Nashville patriot. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1858-1860, 1858-10-15
EIanners-Their Want and
their Influence.
Good

associate the idea OF pOllteneSs with prefen-
sion and hypocrisy; and this erroneous opin-
ion excrts unfortunate Influence upon The /
manners and social bearing of millions. J
say unfortunate influence, for the reason thct
every cause of coarseness and yulgarity
deserves to be deeply deplored.
Few characteristic are worthy of higher
estimation than true pOliteness, dignified and
genteel depaI tment. And that none sboHld
mistake my intention. let me remark that by-
the term politeness / mean something far
higher and noble than may seem TO attach 10
the idea. There is much that passes with
the ignorant and dishonest as politCneSs
which deserves not the name, aud should find
no advocate among sober and intelligent p.o-
pie. To bow with grace and smile with
complaisance, to assume manner of suavity
and kindness which has no benevolence. no
heart in it, to put on the manner of courteous
bearing merely to serve a purpose. and to lay
it aside when the occasion that called il forth
was passed by is the mere counterfeit of the
manners of well-bred and genteel society,"
Dancing masters, fOps, and tiirts may be eX-
cused for the practice of this spurious style of
pOliteness, but that which respectable and
intelligent people should possess, and which
should he taughe in all our schools. is
unlike this as gold is unlike its cheapest
counterfeit. 1t has its origin in the
heart. 1t is the development and
exercise of outward manifestation, the
practical application of the royal law.
Whatsoever We wonld that men should do to
you, do you even so to them AS We wish
others to treat us with kind respect, showing
a regard for our feelings and desire for our
happiness, so should he our manner toward
them. This spirit will ever induce genuine
courtesy ana politcness, as a characteristic of
human intercourse. And the possession and
exercise of this spirit among all people would
go far to induce the highest well-being of
society. DissensiOn, strife, bitterness and
numberless other sources of misery would
seldom arise.
But the tendency of things at the present
day is not in the direction of this temper and
tone of bearing, but decidedly the reverse
And in this respect, as in regard to health,
therer manifcstly has been rapid progress in
the wrong direction during the last twenty
years.
Psychologists affirm that the organ of
reverence is much less prominently developed
upon the crana of our youth than upon those
of their parents. However this may be. it
requires but little Investigation to make the
discovery that Young AmeriCa acknowledges
no supcriOrs within the circle of his acquain-
lance. He has heard so much nonsense in re-
gard to the unparalleled greatness and glory
OF the American people, there wisdom and
powers. their vast and overwhelming
superiority to all other nations, that he has
come to the absurd conclusion that 1--WE are
the people. and wisdom will die with u.s.
And, unfortunately for him, he has in some
way dcduced the conclusion that among all
the thirty millions of wise men and heroes
who make up this great nation. no one is
quite so wise aud heroic as his own individual
self. This elevated self-estmatiOn leads him
70 take on airs not at all expressive OF respect
for the opinions of others. To treat them
dcfcrcntially would be to treat himself with
ineignity. This temper or necessity leads to
c0arsrness and rudeness of bearing, to gross
violations of all the principles oftrue courtesy
OF genuine politcness.
In regard to this matter the schools of our
land have not been faultlcss. The new race
of teachers doubtless have done much to foster
this evil. People who are now forty years of
age very well remember that in their school
days the practice Of politeness, in form at
least. was requirement 1CLich none could
disregard nth imp,Hdy. No boy entertained
such Just and appreciatiVe IDEAS Of the virtue
which there is in the rod and ferule as he who
had been guilty of what the teacher held to
b. an infraction of the rules of good manners.
When, going to or returning from school, the
children met any persons who We're their
elders. they ranged themselves in line upon
one side of the road and made Obeisance.-
And when out in the streets during their
recess, however vOciferously interested in
their pastimes, no traveller made his appear
ance whose approach did not cause an
immediate hush of voices and suspension of
exciting sports. The tribute of a bow was
cherfully paid, and not till he had passed be
yond their immediate neighbOrhoOd did they
resume their plays. When they entered or
left the schOol-rOOm, when they took and
retired from the place of recitation, the bow
and the courtesy were the preliminary and
finale of the performance.
Although this practice, in itself considered.
was Of little worth, yet, as token Of respect
fitness, as sign of goodwill. it was of high
value. 1t was an outward manifestation or
symbol of an inward state spirit which il
would be well for all to possess, and which
should be assiduOusly cultured in the minds
of the young.
But where, in all our land does this good
old practice now prevail? Where are the
evidences in our children of the possession of
that spirit of kind respect and appropriate re-
gard for their superiOrs in years and wisdom?
Who does not know that bows and courtesies,
on the part of our boys and girls, are obsolete
both in idea and practice, and re numbered
with the lost arts of the ancients! 1t has
been remarked that there are thousands OF
boys in this great country not one of whom
has ever made how, unless when he had
occasion to dodge SNOWFALL, brickbat, or
boulder
Some eight or ten winters since eX-Gover-
nor Everett, of Massachusetts, with the late
Amos Lawrence, was in sleigh riding into
Boston As they approached a scbool-house
Il score of young boys rushed into the street
to enjoy their afternoon recess. Said the
Governor 10 his friend. ''Let us observe
whether these boys make Obeisance to us, as
we were taught fifty years ago" At the
same time he expressed the fear that habits
OF civiity were less practiscd than formerly.
As they passed the school-house all question
and doubt upon the subject received IA speedy
if not satisfactory settlement: for each one
of those twenty juvenile New Englanders did
bis best at snow-balling the wayfaring
dignitaries.
This is perhaps an extreme instance of the
unfortunate change which fifty years have
wrought in the habits of the young. In the
language of Mr.. Northend. the distinguished
Principal of the Connecticut State Normal
School, That more regard should be
manifested by the young To rules of etiquette
and courtesy must be admitted by every
observing mind. There is too little reverence
for age and authority; too slight respect to
law of both man aud God. The transition
from boyhood to imagined manhood is
altogether too rapid, as 10y it the son is often
placed above the parent. and the taught be-
come wiser, an their estimdtioR, than their
teachers. Boys, in their undue anxiety to
become men, are neither men nor boys, but
form new. peculiar race. ''-Repon Of the
Re0. Il. Sulti, Commissioner of Public Schools,
OHIO.