St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1892-06-23
CIR ainn,e.
A COMMON HERITAGE.
What the Poorest May Give Their Chill
dYeu.

An anxious mother said to me
once: Il met little Jack Horner the
other day. in the street, and stopped
to ask him some question. Instant
ly his cap flew off as though it
were worked with springs. l told
my boys, afterward, did wish they
had such manners a that"
My mental retort was. We'll
why haven't they" Manners cost
nothing. Every parent-though the
veriest pauper-can give them to
every child The only price to be
part of parent.
say not eternal, for, after time,
practice will make so perfect that
neither father nor son will think of
offending in matters of etiquette
more than in morals. 1t is no hard
ship for US to eat with a fork, and
yet the knife would carry food to
our mouths much more conveniently.
But we have all been trained to the
fork, from the first; which shows
that early training is the main point.
All if our American people-who
have each to make his way in the
world, entirely for himselt-would
only consider how vastly important
a child's ingrained good manners are
to his whole future life. l would not
choose between them and the three
RS of course, but, unhesitatingly,
would prefer them, for the help they
will afterward prove, to collegiate
education. This l say deliberately,
remembering how a perfect knOwl-
edge and practice in etiquette wins
friends, not only in society but in
business. Mothers choose their chill
dren to associate with others who
are well-bred; young men and
maidens seek and invite their COM
pany; all the world enjoys the most
casual relations with them in trade,
while, for moments of relaxation, the
boorish are never welcomed; that
they should be suffered is the most
that they can hope
You may not be able to send your
boy to Harvard, nor your girl to
dancing school. They will never up
braid YOU for that. But bring them
through childhood surrounded by
and solely taught coarse, common,
ways of speech and behavior,
and no matter how devoted and I'M
selfish you have otherwise tried to
be, as surely as they live will they
see the day when your memory is
by the bitterest reproaches.
Start them in the world with fault
less manners, and though they have
no other inheritance, they are i'm
measurably far from poor in the
worlds most cherished coin. Money
does not rule everywhere. When Jay |
Gould strives in vain to enter the |
400, and in all villages there are
vulgar rich who are barely tolerated,
this is sufficiently attested.
Does some busy, tired mother or
father cry out: How
shall l study all the intricacies of
etiquette to teach them again ?" 1
reply: There are a dozen broad |
rules that are sufficient to pass
The rest are very good to
know, but not absolutely necessary. |
That dozen or SO any ordinarily in
:elligent man or woman can readily |
acquire, if they are not already
known, though not in use.
/ set down some of them here, with
his excuse, that | see them constant
v violated by bright, gentle little
people who would be glad to "act
pretty" if, poor, small souls! they
had the faintest stimulus of example,
Or even precept, to guide them.
Teach boy never to wear his hat
n the house, nor while standing be-
ore woman, to allow woman al
ways to precede him, even las latest
advices say in ascending stairs, to
De quick to open doors for her, to
AIRY her parcels, to wait upon her,
md never to sit while she is standing.
Teach both boys and girls good
able manners l believe there is no
ubtler test than the dining-room
If true gentility. Make them wait
~ their chairs till their elders are
seated; eat noiselessly; not fdget,
Tor talk with full mouths nor upon
subjects; nor leave
Knife and fork trailing off the plate,
)ut always laid side by side, never
.rossed, upon it every second that
hey are not in use; not to soak and
op their food not bite off bits from
slice; to half-fold the napkin when
t is not to be used again; not to reach;
O be courteous in thanks and re-
quests; to push the chair against the
able, after the meal.
Teach them always to knock at
losed door; not to call from one
DOM to another; not to loll in their
eats, nor, if in a rocking-chair, to
ock
With sDeech there are-Oh! there
re more than a dozen ''don'ts" in
4 speech! If you are training them
Or society above the street corner,
ont allow rough slang and smart
ess, nor any coarseness at all.
children may be short of prigs and
till be refined of talk. They certain
' are vulgar who use "havin'" and
dom - and 'r11n' for ran" and |