There Is A Very
Wide Difference In Every Respect Between Those Above And Those Below The
Line Which Separates "Gentry From Commonality." Of Course I Am Using
Local Words.
Gentry are expected to have a well-filled and an open hand.
If they have not both, what business have they to set up for gentry?
Popular opinion thinks of them as Carleton's hedge scholar expressed
himself, "You a gentleman?
No, nor one of your breed, seed or generation
ever was, you proctoring thafe you!"
Now the line of demarcation between the people trained by ages to stand
with open hand expecting a gift, and those to whom a gift is an insult
is hard to find sometimes. A young lad, a sharp boy, had been my guide
to two or three places and carried my bag for me. I offered him pay, for
pay had been expected from me by every one with whom I came in contact
from the moment I landed. Tears came into the poor lad's eyes with
mortified anger. One feels bad to hurt anyone's feelings, and between
those who have a desire for a gift and are hurt if they do not get one,
and those to whom offering a gift is the worst form of insult, one is
sometimes puzzled to know what to do.
I find a very strong feeling in some places where I have been in
connection with the contempt which some owners of the soil feel for the
cultivators of it.
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