Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1873-05-02

the children. for you, and for all OF us
The wife's reply surprised him. Tor she
decidedly objected to such an arrangement:
"why, my dear, l thought you liked IT,
$50 do, for little while. don't know
but should like to live here always under
some circumstances; but.
"But WHAT"
After a while she told us. The truth is'
corldn't trust ourselves to live here.
People among Romans, you know, and 1t
wonldn't be three months before James
would come into the parlor without coat
pantaloons tucked into the top OF his
boots and directly we should be SIT
ting down to dinner with all the
hands, and should grow careless ana e.
we should forget to love each other ana Il
the children's health improved their man
ners would decidedly retrograde, and
d" And then ," asked the gentleman, smll-
ing.
+" And then instead of a pleasant, refined
home. we should have just a work-house
convenient to take our meals in and to stay
in s'nights.
d" But suppose we should fall into those
dreadful ways and our health and morals be
greatly improved. might it not pay alter
an?"
" Would it pay to buy handsome Brus-
sells carpet if you must wear it on your
drawing room wrong side up? What the
good of health you can't enjoy, or OF morals
that don't teach you to be kind to one
another? Why, just this morning J made
Willy give his sister a chair, and why
grew red in the face, and did it very ungra-
ciously. because his cousins were looking at
him. They all sneered and one OF them e1-
claimed. Now, Aunt Jane. don't think
that's fair VIII got that chair and Many
is as able to stand up as he And his
brother muttered with several winks and
mods. That's logical; we believe IN
woman's rights and they all laughed At
the brilliant Joke. Now know these arc
good. honest boys. but they are very rough,
and would rather Willy had stood up
until his back ached than to have received
such lesson as this.
Now it occurred to me that 1t might be a
good thing fer this bright little woman to
come out among these people and spread
her Brussels carpet right SIDE up-put all
the belongings of home in their proper
and appropriate places, and let eyerybo dy
see how much better it is to have things as
they ought to be.
And then wondered why itwould not be
a good thing ior these people themselves to
cultivate politeness, refinement ei manners,
and a decent regard for the prophecies OF
life.
| have seen a southern planter in his log
house Of three divisions, entertaining guests
with bearing that would suit prince in
A palace. The surroundings seemed to take
on something Of his elegance and We felt IN
stinctiyey that he was one to command our
respect and esteem. The same man IN
elegant rooms at Washington, on the floor
of the Senate. would be as graceful and
courteous as with his own friends in his
simple home nothing more. And he Is :
power in the land.
| have seen a Northern farmer, living in
a fine house, possessed of As much wealth as
his Southern brother, quite as intelligent,
so far as the knowledge Of books goes, and
whose morals were decidedly better, who
was so much Off hoor that he could not feel
at home in good society; whose opinions
were unknown or unhceded outside his own
family circle: and who was only looked up
70 bv the man with n subscription paper
and the poor relatives who hoped to be re-
membered in his will.
question whether a Christian man in a
civilized country has right TO bury hi.
talents digging in the earth in that thought
less sort of way.
Politeness Is Christian virtue, and home
is the place to learn it. Company man
ners " are bad for the morals, and ungrace-
ful beside, being put on 50 seldom. Chill
dren need to be drilled constantly in the
forms of politehess, and more than drill
they need the example of parents " kindly
afFeetionei" toward each other, in
honor prelerring one another" " bear
ing one another's burdens" They need to
be taught the principles of selfdenial, rev
erence, respect for superiors, and proper
regard for the feelings of Others.
1t IS hard to make a country boy think il
his duty to pay any attention to the rules
Of etiquette; he has sach profound con-
tempt for shams. such an admiration for
independence he will tell you what is, and
what is not 80 fair that it Is all nonsense
to keep on your coat when you feel better
with it off. that a knife is as good a fork
to eat with, and that he has as good right
to make rules as anybody.
think he might be taught that polite
ness is real thing. and be shown conclu-
siyely the difference between Independence
and bo0rishness. have noticed that these
very boys and girls who do not think it
"payS" to give attention to 50 many little
things, when they go away into the cities
or larger towns find fascination in the
homes where refinement and courtesy reign.
at IS all so different there, they tell you,
and they d" like it
But it might be all SC different y here,
and they " like il, >" too, quite as well.
One great obstacle to a pleasant home
among the farmers, it seems to me, is the
terrible literalness with which they inter-
pref and practise the law Of social equality.
The custom, almost universal, of bring
ing two, four, six, dozen men, one or
two women, strangers, perhaps foreigners,
of good. it may be Of bad character, gen.
orally of careless if not coarse manners, in
to the family as members of it, giving them
places at the table, and in many places
sleeping-rooms with their children at night,
must be productive of much evil.
know the arguments in favor of the
plan. The mistress tells you that 1t makes
less work to set one table, and that the
more beds you can put into one room the
less sweeping there will be to do. The mas
ter tells you that this is democratic cOun-
try, where one man is as good as another.
I'VE ali work together in the same field,
and it would be silly thing to separate
when we come into the house and then, l
was hired man oIce myself"
Now all honor to the " hired man." |
would not by any means speak disrespeet-
| fully of him. know very well that he has
been President of these United States, and
| doubt not he may be'again; that he votes,
and that it is very possible he will one day
stand higher in the social scale than the man
| he works for Nevertheless, respect the
privacy of the family 50 much, believe the
home is 50 sacred, and the training of chill
dren such peculiar and delicate task, thst
| would not admit into its bosom, for any
length of time, any class of strangers from
whom we have not right to expect pure
morals and irreproachable manners
But" | have sometimes heard it said,
90 in this way We elevate the masses"
think that quite the contrary is true.
At the table, for instance, if the converse
ton is not Arrays led by these free and indie
pendent citizens of the United States, it is
so far influenced by their presence that we
do not choose the subjects we would for con-
versation, or talk about anything in free
and natural manner. The Interruptions
which occur where people try to be auto
Gratis of their own tables in the presence Of
a foreign element, are sometimes as ludi-
crous as annoying. Thus, a somewhat