On and Off Guard

The Planet offers advice regarding how a “true man” behaves properly without being “on guard.”

A true man is never on his guard. He is never watching himself lest he say unwise words or do ungentlemanly things. He has neither home manners, nor street manners, nor company manners. He has no pulpit tone, social tone, nor business tone. When a man feels that he must be on his guard, in view of the company in which he happens to be, it is an indication of hypocrisy, all the worse if it is unconscious. The true gentleman is a gentleman all the time--asleep or awake. Some time ago a prominent lecturer was telling of a dream he had, in the course of which came a test as to whether he would be true to his word, even though it was a great cost to himself. “I made a right decision,” he said, “and on waking I was so glad to discover that I did not play the dog in my dream.” He was unconsciously right--through and through. The man who can trust himself in his dreams is likely to be trusted in his waking hours. It is in the natural, unguarded actions of life that we reveal our true selves. “I have a good story I want to tell you,” said a prominent railroad official to another, not very long ago. “Is it one that I can repeat when I get home?” was the hurried response of his friend. There was a moment’s awkward pause, a deep blush, and one man reached over the desk to another and said: “I want to thank you for your rebuke; it is just; I shall never tell such stories anywhere.” In conversation with a friend recently, the writer was saying that he was sorry a certain man talked as he did. “That isn’t it,” said the other: “he wouldn’t talk that way ,if he did not think that way; he should not think that way, then he would never have trouble with his speech.” All of which is true; it is the unconscious Christian that is likely to be the best Christian; when one must take pains to express his character it is an indication that there is something wanting under the surface.

“On and Off Guard,” Black Virginia: The Richmond Planet, 1894-1909, accessed October 9, 2026, https://blackvirginia.richmond.edu/items/show/312.