Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1857-05-06
MISCELLA A n Y
The Amenities of Life


Very many persons think nothing of the neg
lect of little courtesies, and pass through life
with all the outward appearance of indifference
TO the comfort and happiness Of those around
them. 1t would seem that they recognize the
existence of nobody but themselves, and that
they consider it beneath their dignity to heed
the little amenities which regulate the inter.
course of civilized people. 1t is not to be de-
MED that under this rough shell there is some
times sweet kernel, and that these apparently
unfeelng individuals astonish those who least
expect it by the evidences of feeling heart
1t is unfortunate, however, that they confer q
favor with so ill o grace that 1t is really pleas
anter to be refused by a courteous man than
Obliged by one of the genus crab-tree.
| De Quincy, in his quaint way, thus puts the
habitual enormity Of conduct of such individu-
ais: eff a man INDUCES himself in murder
very soon he comes to think little of robbng
and from robbing he comes next to drinking
and from that to incivility and procrastination.
This. to be sure, is rather reversing the moral
scale as it is commonly graduated. But II Q
man murders, he seldom carries the experiment
beyond one person if he robs it is not unusual
ly his friends who are sufferers; if he drinks he
has lucid intervals but when he has reached
the climax of social turpitude he is unclvil to
every body in general, and to his friends in par
ticular. No wonder that a sensitive man, ike
De Qunincey, considers this the acme OF moral
obliquity. :.
fit were easier to be ursine than urbane it
would not surprise us that the indolent preferred
the rough to the smooth ; butcommon sense and
all experience show that the easier is is the po-
liter way. IT it were cheaper, in these dollar
and cent days, that were some excuse for want
of courtesy. But the Yankees-good authority
in such matters-have proverb that politenesS
costs nothing, and it is therefore most excel
lent kind of small currency. 1t goes for change
for dollar.in small dealings, as civil retailers
know, and will readily procure hundred cents
TO him who dispenses it; while the curt dealer
demands seven levies, and does not even obtain
that lesser price. In large bargains it is worth
about the same ratio, twelve per cent, equal to
one per cent. month-no small premium for q
purely credit capital We were about to write
| fictitious, but the casuits would pick hole IN
our argument. True politeness is not fictitious
| 1t is simply a sunshiny habit of looking and
speaking, arising from heart willing to take
the whole world in. Silence you caviller! We
don't mean take in as you pretend to understand
IT, Evidently YOU are one of the crusty sort
but politeness never beggared any one, while
rnde manners have spoiled many fortune IN
the getting.
The other offence which De Quincy puts in
the same grade of evil, procrastination Is essen
tally impoiteness. We are so connected with
each other, in all our relations OF society and
business, that the unpunctual man or woman Is
pepper in everybody's eyes and ice in every
ones coffee To wait for one who is always be-
hind, and to find that engagement untulhlled 6y
another on which your own arrangements &C.
pend, arc among the crying evils OF human LIE,
the worst kind of miseries; because, While 10
endure them does not get any credit for martyr
dom, they are really the pelne forte ct dure OF
social torture. We are not sure that even the
polite man is required to preserve his urbanlty
under such inhctions; but then if he does not,
the worst is his own. To do the right thing, at
the right time, and in the right manner, is the
height of human excellence and whoever reach
es it is entitled to the utmost courtesy from all
whom he encounters. We can think of nothing
better than this as within the power of one man
| to do tor another or for community to bestow
upon its favorite. Trifes make the sum of life
and if the separate items are pleasant the ag-
gregate is certainly so.
He gives twice who gives quickly, says the
proverb, and there is the same advantage in
p,lnctual pay. We are eXpected-and the two
ella sses of claims present themselves and in an
especial manner-both to pay our debts and to
give our charities The first are imperative, il
within the compass of possibility; the second
have an absolute claim only when the first are
met, except for such things as we may give
without impairing our power to pay. Articles
with which we can dispense, and which do not
rule under the head of assets, should be given
to tha needv instead of hOarded The partly
worn clothing and other commodities, detaced
but really not impaired, which are lying idle
through mere thoughtessness; if drawn from
their corners and distributed to those who need
them, would alleviate much suffering among the
poor. The organized means of applying such
gifts offer the best opportunity to those who
have not leisure to search out cases of distress,
or to investigate such as present themselves for
relief. The most importunate claimants for as
sistance are usually neither the most necessitous
nor the most worthy