There is nothing which will make a man angry so quickly as to be told
that he is not a gentleman. But one becomes a true gentleman by
beginning early to practice gentle deeds.
On a crowded trolley car going out of Boston, one evening, an old woman
was packed in the crowd in the narrow aisle where the standing room was
all taken. She was bent with age and was very feeble. Her shabby dress
and worn shawl told of her poverty. She carried a large basket, and it
seemed to grow heavier and heavier as she changed it from one arm to the
other. Seated where this woman was standing sat two persons—one whose
tailor-made clothes of expensive fabric showed he was a well-to-do man.
The other was a ragged newsboy. Tired from his work, the little fellow’s
head now and then dropped on his shoulder and his weary eyelids closed.
Awaking from one of these naps, he saw standing near him the shabby old
woman with her heavy basket, and he put his little hand out on hers and
said, very gently, but manfully: “You must be tired. Take my seat. I’ll
hold your basket.”
There was the making of a splendid gentleman in that boy.
[Illustration:
So Many Letters to Write!
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