Master True Manliness
A false notion of manliness leads boys astray. true manliness is humane. it says, “we who are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak.”
It’s work is to protect those who cannot defend themselves; to stand between the tyrant and the slave, the oppressor and his victim. It is identical in all times with the spirit of chivalry which led the good knights to wander in search of robbers, giants, and tyrannical lords.
Those who oppressed the poor and robbed helpless woman and orphans of their rights. There are no tyrant barons now, but the spirit of tyranny and cruelty is still to be found. The good knight today is he who provides help for the blind, the deaf and dumb and the insane. Who defends animals from being cruelly treated rescues little children from bad usage, and seeks to give working woman their rights. He protects all these sufferers from that false manliness which is brutal to weak.
The true knights today are those who organize to prevent cruelty or to enforce laws against those who for a little gain make men drunkards. The giants and dragons today are those cruelties and brutalities which use their power to ill-treat those wo are at their mercy.
