The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1890-04-12
The Little Courtesies of Life Are Not
Sufficiently Taught to
Children.
Coed Advice About Arranging a
Table in Attractive
Style.
Useful Hints for the House-Cleaning Sea-
sOn-HOw and When to Blacken
Stoves, and Other Suggestions.


health, nerves and temper, could be vastly
mitigated by the cultivation of common,
everyday politeness. The truth is that
average politeness is superficial. 1t expends
itself in formalities; in what is called the
payment of social debts; in the prompt re-
turn of calls and the exact rendition OF
social obligations. But the ordinary cour-
tesy which ought to be everyday custom,
or, rather, part of the nature, is woefully
neglected. Disregard of propriety begins
with the children. One can recall in their
acquaintance few families in which defer
ence to age respect for parental authority,
for tho wisdom and experience of their
elders, have been inculcated with regard for
truth, honesty, and purity of thought and
speech.
It is not required of child that he shall
say s'gOOd morning" when he enters the
room at breakfast or good night when he
leaves it for his bed. It never occurs to
him to rise and offer his chair to his par
for the convenience and comfort of others,
because he has never been taught to do SO.
With all the progress that has been made
in art and science, and in education, so far
as it pertains to the mind and the body,
the bad breeding of the ordinary human
being appears only the more glaring.
Street cars and steam cars are filled with
men who spit incessantly, defiling the floor
and frequently the garments of those who,
unfortunately, must sit beside them; with
with persons who there discuss their private
affairs in tones that may be overheard by
the driver on the platform.
People with no understanding or appre-
citation frequent the theater and opera; they
do not care to hear themselves; they are
kt11~n %<>H kNc %hr% Hh1x1
and they ruin the enjoyment of everybody
around them. This vulgarity is not con-
fined TO the poor and the ignorant. It is
probably more common among those who,
If they have not the right natural instinct,
have had the opportunity to see and learn.
fciently courteous neglect the small mat
ters, although in the greater they may be
fastidiously exacting. They ignore the
questions in letters; they neglect to return
The book Or whatever else may have been
borrowed; or, if it has been unavoidable
F delay fail to make the explanation and
apology that are due. They fail to acknowl-
edge by word or letter the favor they did
not hesitate to accept, and worse than all,
discriminate between the poor, the friend
less, and the rich and those who are greatly
sought.
The genuinely courteous act is like the
quality of mercy; it is twice blessed. It
gives pleasure to the recipient if he be of an
appreciative nature, and it is a benefit to
the doer. It may be selfish view to take
Of the question, but woman can not afford
for her dignity's sake, to be insolent, over
bearing, and contemptuous in her treat
ment of those who are perhaps enormously
classified as her social interiors. Nob1esse
oblige; the greater her advantages, fnan-
cially, mentally, and in point of birth-for
birth may be an advantage even in a demo-
cratic republic-the more should be required
of her in every way.
Indifference to the feelings of an equal
may be simple rudeness: to one who NAV
in some respects be the inferior, but by no
means in all, is not only rudeness, but it is
cowardice as we'll. for it is taking advant-
age of a position which permits neither de-
Tense nor retaliation. In all the modern
struggle for culture it is too much cultiva-
ton of brains alone. Intelligence that is
we'll bred is ten times as useful as that
which makes mere intellectual ability an
excuse for all sins of omission or commits
sion. In this enlightened age no man,
though he be as wise as Solomon, has a
right to be a boor. No woman has right
20 be other than a gentlewoman, and the
more talent, genius and learning they pos
'ess, the more gracious and refined should
% the manner. Inter Ocean.