Democratic Sentinel, Volume 19, Number 28, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 July 1895 — Te Be in Good Society. [ARTICLE]

Te Be in Good Society.

High moral character and education, whether it be of book lore or that of observation and good example, polish of manner and good habits, are the requisites of good society. One whose ideas of social equality were rather democratic than exclusive was hoard to remark: “One man is born just as good as another and a great deal better than some.” Unless the son of. a gentleman be a gentleman he is no more entitled to the name suggesting refinement than a man is entitled to the name of General whose father before him was a General. One must win his own laurels or go uncrowned. Birth to a marked degree is an accident, and those who are considered to be well born are ofttiines the most objectionable elements of society and the most dangerous associates. One need but watch closely the daily record of those on both sides of the Atlantic, whose birth gives them prestige in society, to prove that education and cultivation of high morals and manners go further toward making refined society than all the good or blue blood that ever flowed through the veins of royalty and the nobility. Of course, it would be the height of absurdity to argue that all men are born equal and would be as illogical to argue against the si periority of blooded animals of the race course over the ordinary draft horse. However, the nobility of culture and refinement should have precedence over the nobility of birth and rank.