The Vancouver independent. (Vancouver, W.T. [Wash.]) 1875-1910, 1880-10-07
A Criticism on our Manners.

terS winch analIZe our AIuSr.Cah HtaH-
ners and contrast them with the nlsn-
ners of the older society Of Europe, and
particularly of Southern Europe. Mr..
Jarves has lived long in Italy, hut he
went there from Boston, and the Ameri
can manners, to which he gives his chief
attention, are those he has observed in
the Puritan capital.
l, is very plain that Mr.. Jaryes re-
mei.oers ~unpleasantlv the breeding Of
Bostoa, which seems to him all the more
revo .ag in its GOODNESS and stiffness
VILE. ..r sits in comparison with that of
Flor .c", fer instance. He objects to
TIA T., .onians for their lack of sponta-
net, II for the frequent absence of
era Id courtesy in their bearing, and
say ai.o very good and true thing when
he ,,serves chat while our Puritan
friends are making most patient and
pl4 worthy efforts to increase their &C.
qua.Atance with art, of the simple and
gen1ine love of beauty for the sake of
beauty they have very little. They are
not a spontaneous people.
Therefore, their courtesy betrays a
lack Of grace and of ease which never
fails to show itself where the instructive
enjoyment of beauty and the inbred de.
sire of pleasing are not pleasant. You
can polish a man, but no school OF man.
ners will make him a gracious and
courtly gentleman, courteous from natu-
raj repugnance to rude and inharmon.
ious conduct, and with 4 delicate per-
ception of what is required of him, and
witha careful regard for the minor rights
and feelings of those with whom he as
s~ociates. Fe must be born with the
qualities which are the basis of all true
manners, and they must be trained to
their right DEVELOPMENT. For no rIan
ners can be cal &C thoroughly polite and
thoroughly well-bred which do not seem
to be the natural expression of the in
dividual. They must not be assumed
will an effort and for the occasion, but
mus. come spontaneously, or have been
ma , by long habit a second nature.
T is why an experienced man of the
W, 1t finds so little difficulty in detect
in What is called a snob or cad.
l. is a great mistake to suppose, as
soale men do, that feminine beauty de-
parted from Boston generations ago,
never to return. In truth, no city of
its size in the Union can present finer
types of beautiful w~omanhood than Bos-
ton, and they are very frequent. The
girls in the shops are much better look
ing than the average Of young ONE in
the same employment elsewhere and
The Rev. Phillip Brooks breaches in
Trinity Church in the midst Of a very
garden Of lovely girls, whose beauty is
enhanced by the expression Of admira-
ton and devcut faith in the preacher
which animates their softlv-outlined
c-ountenances. Some of them may put
OIL eyeglasses to observe the stalwar.
bachelor rector more closely, but both
eve glasses and angular figures are more
uncommon in Trinity Church than some
of the maligners of Boston would have
US believe. 1t is true the stranger in
Boston is surprised to meet so many
young people of both sexes who carry
the badge of near sightedness, but there
are hosts of pretty girls there who have
no need to display it.
And yet Mr.. Jarvis speaks truly
when he talks OF the frequent lack Of
ideal grace in the manners of Boston
woaen. They seem, indeed, very often
to Grspise sweetness and g~raciousness of
bearing. They will dote on pictorial art,
and in household art they are adopts,
while classical music inspires their aul-
bition but in hat most beautiful and
lovely Of all arts, the art of pleasing,
they take little pains to be proficient.
THIS criticism does not apply to Bos-
ton women only. 1t has, indeed, a very
gene. application in this country.
W IS called'culture has been preached
a4o nd urged for many years, until
tn IN has become almost odious, and
the Is Row a very general and com
me:.Ga5 desire on the part Of the PEG
pie WI, lave n education 10 90 on
with t..e recess. But how many girls
aye aNag- LAT above all beauty of per
son, " Ahich our women are so Law
ishly eat we'd, and even above stores of
knowled - IN music and art, languages,
mathematics, physics and metaphysics,
are the sweet and gracious and charm
ing manners which are the expression
OF an honest desire to please, and a love-
illness of disposition that finds s~atisfac-
+ion oDlv IN c~on+rihutinO to the hapui-