The Opelousas courier., 1890-11-29
COURTEOUS SPEECH.
A@o EamiIy Plain Speaker and Her Friend
the Family Nagger.

'olC ~ HO6 IOc the difference we
allow IA selves between our manners
10 strangers and our manner to home
people, | should not think of DWELLING
On the beauty of courteous speech. for
our Young America-male and female
Is now receiving a training in social
speech which is somewhat akin to hat
"hicn produces the two girls SO wittily
taken of in the English newspaper
squlb. Meeting at a ball, n saws to
the other: 'Oh how glad I am to see
your
Thank you, dear, I am glad you.
are gladr'
How sweet of you! / am 50 glad I
am glad II it makes you gladr'
we have not got to this length vet,
but am sometimes b~ewildered and
sometimes a little bored, by the excess
I've manner of some very young ladies
VINO meet the simplest act of courtesy
with a torrent of "How sweet in you',
-''how good of you"-or, Thanks so
very much" And who. when anv
thing disagreeable must of necessity
pc said or done use an mount Of
trouble and tact which makes busy
people wonder where the time is found
for so much ceremony.
don't mean to complain of this
however-gushing manners are not in
the best OF taste but they are better
than no manners at all-but while
thls sort OF manner is being cultivated
IN public what are we doing to secure
The genuine p~oliteness of home life-a
p~oliteness born of patience and for
oearance and thought for others. I
imagine that there are few households
In which conditions do not arise con-
tlnually which are tests of this
me courtesy; and alas! many brothers
and slsters-mothers and daughters
who love each other devotedly a not
bear this strain of family life and con-
troll the habits of their tongues.
Even if the sharp speech and cutting
reply are held in check, the habit NAV
be to make rude and outspoken
criticisms of each other. How badly
you look, Maria s.How shallow you
are, Dear me! what q great pimple
you have on your nose,n just as if the
sufferer did not already possess, and
writhe under, this knowledge.
And any teasing about an ~unfortu-
nate feature-how it cuts and hurst
No amount of repetition ever makes it
~endurable! This should be called
brutal-not impolite.
Or the criticism may be on the dress
and taste-.Maria, why did you make
your dress with puffs? They are very
unEecoming.' Maria, that color
makes you look like a fright And
Maria, who must wear the dress till
there is nothiag left OF it. never puts
it on again with any comfort.
No one-not the greatest of us-can
avoid the constituencies which shrinks
from these small stings-our minds do
not belong to the order of Pachyder-
mata, and remembering this why may
not the same amount of friendly inter-
est be conveyed in terms less offensive
Ia possible improvement suggested,
or would not complete silence on the
subject be more comfortable?
Hardly less disagreeable than the
Family Plain Speaker is the Family
Nagger who is 50 energetic! Who
would like breakfast at dawn and
each subsequent hour filled with
its duty, who is always want
ing somebody to do or say something.
As long as these desires were con-
fined 10 herself there was no harm
done. but when her will to rule be-
comes SO strong that she must manage
and drive the entire family-the Nag
ger is an uncomfortable comfort and
the feeling OF resistance to her springs
up. Often her rule Is good and whole
some for US and we know it-generally
her suggestions are wise and right
yet in every healthy person the idea
seems Unborn that he can best manage
his own affairs, and interference even
from the best loved must therefore
come with g~entleness and discretion,
and with ~urfailing courtesy.-Ladies'
Home Journal.