The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1883-02-10
TRUE POLITENEss OUT OF DOORS.

One can scarcely take up a paper
nowadays without coming across a
paragraph warning girls against street
tiirtations. | have waited a long time
hoping some one would speak to the
! boys on the subject. but as no one does
am going to talksto them little about
it myself. ...., ..
l have observed that there are always
two parties to Irritation, and if one is a
girl, the other is Just as certain to be a
/ oy; and if flirting is wrong for one,
why is it right for the other?
So | said to mischievous lad once
'Bob, did you ever tlirt on the street?"
ITO be sure | have; lots of times"
he responded, with much frankness.
"Have you any respect for young
lady who hirts on the street," | went
on.
They aren't worth shuctS," was his
answer.
''Why isn't it just as bad for boys?"
/ asked. .ti
"Oh they are dihferentm said he,
conclusively.
Would you like to have any one flirt
with your sister?" said l, giving a home
thrust. --.tt r D.t
I'D like to see any fellow try it,"
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
hnhavinY. n hnt | nc
fear that the rising generation will not
be so courteous as their fathers were
before them. Young ladies now are
often subje ted to annoyances on the
street, or in public conveyances, in the
shape of stlres, bows, ell -thrusts.
and attempted conversations which are
very unpleasant Sonnet mes a girl is
foolish enough to respond to such i'm
pertinent overtures, and. forgetting her
womanly dignity, to enter into rirta-
ton; that makes matters worse vet; for
boy always thinks that he has a right
to fiirt with girl who hirts back at
him. He makes a 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 habi he is blum ing his nobler
sensibilities; he is destroying his moral
tone. L is may seem very serious
view to take of a piece of careless nom
sense, but it is 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: iIsIt,.
Friends IN all the old she'll find, .
And brothers in the young.
generous, protecting care beau
tiful thing for a man to q and an
equally beautiful thing for oman to
receive. Forever-to- be-ren oered is
a nameless knight in shabby suit, and
shocking bad hat, who was 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 heg, and with
one quick motion raised the umbrella,
then took the bundle. and carefully
shielding the young girl from the wet.
I'm 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 %
touch of the hat and smi e, then ran
through the pelting storm after his car,
caught it, and disappeared therein.
Equally unforgotten is another gentle
man who, when a Broadway coach
stopped in q mud-puddle, which the
same young girl was about to step de-
spairingly into, said frankly: await 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 stepred upon it, W tn one
| deit swing she was landed safe'y on the
opposite pavement, and she went on her
way with tina Hkiul heart, and visions
Of Sir Walter Rae gh fitting through
her brain.
Ny paper has been occupied 81 far
with suggestions as to how you should
behave to other boys sisters; but now,
how shall you behave when YOU meet
their maiden aunts. their mothers and
heir grandmothers? asked my par
ocular Sir Phi lip Sidney question
once. which | think throws me light
on this point. will explain that Sir
| Phil is clerk in wholesale hardware
st re where they have very long hours
and very hard ork. Said |: "Phil, do
you a0Gys give up your seat to lady
If she is standing?'