Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1882-01-18
POliteness of French Children.

Politeness with the French is a matter
OF education as well as nature. The
French child is ta1ght that lesson from
the beginning of its existence, and it is
made part of its life. It is the one
thing that is never forgotten. The ship
wrecked Frenchman who could not get
into boat. as he was disappearing under
the waves raised his hat, and with such
bow as be could make under the cir
cumstances, said, "Adieu, Mesdames ;
Adieu, Messieurs," and went to the
fishes. doubt not that it really oc-
CURED, for have seen ladies splashed
by cab on rainy day, smile politely at
the driver A race that has women of
that degree of politeness can never be
anything but polite When such exas-
peration as splashed skirts and stockings
will not ruff1e them, nothing will.
The children are delightful in this
particular. French children do not go
abo, clamoring for the best places and
sulkl1g if they do not get them, and
talking in a rude, boisterous way. They
do not take favJrs and attentions as
matter of course, and unacknowledged
The slightest attention shown them is
acknowledged by the sweetest kind of a
bow-not the dancing masters bow, but
a genuine one - and the invariable
"Merci, Monsieur p or Madame, or
Mademoiselle, as the case may be.
Twas IN compartment with little
French boy of twelve, the precise age at
which American children, as a rule, de-
serve killing for their rudeness and dis
aareeableness. He was dressed fault
lessly, but his clothes were not the chief
charm. / sat between him and the open
window and he was eating pears. Now,
an American boy of that age would
either have dropped the cores upon
the floor, or tossed them out of the win
dow without word to anybody. But
this small gentleman every time, with
"permit me, Monsieur" said in the
most pleasant way, rose and came to the
window and dropped them out, and then,
"Merci, Monsieur" as he quietly took
his seat. It was delight. / am sorry
to say that such small boys do not travel
on American railroads to any alarming
extent. Would they were more fre-
quent.
And when in his seat, if an elderly
person or any one else came in, he was
the very first to rise and offer his place if
it were in the slightest degree more COM
Portable than the one vacant, and the
good nature with which he insisted upon
the new conner taking it was something
"altogether too sweet for anything" as
the faro bankeress would say.
And this boy was no exception. He
was not showboy out posing before the
great American Republic, or such of it
as happened to be in France at the time,
but he was a sample, a type of the regu-
lation French child. have seen just as
much politeness in the ragged waits in
the Faubourg st. Antoine, where the
child never saw the blue sky more than
the little patches that could be seen over
the tops of seven storied houses, as I
ever did in the Champs Elysee. One
Sunday at ST. Cloud, where the ragged
children of poverty are taken by their
mothers for air and light, it was a de-
light to fill the pockets with sweets to
give them. They had no money to buy,
ard tho little human rats looked long
ingly st the riches of the candy stands,
and sous worth made the difference
between perfect happiness and half
pleasure. You gave them the sous
worth, and what glad smile came to
the lips, and accompanied with it was
the delicious half bow and half courtesy,
and invariable "Merci, Monsieur" One
little tot, who could not speak, filed her
tiny mouth with the unheard of delica-
cies she had received, and, too young to
say "nserci," put up her lips to be
kissed.-Nasby, IN Toledo Blade.