NOTES

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XLIX, Issue 42, 26 October 1922, Page 30

NOTES

A Gentleman . Recently we came upon a sentence from Livy which puts in a nutshell the defintion of a gentleman: Hand minus libertatis. alienge quam suae dignitatis memo/. That is, one who is no less mindful of the liberty of another than of his own dignity. There is, we think, thing essential in those few words. They suppose personal self-respect, a right sense of dignity, a true consciousness of, manliness.. And with that they require an intelligent regard for the liberty of other people.. It is obvious that self-respect and a sense of dignity founded on self-knowledge will bring on© far on the road, to perfect manners, but the thoughtfulness for the liberty of others must also be there as a control. Many good-natured people offend sadly in this respect. They press invitations where they are unwelcome; they try to make people do things that are really unpleasant for them; they do not know when to take no for an answer. Thus a guest is almost compelled to swallow numberless cups of tea, to eat poisonous sweets, to partake of dishes which mean a night in the Inferno of dyspepsia; or a visitor is entreated to stay longer than he can conveniently, his word that he has other concerns and other . engagements and even duties does not-prevent well-meaning people from trying hard to make him break engagements and shirk duty. If such people only realised how painful it is to a right-minded man to have such attacks made on his liberty, of choice and action they would recognise their mistake and repent. ' • ■ ' Liberty Man is an individual. In spite of the efforts of modern godless States to standardise people, in spite of the fact that British bunglers have produced a population of C. 3 people, true men will always assert their individuality and refuse to yield it to any power on earth. The root of it is that in the essential things man is responsible to God alone. There are things that a boy’s parents may not dictate to him there are relations higher than those of the family; and it is on the working out of his life on the lines of such relations that character is formed. No true man will suffer constant distation as to the direction of his own actions. The man who makes up his mind that a certain thing is to be done to-day and not to-morrow detests having pressure brought on him even by friends who want him to do what he thinks were not better left alone, or not to do what he thinks were better done. The friend who constantly says to another “Don’t do this,” or “Do that,” and who fails to recognise that a friend’s judgment , in his own affairs must be respected is likely to be a blunderer. ; In all of us there ought to be a part of ourselves over which God alone has influence, and in the ordering of our days it is an invasion' for others to intrude therein. Hence it is that the definition of Livy seems to us so sound in its insistence on mindfulness of the liberty, of others. This is also ex-

pressed in Newman’s definition where he says: “The true gentleman carefully avoids whatever may cause a jar or jolt in the minds of those with whom he is cast.” For there is to some people no greater jolt of : the mind than an effort to persuade on© to change one’s mind when it has been made up concerning personal duties. Almost equally jolting are nagging suggestions and continual hints from outsiders as to how a man 1 ought to conduct his business, whether it be the editing of a paper or the choice of his tobacco. A Medico’s Advice There have been poems written in praise of rain, snow, early rising and other such unpleasant things, and it is suspected that the men who wrote them were never out on a wet day, or never under a snow storm, or never up in time to see the sun rise, as the case may be. Recently a Harley Street doctor advised his patients, with a large consideration for their tastes, not to get up early or at least to take their time about it. “Getting out of . bed,” he says, “should be a leisurely, not a hurried process. The act of springing from bed is bad, 'because it accelerates the action of the heart suddenly after the period of repose” This advice inspired “Lucio,” in the Manchester Guardian, to convey the good advice tp the multitude through the pleasant medium of verse;

Why arise with senseless haste? ’ Bed has got a pleasant taste; Hurry would bo most misplaced. If they call you, never mind— They will come again, you’ll find; Do not rush to draw the blind. Why consult your window-pane? Ten to.one it’s wet again ; If it’s not, it’s going to rain. Do not look for joyous thrills From the stuff the postman spills: Let them liethey’re merely bills. Breakfast? Cut it out, I say, Lunch will do as well to-day; Overeating doesn’t pay. . And in fact I now recall Days that tempted me to drawl “Why on earth get up at all?” ' t And the answer, I decreed, Was that, anyway, the deed Wasn’t one that called for speed. Rise I might; but this affair Needed some deliberate care— Haste increased life’s wear and tear. , Now, I’m rather pleased to see, I was right as right could be: Harley Btreet agrees with me! America comments on the philosophy of the matter 1 thus: As all the world knows, many a young doctor has rapidly built up a large and lucrative practice merely by giving a few sick and fussy old ladies just the medical advice that was most adroitly calculated to flatter their vanity and love of ease. By always offering the patient ; the counsel that she is already persuaded she requires, a, shrewd young . doctor, we' are assured, provided of course that he also possesses a soothing “bedside manner,” has at least the promise of an impressive beard, and takes care, whenever he solemnly gives an opinion, to put on a heavily corded pair of glasses, can be practically called a “made man,” is sure to “go far” and, eventually, may even leap with astounding speed to the highest pinnacles of his profession. ' 4'.' Any doctor,' therefore, like the canny Harley Street physician quoted above, who gravely counsels his leisured, well-to-do patients to ’ strengthen their heartaction by always being as deliberate as possible about

getting up pi the morning,' "can confidently expect a large and steady, fee from, them. For there are very few of Father Adam's vast family, whether , they be rich or poor, prince or t peasant, sage or simpleton, sinner or saint, who without- going violently counter to ; their natural inclinations will always respond with joyful alacrity to this work-a-day world's summons from their morning bed, .-What wonder then that every Harley Street physician's advice regarding the danger of precipitate, rising is so universally followed. ■_■■■■■■■ -.-,•