The world is so careful about the breeding and grading of every kind of domestic animals, and the improvement of machinery, but the breeding of humanity is left to luck, haphazard chance, and the devil to take the hindmost. This ought not so to be. I cannot refrain from giving another definition of gentleman: “A man distinguished for his fine sense of honor and consideration for the rights and feelings of others.” This suits me, as there is nothing in it about color, lineage or wages, or whether one sits at table with shop-keepers. Lord Lytton makes one of his characters say, “I belong to no trade, I follow no calling. I rove when I list, and rest when I please, in short I know of no occupation but my indolence, and no law but my will; now, sir, may I not call myself a gentleman?” Some one says, “No one is a gentleman who has not a dress suit.” There must be something in this, as every one knows the power of the tail of a coat in social life; yet the statement is not more definite than the definition of the word “network” in Johnson’s dictionary, “Anything reticulated or decussated at equal distances, with interstices between the intersections.” A clearer definition of a society gentleman is, “One who can break all the commandments genteelly and keep his linen scrupulously clean.” Another word is often used, excellent when rightly applied, that of “Christian,” “as to a person acting in the manner, or having a spiritual character proper to a follower of Christ.” But is this the world’s use of it? I do not know just what started me on this gait, but I frequently find myself going off on a tangent. I am no heavenly body, so have no fixed orbit, and often take the privilege of a wanderer.