, 1873-01-19
THE DECLINE OF POL!TEKESs.

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THE DEcl {NE or PDl ITENFSe.
|
From ths London Saturday Rerttts.
In the general breakup OF social habits, +
Whtch NC arc ait more or ieEs contributing Will
iSht hoartH, tue rules OF ,politencss would seen
70 Do gradually disappearing. II tho new condi
tions OF our lives have developed no suitable
etiquette, they have at least producod m NOR
ulnate self-sufhclency. Department" ha
| heen the butt OF facetlous writer's, and it i
haru 10 say whether etiquette has suffered NOR
| from pr1GR1ah friends or from aatr1ca
hconers.. Thcro are many persons wht
thlnk dlsroSard OF ceremony \ hnc proc
| OF advanced ideas. Yet nothing ID bettel
| proved than that noble manners have been I
part of oycIJ noble age To acquire them WAS
half-witted persons wcro excused from the obh'
cations Of etiquette. Not being capable ''f the
manly dignity which requitos and bestows re-
spect, they might chatter and smirk ct will, but
they were not admitted to the equality Which Ii
claimed by our free-and. easy professors Of i'm.
pol'tene6a. Social ritual has been so abused fol
tho purposes OF vanity aud 8ycophancy that it il
easier to expose its absurdity thnn to prove lte
value: distinctions OF rank haso played sc
| miscGieToua part whenever social corruption
has Bot in, that it is tempting to fancy that We
can got On with simpler machinery. In reality,
however, rules OF gesture arc almost Us neces-
gary to sustain civiiity as rules Of speech, and
we can hardly rea1lze how we should endure
much further neglect of them, particularly when
our free fashions camoto be exaggerated by tho
classes below us. Mischief enough comes Of
careless language; but the no-meaning and in-
pertinence OF our phrases would be restrained in
some degree il our fa1niliarities Of manner wore
kept within due bounds.
AS ourSpeech gains in unintellgib1eness our
bows and curtsoys, and notably our hand-shak-
ing acquire moro value. Unfortunately there
would appear to DO increasing revolt agniuat
etiquette and good manners. Now etiquette is
the law Of civil intercourse. the art BY which-to
quote q French authority Of the seventeenth
century, when France WAS Mistress Of European
society-men learn to - SC COMFORTER ctdcua scion
son age ct 50 condition, de prendre toujours gareie
q Ia gualitc lie Ia personne drec laquelle on
trate, de bien observer le temps ct dc regardeT le
ed deluee, it may hardly bo worth while to
trouble ourselvos about tho coming race; yet, If
our children are to bo taught anything, or to
haye any trimming, whether for life in the bush
OF shnre in the universal Republic, they must
be instructed in cisility, which is only another
name for decent and comfortable intercourse
with one's fellows whoever thoy may be. Tho
growing emancipation Of young people from
old-fashioned fofms OF respect would seem to
be nlnking them 10 unendurable in society that
they are moro and more exiled from it. What
docs it profit TINT they possess aI1 knowledge il
they do not behave "accordiug to their age aud
coaa:t!on?" Affection is damped for the learned
little roughs, who would have been delightful II
only they had been trained in habits OF respect
by attention to it's outward and visible signs.
STATURE la" not altogether "a holy thing" Whit
ever 'Snueers and Rousseau NAV asse1t she has
to be roformed from the cradle, and infant-school
teachers can witness how important the conduct
OF tho BODY ia in trainipg children, We see how
charminu it ia in Russian child to kiss Lis
parents hand. TO remain standing until bid
ian tn sit and listen until asked to Break,
Tho discipline of these Tartars and CosBacks il
tho same in which ol1r Philip Sidneye and Jane
G-eys were ttaincd. which gave models to Van
dyke, and kent green tho family nffection that
was once cur boast, and we hardly do well to
neclect it. We certainly provide sufficient dis
comfort for ourselves during those fov minutes
in which our Bottles and our Hildas, admitted to
css or infl1ct the rseries of rudencss, both Of
which would have been avoided il habittlal good
manners had nut everybody in his right
groove. The huu6rs Of tho risng generation
aro almost past Joke. We shall soon painfully
learn behavior as pages in othor households, and
The Gnefic lava of fnsterace applicable to Prince
and peasant may regain approval. Our few re-
naming opportunities of learning manners are
before competitive examination;
vet fortunately, 10 long Us military service re-
mains, certain gestures Of respect will contino
TO be recognized as necessary to discipline, and
discipline as necessary to seryiceab1eness.
Even gupposinr Tint women mud children we're |
once more to be trained to giyo and require re- |
spect. there would still remain tie danger Of |
HAT Unsuitable familiarity which is breaking |
lovn among men more important breakwatera |
Lhan those Of rank aud woafth. Let us not fiat |
tgr ourse1yes that yLen pergons Of the upper
,lassos profess indifference to ceremony they
show q frank humility. whichever they arc
aiken at their word they Immediately retire into
or titled superiority. Az rulos are
1ronnea intercourge becomes more difficult be-
- een persons OF different station, who might
,e friendly Il each man on1yt knew what manner
WA oxnectad Of hiro- but Who now oscillate be-
-reen seryil;ty anf1 nrrocnnco. The aneasy mil
ionairo SHAKES Lis hand OF in Ills effort 10 ex-
.use his creatnoss: but it ia thankless, md, IN
lot veather. unpleagant work: nor can one
>een taught to think not shaking hands an in
'ult should grow on him, Our National but
modern salutatlon, SINCE 1t has
oplaced other forms, hns been tried By au
manner OF mon for all manner OF purposes,
md has been found wanting for the
,ood, but usefn1 for tho bad ends OF inter-
oursc. No longer pledge Of troth, it is too
'ftcn pledge Of mutual suspicion and hypoc-
iBy, and it has been founa that citizen kinga,
:mperprB OF the, blou6eB, and other magnateB