Mexico weekly ledger. (Mexico, Mo.) 1855-1956, 1886-08-05

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get, all. Perhaps you never thought
manners were something to be got,
but that they just came Of them
selves. or grew up inside OF you, and
somehow got outside, and that you
need not show you had them unless
you wore your best clothes and felt
just like it. That is all mistake.
They have to be got and then they
have to be worn all the time.
First Of all you want to have man.
ners that viii last. You do not want
to borrow them by imitation, for the
people will know they are yours, and
limitations wear out.
Much rubbing shows the real
composition Of anything, Just as the
constant polishing Of plated silver
shows at last the base metal beneath.
So, if . boy Is at first very polite,
but when somebody bothers him,
or asks him TO 10 errands, or rubs him
the wrong way, he then begins to
get cross and rough, he proves that
his politeness was very thin plating.
Good manners must be founded on
simple, sincere purposes else their
polish vanisbes. 1t is not locks that
makes the manners, and 1t II not
money that makes the style.
If you want to make yourself and
other people happy, you must not be
selfish; and you know what selfish
ness means when you are teasing
some one. You must be really in
earnest and not be kind because il
is fashionable, or because you can
get your own way better; but be-
cause 1T will help some one elss,
though it may net help you, and
then you will not have yeur con-
science troubling you, which ID .
greater hindrance to happiness.
But as we cannot get rid Of it We
have to keep silent by obsying IL
right off, else 1t even spoils our
dreams.
Yet il you have simple, sincere
purposes, you may not have good
manners. Do you not often say Of
some boy: ''Ohl he lis good enough,
but he is so awkward. He has mot
any manners" Or Of girl, "w'hat
is the use of her being so good,
when she has not any tactr'
So you admit that goodness is the
first thing. But your toes do not
feel much better IL they are stepped
on by accident rather than on pur-
pose, though it makes q difference
whether you knock down the often
der or tell him to take care.
/ When knd-hearted sister hunts
for your ball you wish she would
tell all the other fellows that you are
the plague of her life, ana when q
sister asks brother how he likes her
new dress, he need not reply: Every
well. III girls didn't have new clothes
they wouldn't amount to much
Very good boys and girls pick
their teeth at the table, eat fast and
eat with their knife, slam doors, rush
through room recklessly, talk
loud, sit with their knees wide apart,
swing their arms, shake their shoul-
ders, bow as If they were as stif1 as
a ramrod or as timber as a jumping
, jack. so that they bow all over them
selves, never offer older people a
seat, make up faces, say careless
things, and use bad grammar and
slang.
Besides being good you must have
enough to see that all these things
are ungraceful, unneat and rough.
You may not think so at first But
/ have seen many boy oil out Of
sorts just because he has seen sc'me-
one who never does these things, yet
is as good as he is, and whom every
body likes; and have seen many q
girl stand before the glsss and won
der why people look askance at her
aud never ask her to parties.
So manners are something 10 he
: studied, but are not oil to be Of the
same pattern else they will be bor'
rowed. Affected girls and swsager.
, ing and ''dude' boys, always borrow
aud are laughed at.