The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1873-07-29
Warm Weather Politeness.

81 think love M-as well as If he were
dcad,'' is quoted as a good saying of a famous
humorist. And certainly there is a world of
meaning in it; quiet sarcasm on our human
trallties and ON our impatience of our friends.
While men live, ii they have any individuality,
or character of their own, they are mutually
disagreeabe as we'll as mutually pleasant
Selfassertion always implies the demand upon
Others OF surrender, and III a man cannot
claim Difference of his friends, OF whom NAV
he expect IL? One meets the stranger WI ,m
he is prepare. to welcome or 10 eoncii ate
with an entire surrender Of his own peculiar
choices and preferences. The ''kotow" or
profound salaam, which the Chinese emperor
used 10 exact from everybody, and which a. a
humiliating exactiOn has been successfully
resisted and overthrown b. the torcign minis
tiers, Is eheertully aeceded 30 in advance BE-
tween mere acquaintance, when they meet
in civilized Western society. But II acquain-
tance i 10 ripcn into friendship. the ceremony
OF mutual surrender h laid aside, and mutual
demand IS lnsisted on. Perhaps Il = because
the European powefs desire % cultivate
friendship with The Mongoi thai they begin
heir new state Of cordial understanding 18th
a NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.. This i the practical
working Of friendship. a. the World goes.
But when death, the great solver of riddles,
comes In with his sii1stments and explanA-
tons, then We end out how earnestly He i0xs
those whom Ne shan see no more. II onlv
they could BE- called back 10 hic, NO psssisie
sacTiace on cur part should b. dcniea then.
Even oar wholesome resistance Il their de-
manas-Wholcsome on both sides-sould no
more b. repeated. so men think. Bur
| PrOyidence has ordered thing better. The
''wOundS" % friendship and affection are
among the best conditions Of human Ties.
| The wise man sAys such wounds are faithful. =
/ Yet should they never be thoughtlessly given
OF seliishly. la the words quoted at the bead
Of these paragraphs, we should love our friends
s.as II they we're dead II our friends, why
/ then Of course our husbands and wives, our
parents and children, brothers and sisters.
i The small yexati0ns OF human life, are now,
in these hot days. at their rhighest-rising with
the thermometer. The measure Of family
IrritabiGty is often graded by the weather glass.
/ The tens OF thousands who cannot find their
way ont OF the cities in the summer can enjoy
| themselves even better than the tens Of hun
dreds who fret at small inconvenience In so
called summer retreats. But the condition
precedent TO all enjoyment, at home or abroad,
Is in the determination TO take the world
| QUIETLY and to be as courteous to your wife
or husband as If he or she were some distin-
guished individual whom you were casually
meeting at the seaside. Especially is this
| courtesy aud forbearance due to the house
| kee; ers who preside over the vexatious do
| main indoors. A great deal is said by all the
| women-folk about their "trouble with domes
tics.' Are not husbands and sons at least al
domestic as hired stranger? And are
they not the cause quite as much trouble /?
If the women dared to speak out, their homes
verdict would, many times, be that the terror
of the kitchen is not nearly so great as The
terror of the exactiug ''man of the house,
who thinks there is no more Iced OF dinne
failure than there is Of suffering business
note to go to protest.
Business matters may be regulated. Bn
no regulation can always stop eggs from ad
ding, milk from going sour, bread from undu,
| fermentation, meat from "ripening," ice from
rapid melting ON an unusually hot day, the
boy from being behind time. There are as many
combinations necessary TO punctual anc
successful breakfast or dinner as there are to .
great hit in military strategy, Let any one o.
| several things fail, and the whole arrangement
is obstructed, if not defeated And when, to
crown all the unhappiness and the disasters
the imam of the house, comes in, either tC
complain in terms, or to let moody and ex.
pressive silence exhibit his dissatisfaction,
why it is nearly as much as women can endure
So in this hot weather good advice to husbands
would be "dine out, "not literally but meta
phorcally, to the extent of carrying home
the same politeness with which they assured
Mrs. Smith or Mrs. Jones, over the way, thai
| her latest unfortunate failure to entertain was
a ssperfect success And then-why, ii Ma
Dame did refuse to accept the Precipitation
Mister would not be to oblame.-PpiLade,ph
| BulL9tin.