BEHAVIOR
There is always a best way of doing everything, if it be to open a book. Manners are the happy ways of doing things. They form at last a rich varnish, with which the routine of life is washed, and its details adorned. Manners are very communicable; men catch them from each other.
The power of manners is incessant,--an element as unconcealable as fire. The n.o.bility cannot in any country be disguised, and no more in a republic or a democracy than in a kingdom. No man can resist their influence. There are certain manners which are learned in good society, and if a person have them, he or she must be considered, and is everywhere welcome, though without beauty, or wealth, or genius.
Give a boy address and accomplishments, and you give him the mastery of palaces and fortune wherever he goes.
Bad behavior the laws cannot reach. Society is infested with rude, restless, and frivolous persons who prey upon the rest. Bad manners are social inflictions which the magistrate cannot cure or defend you from, and which must be intrusted to the restraining force of custom.
Familiar rules of behavior should be impressed on young people in their school-days.
LESSON XIX
ESSENCE OF THE CONSt.i.tUTION OF THE UNITED STATES
1. Congress must meet at least once a year.
(Congress consists of the Senate and the House of Representatives.)
2. One State cannot undo the acts of another.
3. Congress may admit any number of new States.
4. One State must respect the laws and legal decisions of another.
5. Every citizen is guaranteed a speedy trial by jury.
6. Congress cannot pa.s.s a law to punish a crime already committed.
7. Bills of revenue can originate only in the House of Representatives.
8. A person committing a crime in one State cannot find refuge in another.
9. The Const.i.tution forbids excessive bail or cruel punishment.
10. Treaties with foreign countries are made by the President and ratified by the Senate.
11. Writing alone does not const.i.tute treason against the United States. There must be an overt act.
12. An Act of Congress cannot become law over the vote of the President except by a two-thirds vote of both Houses.
13. The Territories each send one delegate to Congress, who has the right to debate, but not the right to vote.
14. An officer of the Government cannot accept any t.i.tle of n.o.bility, order or gift without the permission of Congress.
15. Only a natural-born citizen of the United States can become President or Vice-President of the United States.
SELECTION VIII
THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER
1. Oh, say, can you see, by the dawn"s early light, What so proudly we hailed at the twilight"s last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight, O"er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming; And the rockets" red glare, the bombs bursting in air, Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there: Oh, say, does that Star-Spangled Banner yet wave O"er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
2. On that sh.o.r.e, dimly seen through the mists of the deep, Where the foe"s haughty host in dread silence reposes, What is that which the breeze, o"er the towering steep, As it fitfully blows, now conceals, now discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning"s first beam, In full glory reflected now shines in the stream: "Tis the Star-Spangled Banner; oh, long may it wave O"er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
3. And where are the foes who so vauntingly swore That the havoc of war, and the battle"s confusion, A home and a country should leave us no more?
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps" pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave; And the Star-Spangled Banner in triumph doth wave O"er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
4. Oh, thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand Between their loved homes and the war"s desolation.
Blest with victory and peace, may the heaven-rescued land Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just, And this be our motto, "In G.o.d is our trust"; And the Star-Spangled Banner in triumph shall wave O"er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
_Francis Scott Key_.
USEFUL INFORMATION
To obtain a good knowledge of p.r.o.nunciation, it is advisable for the reader to listen to the examples given by educated persons. We learn the p.r.o.nunciation of words, to a great extent, by imitation. It must never be forgotten, however, that the dictionary alone can give us absolute certainty in doubtful cases.
"If the riches of the Indies," says Fenelon, "or the crowns of all the kingdoms of the world, were laid at my feet in exchange for my love for reading, I would despise them all."
That writer does the most good who gives his reader the greatest amount of knowledge and takes from him the least time. A tremendous thought may be packed into a small compa.s.s, and as solid as a cannon ball.
"Read much, but not many works," is the advice of a great writer.
LESSON XX
THE ART OF OBSERVATION
The Indian trapper is a man of close observation, quick perception and prompt action. As he goes along, nothing escapes him. Often not another step is taken until some mystery that presents itself is fairly solved. He will stand for hours in succession to account for certain signs, and he may even spend days and weeks upon that same mystery until he solves it.
I rode once several hundred miles in the company of such an experienced trailer, and asked him many questions about his art. Near the bank of a small river in Dakota we crossed the track of a pony. The guide followed the track for some distance and then said: "It is a stray black horse, with a long bushy tail, nearly starved to death; it has a broken hoof on the left fore foot and goes very lame; he has pa.s.sed here early this morning."
I could scarcely believe what was said, and asked for an explanation.
The trailer replied: "It is a stray horse, because he did not go in a straight line; his tail is long, for he dragged it over the ground; in brushing against a bush he left some of his black hair; he is very hungry, because he nipped at the dry weeds which horses seldom eat; the break of his left fore foot can be seen in its track, and the slight impression of the one foot shows that he is lame. The tracks are as yet fresh, and that shows that he pa.s.sed only this morning, when the earth was soft."
In this manner the whole story was accounted for, and late in the afternoon we really did come across a riderless horse of that description wandering aimlessly in the prairies.