Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1883-11-03
A LECTURE ON MANNERS.

"A 1I1ICxOIGL YIN MANNEN0N
When the audience in Barn Hall had
taken their seats, Superintendent Dick
arose and asked them to kindly excuse
Lecturer John Spicer for ~lateness, as he
was waiting to hear his cousin Nell de-
scribe n other kind of bad
superintendent Dick said he believed
that Lecturer Spicerh had heard of either
five or six kinds of bad manners, he
was not sure which: and while the au-
dience were waiting, he himself would
tell them something he had heard his
grandmother say about His
grandmother said that when her mother
was a little girl, children in the coun-
try who were outdoors playing or
walking, used to make bows and court
estes to people who were riding past.
The boys made bows and the girls made
courtesies, and doing this was called
"making their manners" Superin-
tendent Dick said that if the girls pres
ent did not know how to make a court
esy, he would show them; and then he
bobbed down and up in q very funny
way.
He then asked the audience to rise
and make their manners, upon which
they rose with much noise and quick
ness, and the boys made each one his
own kind of a bow, and the girls each
n her own kind of q courtesy, and
the whole effect was so funny that SUI
%perintendent Dick could not help
laughing, and neither could the boys
and girls themselves. In the midst of
the merriment Lecturer Spicer entered,
and the audience seated themselves as
quietly as they were able to. Lecturer
Spicer then took his stand in front, and
after making has manners, which is to
say. his bow, he began as follows:
Ladies and gentlemen, manner means
way, and q manner is a way, and man
ners mean ways. The ways you do
things are your The ways
you look, the ways you speak, the ways
you act, the ways you move, the ways
you eat, are your manners. What YOU
do with your hat is a part of your man
ners. lido not mean hanging it up. I
mean taking it off or keeping it on.
kind of manners, because every
body has to have some kind
of ways to do things. There are two
kinds of manners; I will mention them.
Good ones and bad ones. Your face
looks better when you are having good
manners than it looks when you are
having bad ones. 1 have heard of six
kinds Of bad manners, and one more. l
will mention them. Pig manners, one;
Bear manners, two; Donkey manners,
three; Post manners, four; Cock-a-doo-
dle-doo manners, five; Cow-in-the-par-
lor manners, six.
First. Pig manners; and if you want
20 know what they are, 90 look in
the pigs pen when their dinner is
being put into their trough. Every
piggy hurries to get the most, and get
the best. Every piggy looks out for it.
self, and does not care about the other
Ones. Children that have pig
are the kind that want to be helped first
at meal times, and want the best things
for themselves, and the biggest pieces.
They look out for themselves and do
not care about other people getting any
thing good.
Second. Bear Children
that have bear manner are the kind
that are grutf, and glum, and growly.
They nave c~ross-lookingg faces and some
times stick their lips out, and snarl, and
growl, and are most always a-grumbling
and a-growling about something they
want to do OF they don't want to do.
They talk in this way: "Find my hat!'
Il want to go out!'' "Open the door,"
~ want something to eat!'' and never
think OF a please or a Mank you, and
they get cross very often, and look
cross.
Third. Donkey manners Children
that have donkey manners are the kind
that want to do just what they want to
and nothing else, no matter how much
you may ask them and coax them. If
you ask them to move, they stay still.
Ii you ask them to stay still, they move.
II you ask them to keep quiet, they
make a noise. If you ask them to make
a noise, they keep quiet. If you ask
them to so of an errand, they say:
"Don't want to!' or, 81 amt a-eoino
top and the worst kind say: 81 WWill!5
and 81 won't!!" When they are plav-
ing, they never will do what the others
want to, but only what they themselves
want to.
Fourth. Post manners. Children that
have post are the kind that do
not answer when they are spoken to.
any more than a post would. If a
visitor says: "How do you do?" or:
"Do you like to play tag?" or; "Do
you like pictures?" or butterflies. or
anything, they stand still as a post and
90 not speak; but may be if YOU should
ask them if they liked candy, they would
speak one word, and 1 guess il would
be yes.
Fifth: Cock-a-doodle-doo tanners
The children that have cock-a-doodle.
doc banners are the kind that feel bio
and act SO. When a rooster struts round
among hens he acts as if he felt SO bio
ne did not know what to do, and some,
tlnies he seems to feel so bio that he
mas TO get up on a fence and clan his
wings, and crow, Observation-Disclosures
sometimes there'll be a lot of fellows
playing, and a cock-a-doodle-doo fellow
Will come there, and he'll act as # he
thought he knew more than all the rest
and thought he knew the right way to-