The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1883-02-10
TRUE POLITENESs OUT OF DOORS.

One can scarcely take up n paper
nowadays without coming across q
paragraph warning girls against street
ilirtations. have waited a long time
hoping some one would speak to the
boys on the subject, but as no one does
| am going to talk to them little about
it myself.
have observed that there are always
two parties to Irritation, and if one is n
Girl, the other is Just as certain to be q
i oy; and if flirting is wrong for one,
why is 1t right for tbe otherp
So | said to mischievous lad once:
Bob, did you ever flirt on the street,"
ITO be sure ! have lots of times"
he responded, with much frankness.
Have you any respect for young
lady who tiirts on the street," | went
on.
"1'hey aren't worth &tacts," was his
answer.
why isn't it just as bad for boysP"
asked
"Oh, they are different" said he,
conclusively.
"Would you like to have any one flirt
with your sister," said ], giving q home
thrust
"Pd like to see any fellow try IL"
was the indignant response.
"You should behave toward other
boys sisters as you would have them
behave toward your sisters" said /,
applying the Golden Rule with 81 ght
twist to suit the occasion.
American gentlemen pride them
selves, and with reason, on their polite
behavior to women; but | sonnet mes
fear that the rising generation will not
be so courteous as their fathers were
before them. Young ladies now are
often subie ted to annoyances on the
street, or in public conveyances, in the
shape of stires, bows, ell ow-thrusts,
and attempted conversations which are
very unpleasant. Sometm mes II girl is
foolish enough to respond to such i'm
pertinent ovcriures, and. forgetting her
womanly dignity, to enter into flirta-
ton; that makes matters worse yet; for
a boy always thinks that he has right
to llirt with a girl who llirts back at
him. He makes mistake; he has not
the right, not only because he wrongs
the girl, but because he wrongs himself.
A man can not be truly manly without
he has deeply implanted in his nature a
habitual respect for woman; and the
boy who practices such imperlinences
whenever he has chance is undermine
ing that habif he is bluniing his nobler
sensibilities; he is destroying his moral
tone. Tnis may seem d very serious
view to take of piece of careless non
sense. but it is a true one
1t would be pleasant for lady to feel
whenever she goes out that in the words
of an old song which our grandfathers
used to applaud:
Friends in all the old she'll find,
And brothers in the young
A generous, protecting care is beau
equally beautiful thing for woman to
receive r-to-be-remembered is
a nameless knight in shabby suit, and
ashocking bad hat, who was a passen-
ger in a Fourth avenue horse-car one
rainy morning, and who, when young
girl wished to get out at Stewart with
big bundle and an umbrella to man
age, stopped the car for her, and with
one quick motion raised the umbrella,
then took the bundle, and carefully
shielding the young girl from the wet,
ran with her up the steps to the store.
opened the door, closed the umbrella.
returned the bundle. responded to her
grateful Thank you, sir" with a
touch of the hat and smi Q, then ran
through the pelting storm after his car,
caught it, and disappeared therein.
Equally unforgotten is another gentle
man who, when Broadway coach
stopped in a mud-puddle, which the
same young girl was about to step de-
spairingly into, said frankly: "Nait a
minute Step on my foot, and I'll swing
you across and suiting the action to
the word, he p anted his foot in what
was apparently the worst spot of all,
and as she stepped upon it, with one
deft swing she was landed saee'y on the
opposite pavement, and she went on Ter
way with a thankful heart, and visions
Of Sir Walter Ra'egh fitting through
her brain.
My paper has been occupied S, far
with suggestions as to how you sh uld
behave to other boys sisters. but now,
how shall you behave when you meet
their maiden aunts. their mothers and
their grandmothers? asked my par
ticular Sir Phi lip Sidney question
once. which think throws some light
on this point. will explain that Sir
Philip is clerk in wholesale hardware
tore where they have very long hours