Middletown transcript., 1881-09-09
AMERICAN AND FOREIGN
MANNERS.

MANNERS.
The American claims, instinctively
and implicitly, natural and inborn
right to the companionship, and, to a
certain extent, the sympathy of whom
soever he meets. This is his first claim
upon society at large. The English
man claims, as inStinctively and i'm
plicitly right to be left alone when
ever and wherever he please. The one
is ever aggressive, the other ever on the
defensive. When the two meet on
neutral ground, it is not unnatural that
they should tread upon each others
toes little, metaphorically speaking
Go up to an Englishman in the street
and bluntly ask him the way to such
and such building, and he will re-
ward the unprOvoked onslaught upon
his privacy with the very coolest of as
tOnished stares. But if you preface
your question with an 81 beg your
pardon acknowledging thereby that
you are asking a gratuitous favor he
will answer you very civilly indeed,
and even go out of his way to show you
yours. In the dense crowd coming out
of one of the concerts at Birmingham
festival, a well-dressed American looked
into the face Of an equally well-dressed
Englishman Ia total stranger to him),
and said iokingly, "Pretty tight
squeeze, isn't it ?'' The Englishman
replied with whitening GOODNESS, "I'm
sure can't see why you should address
me in this disgustingly familiar man
ner p A conversation abruptly
launched into an English railway car
riage will probably be cut short at the
outset by what strikes us Americans as
very gratuitously rude eurtness. But
if the conversation is introduced by
that unfailing Open-sesame, :" / beg
your pardon it will flow IN very
pleasantly, as likely as not end in an
invitation to pass a week or so at a
country house. Americans are often
shocked at the apparently insolent bear
ing of German shop-keepers, especially
of German bankers. 1t rarely occurs
to them that they themselves have
opened hostilities, as it were, by break
ing the very first rule of German good
breeding in keeping their hats ON. In
Germany man just as scrupuously
takes off his hat, and keeps it off, in
shop or counting-roOm as in a lady's
parlor.
An American of our acquaintance
once happened to be one of a party of
six who went to the top of a certain
tower in Germany, the view from
which is famous. The party was shown
the way by the daughter Of the guar
dian Of the tower, a comely young girl
of seventeen or thereabouts our friend |
treated her with common politeness,
but Frenchman, who was one of the
party, was so demonstratively and over
attentive and gallant that |
the American began to feel as if he
had been somewhat rude in comparison |
with such a pyrotechnic display of |
courtesy. Well, when the party had
got to the top Of the tower, they found |
only one chair there, upon which the
Frenchman Immediately seated him
self. This authentic anecdote is quite |
If we Americans stand |
for good, solid, efficient |
politeness, we certainly are deplorably |
deficient in manner. We have neither
the dignified repose of the English, nor
the grace of continental Europeans.
Possibly we are shy, and try to hide our
shyness under an assumed gruffness of |
bearing. Certainly, it seems, nine
times out of ten, as if an American,
even while performing a very polite act,
thought himself degraded by any out |
ward show of courtesy. He may will
Iingly and cheerfully offer his seat to
lady, and be perfectly content to stand
himself, but his manner of making the
offer is almost insulting. He will growl
out, " Take my seat'' in a voice that
seems to imply, "and be id to you p
Or else he will make the offer with
iovial familiarity of manner which would
be quite in keeping between two old
in a tap-rOom. We
may be rich in the solid gold, but we
are poor indeed in the small change of
politeness. Fine words butter no
y say we; this is mistake
fine words land manners) butter all
sorts of parsnips indeed, as Thackeray
says, there are many people whose par
ships are buttered in no other way
Boston Transcript