The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1892-06-12

A very sensible woman, Amelia E. Barr,
recently inquired whether the American
people have declined in true politeness.
and she answers this question in the af-
frmatiye, and she holds her own sex
chiefly responsible for the decline in fine
courtesy, the rude. lawless, selfish man
ners of our time. Mrs. Barr is right as to
American people are often detestably
rude and selfish, but the responsibility for
this fact should be placed on the men. 1t
is men. not women, who, as a rule,
are responsible by their actions for
the growth of both social debauchery
and the decline of that true courtesy
which rests on the simple justice of the
Golden Rule. Women are largely just about
what their men make them. When men
take lax views of life women drop down to
their level. Lash men into moral sensi-
bility and the women will follow.
| The popular notion that women prfmar-
lily fix the standard of social morals and
manners is superficial view 1t is the
men VINO are chiefly responsible for
the social morals and manners of women.
| Women on the average naturally seek the
| approval and admiration of men. Women
do not talk slang unless they find it well
coined by the men with whom they asso-
ciate; they are not rude, selfish and
coarse in their public manner unless the
men they associate with are disposed to
set them an evil example of indifference
or contempt for good manners that rest on
| good feeling. The private and public
| manners of men; the presence or lack of
| fine feeling in men is quickly reflected by
| women. Women soon find out about
how much reserve and delicacy of
| manner and speech, about how much
| regard for the courtesy of the Golden Rule
basis of a fine justice to all is respected,
expected, admired and approved by her
men, and she gives them that and nothing
| more. She is not going to rebuke them by
rising above their social code and practice;
she is not going to drop below it lest she
| be thought ill-bred.
1t is the public opinion Of men that
chiefly rules women; not the public opin-
ion of women that chiefly rules men. The
Rev. DR.. Morgan Dix, of New York city,
| denounced in most sweeping terms the
women of society as responsible for
the debauchery of social life, but
DR.. Dix is mistaken. Women largely
| because they are sheltered are q
! great deal better than men, whether they be
in ''our higher classes" or not, but women
are like children, quick to see what men
want and admire. When the society
women" of New York city saw George
William Curtis, the poet Stedman, Stod-
dard, Mayor Hewitt. Rev. Robert Collyer
and the late President Barnard, of Colum.
bia college. and other "iirst men" in New
York's most refined society, making Henry
Irving and Miss Ellen Terry the SUBJ
! jects of peculiarly tattering farewell So
cial honors of speech and action, what can
you expect of New York's "best women:"
When actors and actresses who set social
purity and public morality at defiance are
treated with peculiar honor by men who
lead good lives in literature and the pro-
fessions nobody need wonder if good
| women begin to take on lax views of life.
So long as 1.-The American hog" is rep
| resented by masculine America the Amer
lean hog will be represented by the man 5
apt pupil. feminine America The Amer
lean hog masculine occupies two seats in
3 crowded car and compels those standing
to secure seat only at the end of a vulgar
alteration or an appeal to the conductor:
he dIsturbs decent places of amusement
J nv r.
when quiet people strive in vain to follow
the play; he rudely crowds quiet person
out of his turn at the window of
car ticket Office, postoffice
or bank counter, relying upon
the reluctance Of gentleman
to become involved in public dispute: he
makes passenger car look like pig pen
wherever he sits; he is always wrangling
boisterously with the conductor about his
ticket, his fare or his baggage: he stanes \
modest woman out of countenance. or
with lnsolent assurance forces his ac-
Quaintance upon her if he sees she has no
escort; he never fails TO abuse a waiter. To
make an Internal racket in public dininc-
room; he plays musical instruments ar
| NA4oOSRS0ttAJtc AOuES, anu Whistles regard
less of time or place; he carries his cane or
umbrella thrust behind him utterly re-
eardless OF the rights of other people or
he keeps it constantly whirling in the air
IN crowded street.
The American hog is A fusion Of er-
traordinary selGshness and sodden SIN.
pidity; he prides himself on his cheek :"
his gall" he thinks he is man of nerve
when he is only q man OF thick
hide and wooden-head. \ sensible
man IN public makes everybody
about him as comfortable as posi-.
/ bic because he knows his fellows in -.
| turn. "a rule, will feel disposed to WELD
something, aud the result is a general
| concession that leaves everybody better
| conten,e3 than if they staggered and
svore and pushed and stormed their way
to what the American hog terms his fulI
/ rights IN tree country. The Ame-i.
can hog is human rhinoos-os
70 whom We are many of Us