The Toledo chronicle. [volume] (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1873-1924, 1877-12-13
NOW, OR THEN.

tleman once told; me he thought the
young people of to-day were less man.
nerly than in the olden time, less defer
ential, less decorous. This may be
true, and / tried to be sufficiently defer
ential to my courtly host not to disa-
gree with him!' But when look upon
the young people of my own acquaint-
ance, / recall that William went, as
matter of course, to put the ladies in
their carriage; Jamie took the hand
luggage as naturally as if he were born
for nothing else; Frank never failed to
open u door for them; Arthur placed
Maggie in her chair at table before he
took his own; Nelly and Ruth came to
my party just as sweet and bright as if
they did not know that the young gen.
tlemen whom they had expected to
meet were prevented from attending;
while Lucy will run herself out Of
breath for you, and Mary sits and
listens with efiattering intentness, and
Anne and Alice and-wel, looking
over my constituency, find the young
people charming =. tr.r,os,f n
1t is true that all manners are less
formal, that etiquette is less elaborate,
now than a hundred years ago. Our
grandfathers and grandmothersA sAsome,
indeed, of our fathers and mothers
did not sit at breakfast with their fa-
theirs and mothers, but stood through
the meal, and never spoke except when
spoken to. / cannot say / think we
have 'deteriorated in changing this.
The pleasant, familiar, affectionate in
%x,v> hot ,I.1l
seems, to me one of the most delightful
features of domestic life. The real,
fond intimacy which exists between
parents and children seems a far better
and safer thing than the old fashion of
keeping children at arms length.
But in casting aside forms we are.
perhaps, somewhat in danger of losing
with them some of that inner kindness
of which form is only the outward ex-
preston. Without admitting that we
are an uncivil people, insisting even
that we compare favorably with other
Nations, l wish our boys and girls
would resolve that the courtesy of the
Republic shall never suffer in their
handsi
Does this seem trivial aim for those
who are bending their energies to at
tain high standing in classics and
mathematics? There is perhaps no
single quality that does as much to
make life smooth and comfortable
yes, and successful-as courtesy. No
man can be agreeable without courtesy,
and every separate act of incivility
creates its little, or large, and ever en-
larging circle of displeasure and unhap-
| piness.
Ono does not wish to go through life
trying to be agreeable; but life is a
great failure if one goes through it dis
agreeable. a a4
Yes, little friends, believe, me, you
may be very learned, very skillful, very
accomplished. trust you are; hope
you will become more so. You may
even have sound principles and good
habits; but if people generally do not
like you, it is because there is some
thing wrong in yourself, and the best
thing you can do is to study out what it
| is and correct it as fast as possible. do
not for moment fancy it is because
you are superior to other people that
they dislike you, for superiority never,
of itself, made person unlovely. 1t is
invariably a defect of some sort. Gen
orally it is defect arising from train
ing, and therefore possible to over.
come.
| For instance: two girls in the coun.
4 try have each a pony phaeton. One
drives her sisters, her family, hel
guests, her equals, and never thinks Of
going outside that circle. Another
Idoes the same; but, more than this,
she often takes the cook, the laundress,
| or the one woman who often is cook
1laundress, housemaid, all in one. And
to them the drive is a far greater lux
ury than to her own comrades, who
would be playing croquet or riding il
they were not with her. Now and ther
she invites some poor neighbor, sht
takes some young sempstress or worst
ed-worker to town to do her shopping
she carries the tired housewife to SEE
her mother, she takes three little girls
isomewhat crowded but rapturously
I,happyLthree miles to see the balloon
that has alighted ON the hill; she drives
| . widowed old mother-in-Israel to {
Iteardrinking of which she would other
wise be deprived. These are not char
titles. They are coprtesies, and thil
bripht-faced girl is sunshine in he
vilhge A6mA; and; ~ -and Dy, when he
bsx Of, fnery is by some mistake lef
let the station . stalwart youngster
Lunbidden, shoulders it and bears it
lpanting and perspiring, to her door
step, declaring that he would not do i