9 



the course of time get collected into a code, and are called the 

 manners of a gentleman. Any man favorably situated, can study 

 these manners and practice them, but if he have not the inner qual- 

 ities of heart, from which they would come unstudied, he is but a 

 counterfeit gentleman, an imitation, and not the genuine thing. The 

 true gentleman, with or without study, Avill practice what is essen- 

 tial in that high code. The tailor and the dancing master can 

 produce the sham gentleman, but only the kindly and generous 

 spirit of Almighty God possessing the heart can ever produce the 

 true one, and where that spirit is, it cannot fail to produce him. 



Accordingly the true gentlemen is as likely to be found, and is 

 as often found among plain farmers, so called, as in any rank of 

 society. At any rate, that is my experience. Let me illustrate. 



A few weeks ago, I was passing in a light carriage along a 

 narrow country road. Within the space of a mile I met four very 

 broad and heavy loads of grain on their way to the threshing mill. 

 The four drivers were plain farmers, of course, or farm laborers, 

 and strangers to me. Each of the four, on seeing me approach, 

 turned out his team to the very wall, and stopped it ; and three 

 out of the four, as I came up, stepped forward, and asked me with 

 a thoughtful soUcitude for my convenience, whether I thought 

 there was room for me to pass easily. There w\as room enough, 

 and I passed on, gratified, refreshed, as one always is by any such 

 act or word of a high and beautiful courtesy. And then I called 

 to mind some instances that I have known of, of men wearing 

 a garb, and displaying an equipage, and driving at a pace, which 

 they imagined made gentlemen of them, but who, after running 

 down a child, or an aged person, rushed on without stopping to 

 inquire what harm they had done, or whether there was any thing 

 they could do about it. Which were the true gentlemen ? these 

 elegant men, with fast horses and heedless hearts, or those plain 

 teamsters of mine ? Perhaps neither. A single cup of cold water 

 given in the name of a disciple, will not make a Christian, and a 

 single act or word of gracious courtesy does not make a gentle- 

 man. But this may be said of my teamsters, that if that spirit 

 of courtesy of which I had the benefit were uniform in them, and 

 in the grain, if they do habitually manifest such kindly, unselfish 

 consideration for the convenience and gratification of others, in 



