Politeness is benevolence in small things.  A true gentleman must regard the rights and feelings of others, even in matters the most trivial.  He respects the individuality of others, just as he wishes others to respect his own.  In society he is quiet, easy, unobtrusive, putting on no airs, nor hinting by word or manner that he deems himself better, or wiser, or richer than any one about him.  He never boasts of his achievements, or fishes for compliments by affecting to underrate what he has done.  He is distinguished, above all things, by his deep insight and sympathy, his quick perception of, and prompt attention to, those small and apparently insignificant things that may cause pleasure or pain to others.  In giving his opinions he does not dogmatize; he listens patiently and respectfully to other men, and, if compelled to dissent from their opinions, acknowledges his fallibility and asserts his own views in such a manner as to command the respect of all who hear him.  Frankness and cordiality mark all his intercourse with his fellows, and, however high his station, the humblest man feels instantly at ease in his presence.

THE TRUE LADY.

Calvert says:  “Ladyhood is an emanation from the heart subtilized by culture;” giving as two requisites for the highest breeding, transmitted qualities and the culture of good training.  He continues:  “Of the higher type of ladyhood may always be said what Steele said of Lady Elizabeth Hastings, ’that unaffected freedom and conscious innocence gave her the attendance of the graces in all her actions.’  At its highest, ladyhood implies a spirituality made manifest in poetic grace.  From the lady there exhales a subtle magnetism.  Unconsciously she encircles herself with an atmosphere of unruffled strength, which, to those who come into it, gives confidence and repose.  Within her influence the diffident grow self-possessed, the impudent are checked, the inconsiderate are admonished; even the rude are constrained to be mannerly, and the refined are perfected; all spelled, unawares, by the flexible dignity, the commanding gentleness, the thorough womanliness of her look, speech and demeanor.  A sway is this, purely spiritual.  Every sway, every legitimate, every enduring sway is spiritual; a regnancy of light over obscurity, of right over brutality.  The only real gains ever made are spiritual gains—­a further subjection of the gross to the incorporeal, of body to soul, of the animal to the human.  The finest and most characteristic acts of a lady involve a spiritual ascension, a growing out of herself.  In her being and bearing, patience, generosity, benignity are the graces that give shape to the virtues of truthfulness.”

Here is the test of true ladyhood.  Whenever the young find themselves in the company of those who do not make them feel at ease, they should know that they are not in the society of true ladies and true gentlemen, but of pretenders; that well-bred men and women can only feel at home in the society of the well-bred.