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Markers
But let “success” come to this same inexpert man-let him be appointed to high
office, let him then shuffle from foot to foot, never knowing what to do or say,
let him meet open derision or ill-concealed contempt from every educated person
brought in contact with him, let opprobrium fall upon his State because its
governor is a boor, and let him as such be written of in the editorials of the
press and in the archives of history! Will he be so pleased with himself then?
Does any one think of Theodore Roosevelt as “soft” or “effeminate” because he
was one of the greatest masters of etiquette who ever bore the most exalted
honor that can be awarded by the people of the United States? Washington was
completely a gentleman-and so was Abraham Lincoln. Because Lincoln's etiquette
was self-taught it was no less masterly for that! Whether he happened to know a
lot of trifling details of pseudo etiquette matters not in the least. Awkward he
may have been, but the essence of him was courtesy-unfailing courtesy. No
“rough, uneducated” man has command of perfect English, and Lincoln's English is
supreme.
One thing that some Men of Might forget is that lack of polish in its wider
aspects is merely lack of education. They themselves look down upon a man who
has to make an “X” mark in place of signing his name-but they overlook entirely
that to those more highly educated, they are themselves in degree quite as
ignorant.