VI. ADMINISTRATIVE NIHILISM 57 



real nature of the suit brought before their 

 tribunal. 



Finally, as to the ladies and gentlemen question, 

 all I can say is, would that every woman-child 

 born into this world were trained to be a lady, and 

 every man-child a gentleman ! But then I do 

 not use those much-abused words by way of dis- 

 tinguishing people who wear fine clothes, aiid liv<> 

 in fine houses, and talk aristocratic^ slang, from 

 those who go about in fustian, and live in back 

 slums, and talk gutter slang. Some inborn 

 plebeian blindness, in fact, prevents me from 

 understanding what advantage the former have 

 over the latter. I have never even been able to 

 understand why pigeon-shooting at Hurlingham 

 should be refined and polite, while a rat-killing 

 match in Whitechapel is low; or why "What a 



1 lark " should be coarse, when one hears " How 

 awfully jolly " drop from the most refined lips 

 twenty times in an evening. 



' / Thoughtfulness for others, generosity, modesty,! 

 and self-respect, are the qualities which make aj 



; real gentleman, or lady, as distinguished from the 

 veneered article which commonly goes by that 

 name.^-I by no means wish to express any senti- 

 mental preference for Lazarus against Dives, but, 

 on the face of the matter, one does not see why 

 the practice of these virtues should be more 

 difficult in one state of life than another ; and any 

 one who has had a wide experience among all 

 VOL. I S 



