Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1852-1859, 1859-03-11

half by n woman and caught" 1t has got n
good start and goes well.
---->.o.S
DECLINE AND FALL OF PoLITENEss AMONG THE
FRENcH.--lt was a source of much regret to Mr.
Detective Bucket, that young French lady
whom that sensitive officer had in custody for
murder, failed in some of her actions and re.
marks to sustain the honorable reputation for
polteness, that people of her nation had acquir-
ed. The reader of "Bleak House" will recollect
this fact; and may perhaps be able to estimate
the pain which Mr.. Bucket would have felt, had
he known that French politeness was to become,
in n few years, almost an obsolete thing That
such is the melancholy truth we learn from an
ingenious author of a letter to the New York
ErprcSs who writing from Paris, says:
A day or two ago, an elderly gentleman, a
gentleman of the ancient regime complained to
me in bitter terms ofthe change which had taken
place in the manners Of the present generation
as compared with the last. know it is charged
upon old gentlemen, that, in their estimation.
and theirs only, the world deteriorates instead
of progressing. But my old gentleman was
quite right, am convinced, in declaring that
French courtesy and uTbanity have undergone
lamentablc changes in the last few years The
present epoch is truly one of emancipation, and
one yoke from which the great majority Of Eu-
rOpDanS nave entlrely ITeeu themselves Is tllc
dominion of po.iteness.
1t is indeed curious to compare the CeremOni-
Gus civility and breeding of people of the old
school, with the careessncss and familiarity of
the present generation. OF the hundred chap
ters which composed the code ofetquette,
every section OF which was law to any man who
did not wish to be considered an ill-urccd per-
son, we will examine only the chapter of Saluta-
tiors. Short enough has tha, chapter become
to-day, with but tritiing variations in its FORMS
Instead of the once ceremonious doiiing OF the
hat and equally ceremoniouS bow, thrice repeat
ed, with a courteous inquiry as to the health OF
the saluted individual, we have now in France
much more otf-hand mode of recognising ac-
ouaintances. The commOnest is-JOnj joUrcher!
the word cher being indiscriminately applied
to every one. Hardly less tfiPPant is the com
meRt dtiezUOus? or perhaps the comment Das-tH'
with which some unknown to you yester-
day, famiarly greets you Tomorrow. The
second person, singular, corresponding with the
mode of sautation used by the Society of Friends
in our own country, is in French, consccrated
to the expression of the nearest ties OF kindred
or the closest amty. Yet it now frequently
happens that people who have only met once,
and hardly know each others names, upon pas
sing accidentally in the street, adopt this almost
sacred form of recognition. OfcourSc this only
occurs amongst certain class, but it is very
large class; aud this lack Of breeding, as mani
tested in what would have been considered,
few years ago, not only fragrant breach pro-
priety, but an absolute insult to strong contir-
nation of the downward tendency of politeness
in France. Acquaintances become familiar be-
fore they have had time to become friends.
In the drawing-rooms, except those of the
HIGHEST tone in which the traditions of past
ages are still religiOusly observed, the bearing
of visitors is scarcely less free and easy.
gentleman swaggers into the room with an eye
Glass straddling his nose. Ten chances to one
he cannot see as well with it as without it; but
that's nothing-it is fashionable to be short
sighted. With the supposed aid of this tele-
scope the visitor endeavors to distinguish the
lady of the house, in the midst of the crowd If
he succeeds in recognising her, he presses his
hat couyulsiyely upon the pit of his stomach,
elbows his way through the throng, and after
catching the lady's eve accomplishes two short,
snosu,odic Jerks of his body, without the utter
once of n single syllable-and the job is dome
The visitors duty has been fully performed,
and nobody need expect anything further from
him in the wav of salutntions. He is now free
TO attend to his dancing-if he Dances whichis
rare: or to his appetite, if he has purPosely alb
stained from dining in order to do ample justice
TO the supper-which is more common. Did
Won ever read Moliere's comedy of the BONrgeolS
l1sntitbOmne /? What gentleman, indeed,
would NJ. Jourdain have been, amongst TINS
rabble -,
One can hardly wish gentleman in draw
inc room to return to the ancient style ot three
nrofound reverenceS before each OF his lady ac-
o,,ointanccs-particulary as there is generally
hut n limited amount of space in the crowded
saloons of the present time, for so elaborate
performance. At the same time, ilttte more