WeRead Powered by ReaderPub
A Gentleman cover

A Gentleman

Chapter 2: Preface.
Open in WeRead

Explore more books like this:

About This Book

The author offers concise, practical guidance for adolescent and young adult men on cultivating courteous behavior, social etiquette, and self-presentation, arguing that attention to small daily manners aids social and professional advancement. Chapters outline rules of conduct, distinctions between genuine gentlemanly character and mere affectation, clear spoken and written expression, letter-writing, recommended reading and a modest home bookshelf, appreciation of Shakespeare, and the balance of conversation, work, and leisure, closing with reflections on the everyday pleasures that enrich personal life.

Preface.

In offering this little book to that public for which it is intended—a public made up of young men from fifteen to twenty years of age—the author fears that he may seem presumptuous. He intends to accentuate what most of them already know, not to teach them any new thing. And if he appear to touch too much upon the trifles of life, it is because experience shows that it is the small things of our daily intercourse with our fellow-beings which make the difference between success and failure. He gratefully acknowledges his obligation to the Reverend editor of the Ave Maria for permission to use in the last part of this volume several of the “Chats with Good Listeners.”

The University of Notre Dame,
February 2, 1893.