St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1885-03-13
INSTRUCTION IN MANNERS.
Hints to Wives in the Traimin0 of Hu
bands.

Hints to Wives in the Training Of Hus-
bands.
ga judicious wife," says Ruskin, els al :
ways nipping off from her husbands moral
nature little twigs that are growing in wrong
directions. She keeps him in shape by con-
tinual pruning.n
Ii this is true, says writer in the Boston
Globe, there are few points of minor morals
That is manners, on which wish some of my
married friends would give their husbands a
course OF instruction. And first of these is
something, which they were supposed to
have learned in dancing school or in the
nursery at home-that is, how to "make a
bow to the lady," They acquit themselves
pretty creditably on state occasions, during
introduction ceremonies, and so forth b1t
the average man is lamentabl ! careless in the
matter OF street salutations, and not one in
hundred but would get new idea or two
on the subject if you read him the following
paragraph from The Mentor:
In public the bow is the proper mode of
sanitation, and, according to circumstances,
it should be familiar, cordial, respectful or
formal. An inclination with the head or a
gesture with the hand or cane suffices be-
tween men, except when one would be spe-
clally deterrent as to age or position; but in
saluting lady the hat should be removed A
very common mode of doing this at present,
particularly by the younger men, is to Jerk
the hat off and sling it on as hastily as pos
s1ole. AS haste is incompatible with grace,
and as there is an old pantomimic law that
''every picture must be held'' for longer or
shorter time, the jerk-and-sling manner of
removing the hat in salutation is not to be
commended The EN- pressment man puts
into his salutation is graduated by circum-
stances, the most deferential manner being
to carry the hat down the full length of the
arm, keeping it there until the person sa-
luted has passed. If a man stops to speak
to lady in the street he should remain un-
covered, unless the conversation should be
protracted, which is sure not to be if either
OF the party knows and cares to observe the
proprieties. A well-bred man, meeting
lady in public place, though she is near
relative-wife, mother or sister-and though
he may have parted from her half an hour
before, will salute her as deferentially as he
would salute a mere acquaintance The
passers-hy are ignorant of the relationship,
and to them his deferential manner saws:
''She is q lady,
Then there's the matter of tobacco. Of
course you and every other woman agree
with Mrs. Frances Harper when she said, at
the Woman's congress not long since, that
she thought it the proper thing for man to
keep his mouth nice enough to be kissed.
But if your husband will smoke, do use your
influence to have him do it like a gentleman.
If possible. That is, let him put but as much
of his cigar in his mouth as necessary in
order to draw it, keep it in his mouth no
longer than is necessary, and never fail to
remove it when ne talks or passes any one
toward whom he would be respected, especi-
ally lady. Furthermore, convince him if
you can that our best-bred men never smoke
in the street at any hour when it is much
frequented, nor any public place where
smoking is likely to be offensive to others.
And this suggests another thing do excuse
me for speaking of anything so unpleasant,
but wont you please ask him not to use all
creation for a cuspidore? just remind him
that women also have to use the public side
walks and staircases and cars, and that
nothing can prevent dress skirts from brush
ing stairs, or resting on car floors, no matter
how vile said stairs and floors may be- If
every wife would, to quote Ruskin's figure
again, "prune" her husbands evil pro-
pensities in this direction, we might have at
least an abatement of what is now an intol-
cradle nuisance.
Still another point---but, on the whole, If
you are taking to an average man and wish
to keep him good tempered, perhaps, 'twould
be better to change the subject now and have
the rest for some other day.