464 PLAIN FACTS FOE OLD AND YOUNG 



elsewhere, as at all other times, the conversation should 

 be turned upon subjects of real interest, which admit 

 of the exercise of sound sense and will be a means of 

 culture. Such associations do not result in injury to 

 any one, and may be the means of much profit ; but noth- 

 ing is more execrable than the frivolous, silly, often 

 absolutely senseless observations which make up the 

 great bulk of the conversation of young people in fash 

 ionable society. 



A most ready means of disclosing the superficial 

 cnaracter of the minds of a large share of the young 

 persons who move in fashionable circles is to intro- 

 duce some topic requiring depth of thought and sound 

 judgment. Such a subject will usually produce either 

 an instant lull in the conversation, or a display of 

 ignorance which cannot fail to reveal the shallowness 

 of the speaker's intellect. It is this superficial class of 

 minds that most easily fall victims to a sickly senti- 

 mentalism, which readily leads to digressions from the 

 pathway of rigid virtue. 



A boy who has the elements of true manliness in 

 him will carry a gentlemanly bearing wherever he goes. 

 In all his deportment, and especially in his conduct 

 toward the opposite sex, he will act the gentleman; 

 and the boy whose gentility is genuine will manifest 

 the same kind deference toward his mother and sisters 

 as toward other ladies and girls. So also the young 

 lady who is a lady at heart will never allow herself 

 to forget the rules of propriety, whether she is in the 

 company of her father and brothers, or that of other 

 gentlemen. 



All the rules of etiquette are worth little compared 

 with the one simple rule which is applicable to both 

 sexes and all ages,— "Have the heart right, and then 



