 | The evening book, or, Fireside talk on morals
and manners |  |
PREFACE.
WE are asked sometimes by those we would amuse—
'Is it true?'
If there were room here for a discussion as to what is
'truth' in such cases, I might, to such a question
touching this our evening volume, answer Yes! to my
own satisfaction at least; for I have private conviction
that a certain kind of truth lies at the botton of all the
pieces that compose it. They have been written in various
moods; some gay, some grave; some hopeful, some a little
desponding, as the characters or events of the hour tinged
the thoughts with rose-color, sober grey, dreaded blue,
and—perhaps the reader will think—and occasional shade
of green. But every writer has before him an imaginary
audience, and mine is usually composed of young people,
so I will hope the sombre tints will not be found to
prevail. One hates to be set down as a mere moralizer—
a tiresome companion anywhere. A generally serious
aim I am content to avow, and I confess also an ambition
to make a peculiarly American book; not that I think
PREFACE.
American views of manners and morals should be partial
or narrow, but because the foreign literature which furnishes
most of the reading of our young people seems to
me likely to inspire them with un-American ideas of
society and even of duty, and it becomes, therefore,
especially desirable to refer sometimes to the ancient and
universal standards—those whose excellence is beyond
dispute, though portions of the world have departed far
from their influence, led away by the incorrect notions of
which prevail in old and corrupt communities.
If I could have the least influence in recommending
simplicity, truthfulness, and humanity of manners, I
should feel proud indeed. By 'humanity' in manners,
I would be understood to mean manners founded on the
great law of love, and not on mere convention—springing
from a principle, and not poorly imitative of those whom
we are humble enough to look upon as above us. Fine
manners are those which show full and due consideration
for every one's merits anf feelings—quite another affair
from fashionable manners, which are respective only of
worldly advantages. That these are but poor reasons
for a show of kindness, we must all have felt. As we
frequently discern beneath the assumptions of refinement,
evidences of revolting coarseness, so often we find under
the roughest exterior, tokens of a delicacy which needs
but favoring circumstances to make it charming; and
if we are shocked at the exhibition of mean qualities in
the uncultivated, it is well to learn to feel that they are
even more disgusting in those who have had greater
PREFACE.
advantages. We may be amused at the crude notions
entertained by the rough backwoodsman on the subject
of education, but we ought to contemplate with serious
regret the condition of those who, content with the merest
froth of learning and accomplishments, fancy themselves
much higher in the intellectual scale than their brethren
of the forest.
It is evident that to meet worthily all varieties of
human character and claims, as consistent American
citizens are bound to do, we need some standard that
knows no fluctuation, no caprice; that owes no moulding
to the pride or whims of people living under different
circumstances, and acknowledges subjection only to
principles that govern the universal human heart. If I
have succeeded at all in expressing my convictions on
this subject, a reference to it will be found more or less
prominent in all the sketches and essays that follow.
| The evening book, or, Fireside talk on morals
and manners | |