every boy may be a gentleman. 

He may wear an old hat, cheap clothes, have no horses, live in a poor house, and spend but little money, and still be a gentleman. But how? By being true, manly, and honorable. By keeping himself neat and respectable. By being civil and courteous. By respecting himself and respecting others. By doing the best he knows how. And finally, and above all, by fearing God and keeping his commandments.