and mechanics--and instances of this are so numerous that they may be
recalled by almost any person. The politician who has the advantage of a
courteous, graceful and pleasing manner finds himself an easy winner in
the race with rival candidates, for every voter with whom he speaks
becomes instantly his friend. Civility is to a man what beauty is to a
woman. It creates an instantaneous impression in his behalf, while
gruffness or coarseness excites as quick a prejudice against him. It is
an ornament, worth more as a means of winning favor than the finest
clothes and jewels ever worn. Lord Chesterfield said the art of pleasing
is, in truth, the art of rising, of distinguishing one's self, of making
a figure and a fortune in the world. Some years ago a drygoods salesman
in a London shop had acquired such a reputation for courtesy and
exhaustless patience, that it was said to be impossible to provoke from
him any expression of irritability, or the smallest symptom of vexation.
A lady of rank learning of his wonderful equanimity, determined to put
it to the test by all the annoyances with which a veteran shop-visitor
knows how to tease a shopman. She failed in her attempt to vex or
irritate him, and thereupon set him up in business. He rose to eminence
in trade, and the main spring of his later, as of his earlier career,
was politeness. Hundreds of men, like this salesman, have owed their
start in life wholly to their pleasing address and manners.


CULTIVATION OF GOOD MANNERS.

The cultivation of pleasing, affable manners should be an important part
of the education of every person of whatever calling or station in life.
Many people think that if they have only the substance, the form is of
little consequence. But manners are a compound of spirit and
form--spirit acted into form. The first law of good manners, which