Ottumwa weekly courier. (Ottumwa, Wapello County, Iowa) 1872-1899, 1875-10-13
Home COurtesie e..
From the Progressive Farmer


amenities Of life too precious to be
wasted in the home circle. ! differ
from all such, and believe that true
courtesy, like charity, begins at home.
Like charity, too, il begun at home,
it naturally and inevitably reaches
far beyond, and blcsses all who come
under its influence. Be habitually
courteous and gentle in your own
home, and strangers and society in
general will feel the sunny charms of
your winning ways. All genuine re-
tinement flows from the heart, and he
who wishes to cultivate his manners
i'm any high sense, must first make sure
that no coarse desire, no spiteful wish,
selfish greed, jealousy or hatred corr
rupts this fountain head. The home
is the only proper school that confers
the discipline which make the true la
dies and gentlemen. The time to be-
gin to practice these virtues is in ear
~ childhood. The teachers and cx-
emplars who influence toward this
loveliness and illustrate the beauty of
what they teach by their daily walk
and conversation, are the father and
mother. Nothing makes home more
attractive than the habitual express
sion of that unselfishness which is the
foundation of any real politencss.-
Nothing exercises more wholesome
moral influence over children than
the atmosphere of love and tender
good will that peryades the home i'm
which the father and mother do not
forget to be constantly polite to each
other and the little ones. How can a
boy return a surley answer to the
mother who says ''please. my son,
and ''thank yOu," when the service
has been rendered.
Nowhere do good manners or their
lack, show more strikingly than at the
table. The younger ones come with
a strong appetite and natural impa.
thence of childhood. The mother is
frequently tired from the labor OF
preparing the meal, the father in a
hurry to return to hisiwork. Too Of
ten the meal is a hasty scramble tC
satisfy hunger, without a thought OF
attention to any but '!big L. or a care
as to how the food is eaten if only
enough can be had to satisfy hunger
Now a meal eaten in this way not OH.
ly presents an unpleasant spectacle to
refined eyes, but it actually tends to
degrade those who partake of it,
Greed and seltishness are Just as SIM
full at the table as anywhere else. The
child of two years old, who cries to
! be and Is helped fast, receives u sSxonn
respect. The mother who teaches hel
children to control their appetites, to
wait on their elders and each other,
to eat slowly and with moderation,
teaches good manners-dnd mach
more.
Then there are the ready excuses
for others faults, and the praises fol
good deeds and pleasant looks, tho
oppressed gratitude for favOrs, and
the thousand nameless attentions thai
the most of us lavish so freely upor
strangers. These can nowhere be sc
probably practiced as at home. Tit
"good night" and ''good morning,
the loving anxiety as to health, tn,
desire to carry one another's burdens
the willingness to yield our own com
fort to the more highly valuable com
fort of some other member of tn
family-these things sweeten life ant
brighten every day experience n
nothing else can. They are not throw
away ut home. They are sown upol
good ground and will yield a ricl
harvest. The beautiful culture ant
refinement that result from such at
tention TO little acts of kindness, cx
employing its importance. To be :
thorough lady or gentleman, is to b,
a christian in the so-called lesser mat
tiers of the land. The boy or cir
who treats father and mother, broth
or and sister with genuine courtes.
and unscliish affection, will not b.
rude to strangers or wanting in tina
self-respect that will make it wei
nigh impossible to condescend Il
meanness of any kind. Let us max
our homes radient with the courtes,
that is from the heart, and its glow
| will surely be reflected in our inter.
course with the world.