Mineral Point tribune. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1854-1858, 1854-07-20
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WESTERN MEN.


Our friends at the east, when they come
ID contact with western men, generally ex-
claim that they seem to be very clever fell
lows. but have 10 manners. They mean
that they are careless Of the conventional
rules borrowed from Europe that govern
the men of the East
We take it that good breeding does not
merely consist in eating soup before fish,
/ or IN wearing claw hammer jacket al a
party, or bowling ike dancing master, bet
IN making your guests at home, by your
ease with them, aud in making yourself at
home by your ease with your host. We
will admit that there is little of what Is
called the stuck up" manner Of the East
among Us here. nor do We assume that man
ner when we 60 abroad, but we insist that
the Western feeling is as hospitable as
that Of the East, and that Western man
ners are more agreeable ard more gentle
manly. The effort here is TO make people
at home, to make people spend the time
with you agreeably, while the effort there
is to impress the visitor with the beauty
and cost of your home, the expense of
your furniture, and the extravaganza of
the entertainment offered.
Better is grass-fed beef creature, with
hospitality, thar a stall fed OK with re-
quired tribute Of admiration.
We Of the West are not particular about
names. Tom and Bill and Jim, or Tomuel,
Billuel and Jimucl are just as good with
Us, as Alr. Thomas, and Mr.. James end
, Mr.. William are at the East. We rse
names to designate people, and if they
fulfil the Office good. il they don't, we add
something descriptive to them. At the
East, they seem - use them more to de-
scribe the digni,ies of the possessor. The
/ poor man, there, may be Steve, the man
! a little better, Stephen, the man better off
/ yet, Stephen Gerard, aud 2 great deal
! sicler, Gerard or tie Gerard, so that at last
1 they end as we begin, with short and
they end at the end, while we begin and
/ end at the beginning
The great difference between the two
/ sections Of country is IN the home life
/ We take q man to dinner at a moments
warning. give him what we have, make no
apology for what we have not, make our
selves at home 10 make him so, ask him to
stay in earnest leave him if business re-
qujrcs it, to make himself at home, and
treat lim as one Of the family, not as one
we see once. and never mesl 10 see again
At the east this IS all reversed There
they subp@aa him TO u dinner at the ex-
4 piration Of ten days. receive him with tho
( formality Of very small Justices court,
( have the dinner arranged according to
programme apologize for not doing i'm
I po>s iblities. feed him according TO rule,
dress ourselves in q certain uniform. and
! force him to DO the same. Bow 10 him on
his arrival with freezing formaiity, and
/ bow him of on his departure with the
same anti social col3ness.
At the East. the houses are built to
show how many excellent couyenicnces
may be made useless lie furniture is
bought to show hov a dwelling may be
turned into q cah;Iet shop Clothes are
not used for comfort. or even to display
taste, bat 20 show of the fashions the tail
ors rejoice IN, and not our tailors, not our
/ cabinet makers not our builders, but those
/ Imported from Europe
/ At the West, we have not the conven-
fences in our housef. but what we have, we
use. and our friends use, Our furniture
is not costly bat it is meant to give ease
to ourselves and friends " DO not dress
in uniform, but we select without reference
to fashion, and with reference to our own
taste That taste they think bad at the
East It may be, we ksso10 theirs, or rath
er the taste they borrow, Is bad.
Time may briug Us to level with
them
we may become fofmulist lovers Of
show merely. Our hospitality may de-
generate with show. but 1t viii not be till
after the broad prairics and shady open
ings. have lost their character. that we
can lose ours-Janes51He Stu51daTd.