Page:Don Coronado through Kansas.djvu/28

17 KEEP YOUR HEAD UP. 17 "Mother, will you be land enough to explain the meaning of gentleman? Father told me to always be a gentleman." The mother responded to the boy's interrogatory as follows: "My dear boy, I am not qualified to instruct you in this regard, except from the feminine point of view, which no doubt is not what the average man would affirm; but, my son, since you have made the request it is my duty to instruct you. "Well, God forgive me, but a gentleman must be handsome. I know this is not according to the teaching and precepts promulgated by our Master, but it is the frailty of woman, and my son, before I leave the first proposition let me impress upon you the imperative necessity of keeping your head erect, shoulders back and chest forward while you are growing into manhood; cultivate a carriage which will stamp you as a gentleman; and mind you, it must become so natural to stand erect that you will do so as do your legs when walking, for do we not take the strides with our limbs without realizing that we are doing so? And thus it is with our bearing; it must be cultivated until, like the trained tree it becomes natural; and, my dear son, I trust some day to have the gratification of hearing your voice raised in the Cortes of our beloved country, therefore let me admonish you of training your voice, as well as your body, that is to acquire a good, deep sonorous tone of conversation, and this must become so natur- al that when facing an audience while making a pubUc speech no heed or thought is given to tone, but theme, for a squeaky orator is an abomination. "