We hear the phrase “real man” quite often, but what does, or did, this mean?
I found this 1912 article on the definition of a real man, and I honestly found it interesting.
Without giving my own personal thoughts on the matter, here is the article. Enjoy!
A Real Man
By Dr. Frank Crane
You may never get to be president of the United States, son; you may never be the head of a big business and sit at a mahogany desk and clip coupons; you may never be a hero in war or a fad in literature, but you can be greater that any of these – you can be a real man.
And the beauty of it is that, in regard to this, one most important attainment in the world, you actually have the whole matter in your own hands. You can be a real man if you wish. Nobody can stop you. And the circumstances in which you are placed make not the slightest difference.
As for being elected governor, maybe you can make it, maybe not. As for succeeding in business, that is never an absolute surety. Perhaps you can be healthy and strong, but there’s always a possibility of accident or disease to interfere with this. You may win the woman you want, and you may lose her.
There’s chance and luck in everything; that is, in everything but one. You can be a real man if you want to hard enough and all hell and heredity, bad luck and misfortune cannot defeat you.
Isn’t it a comforting thing, son, to know that there is one thing in the world that’s a certainty? And isn’t it doubly heartening to realize that this one thing is the greatest and most worth while thing of all things?
What is a real man?
A real man is a man who honestly tries to live up to the best he knows.
That’s all. You see, son, it’s simple. Like all the great things of life, it is plain as a pike-staff.
Just to know what is best is not enough; many a cad and a coward knows, but he doesn’t do.
And to feel, to realize, to appreciate, to love the best, does not imply that you are a real man. Many a drunkard and many a shiftless profligate is a mighty feeler.
A real man is one who responds nobly to circumstances. The harder the knocks and the more discouraging the situation, the brighter he shines.
A real man is nerved and stimulated by failure and defeat. A real man is a good loser. He never whines.
A real man never talks about what the world owes him, the happiness he deserves, the chance he ought, by right to have, and all that. All he claims is the right to live and play the man.
A real man is just as honest alone in the dark, in his own room, as he is in public.
A real man does not want pulls, tips, and favors. He wants work and honest pay.
A real man is loyal to his friend and guards his reputation as his own.
A real man is dependable. His simple word is as good as his Bible oath.
A real man does a little more than he promises.
A real man does not want something for nothing, so the get rich quick people cannot use him.
A real man honors a woman, any woman. He cannot hurt a woman physically or morally. He sticks to his wife. He can be loyal even if love is impossible.
A real man minds his own business. He does not judge other people.
A real man always has excuses for others, never for himself. He is patient and charitable to them, to himself he is strict.
A real man is glad to live and not afraid to die.
A real man never hunts danger and never dodges it when he ought to meet it.
A real man’s love is like a dog’s, and that’s saying a great deal.
A real man – well, he is a real man, the finest, best, noblest, most refreshing thing to find on all the green earth, unless it be a real woman.
Source: The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.), 05 Jan. 1912.
