The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1893-03-12
HAVE We GOOD MANNERS2
Catherine Cole Discusses the Timely
Subject in the New Or
leans Picayune.
Some Instances Cited in the Mega
tive on the Question Under
Discussion.
The Other Name for Good Man nora Is
Good MorAls-Decorum OF the
Hand and Heart.

Many a travelling philosopher has con.
structed mn entire civilization from the jaw
bone of an ass.
Many another has built NJ Whole sys-
TENS of political economy on no further
proofs than the street manners Of the
people.
II is true, after all, that when in public.
in q crowd and lost there, that men and
women most freely reveal themselves. their
nature and their training. Some polite.
Rrimacing people We know would look very
differently and act very differently if only
We could sec them in the dark. To be
merged into the undetectabls mass OF a
GRO d is often a sort OF moral dark in which
%vioiousness, selfishness. vanity, gresd and
coarseness may expend their passions with.
out much fear Of discovery.
There have been fashionable teas given
1t which sweet guests have fairly scrambled
for food. Trusting to the effacing effects
produced on tea girls memories by seeing
bOO-I beg a thousand pardons, 400 l meant
to say-visitors. many a woman has de-
voured her five or six plates Of salad and
cake enough to stock Sophie Fewcomb COL
lege.
At the door Of a theatre, when seats are
free OF unreserved. or in q street crowd, all
pressing forward to see some passing show,
gently bred danes have been known to
eight with their dimpled elbows. to kick
with their daintily-booted feet. to push
with all the surly, sullen resistance capable
in their bodies. At church weddings ladies
rave been known to stand upon the cush-
toned seats as ruthlessly as small boys fight
for a view at a circus.
1t takes a most wise liberation not to
judge America by popular American man
ners, displayed. for example, at an after
moon leyee at the White house IN Washing
ton.
A woman who has run the gauntlet comes
out of thisf fray. as the advertisements say,
slightly %disfiRured, but still in the ring.
Her hat will have its feathers broken and
rest disreputnbly cooked over her left eye;
the laces will be torn on her sleeves. and
perhaps a shoulder scam ripped. The
gathers will be broken on her gown, and
she will wears a general air that recalls
with all its funny suggestions, that wicked
and funny monkey and parrot story that
for manifest reasons cannot be told in these
sedate surroundings.
Watch half a dozen persons who are I'M
known to each other, trying ct the same
time to enter an empty car. Five out Of
six, and he is the "%hundredth man." will
push, struggle desperately to be first. II
those blissful, never-to-be-foegotten daya
when l used to go to Europe in a linen bag
] soon learned to hold back until the grea'
American constructor had gulped the boat
the railway coach and the diligence. Their
/ got the best places, in order that the ole
scriptural Law might be fulfilled, and tn,
first be last, end tho last be first.
Our s~sisess, eur sidewalks. nnr stairnases
She floors of our public buildings, are tn,
grant nnt1pNQ l nnori1nY Gn int~ ~ ,n y
lie building in New Orleans, particularly il
the morning, a building perhaps ffequonte,
almost exclusively by the polite. the chiv
alric and the WELL bred, and the stairs viii
be in a state to turn the stomach of an os-
trich. 1t is not 80 in any Other country in
the world. Are our manners worse. or is il
nOt for nothing we read IN tie morning pa
per over our coffee and rolls those affe ctine
legends. "Hawked and spit for twenty-three
years." and which are OF the same realistic
school, with this tender romance. begin
ming. baby was one solid sote."
There are, by tue way. even yet refined
homes, in which one may find each side tht
individuals with a Diogones-like ~naivettI
who innocently put them to the use fol
which the potter fashioned them.
New Orleans is almost the only city il
the union in which the street cars carr,
signs that read, keep your feet off tn,
seats" During the carnival, a man
young man, who might have passed other
forty ladies and gentlemen in II ST. CHARLIE
avenue street car by performances that in
Dictated the eloquent and irrepressibl
stages of intoxication. Nobody put hin
out. We g-inned and bore it. We do no
want the earth, in the picturesque phrase
oloRy of the day, but we do think it is tim
TO draw the line against cuspidors in pr!
Vpfa IrR WING rooms. aOHlnEE CATARRHAL die
charges in the street CARS, and agains
other oulrages of our senses in public.
leave it to any gentleman, to auy tribuna
of sayages, If these circumstances on be
half of my sex are not as mild and inst, anl
too reasonable to be argued against?
So much has been said about the wa,
men paw and claw over ladies in tn,
theater when they must rush out between
the ncte. and about the way women do no
say thank you when given q seat in q stree
car, that words here would be superfuous
One NAV remark, however, with some fea
of contradiction that the street car ia no
the place to finish off those details of III
toilette that are most conveniently Uer
formed with Il pocketknife and u linel
handkerchief. look for opponents to thi
remonstrance however. Once somebod
called Bishop What!ey to account for usin
a certain word. Whatley. you may remenl
Der. was nm old prig, who took forty year
10 Wtlte u logic. mere ism any sue
word in the English language, bishop
protested the critic.
why, what's tbs matter with the
word?" o'ied his lordnhip. THERE'S moth
ing the matter with that word! That's
good word. Why, l have been using th1
word for forty years."
Even SO by those whom / offend may | /
reproved and concIuslveiv vanquished.
Until recently the street cars on a certai
line in this clty were depOrntal with nan,
signs that read: Men in undershirts nc
admitted"
A gentlemen entering such a prohibit,
car one day read the sign aloud. "Grei
Scots!' said he, what's a fellow to do?n
1t ia needless to say the signs can
down.
Almost every woman has had the exper
ence of meeting midway of the st Get ctos
ing two females walking abreast and VIII
rndely hold the entire crossing and eve
use their bodies ns project!les to push SC
off into the mud rather than succumb
far to your rights as to give you half Il
crossing.
Almost every woman hasa an acquaintant
with some woman who bow aushingly
\you in the street II day and the next suul
you with n rude nod and m ~insoleLt liftll
hi the eye brows.
Fhe other day in n public restaurant
krd Il lady, who could not realize til,
crowd even American queens mu
their turn, thu eaten to ave I'll
&7pere discharged. She shook h
y ono of the men and IN Ia
9u Auot lc"ely to look on. 1t d
&ooG effect. A rich woman fu
once and opportunities f.
s herself an injustice whit
\nt. honest servItors, owe,
their best. quake IN the
pporary threats. Beside