St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-01-28
MANNERS.


should at least simulate civility when
the quality is not Unborn.
For so much Is gained by the simple
exercise of good manners that it is an
ever-recurring surprise To find persons
wholly perverse in the matter of such
an attractive and easy means of adj
vancement. In public positions great
or small the person who sets out TO be
curt and scant OF ciyllity puts veto on
his career, and is purblind to the posi-
billties of development in his own
character-it he would only believe
with Emerson-that .'G0od manners are
made up of petty sacrifices" 1t is queer
that many of the persons who have to
do with the multitude in public build
lngs are those Of rampant peculiarities,
who regard them as Indispensable to
the effective transaction of bust
ness, and who could not be prevailed
upon TO modify or suppress them for
substantial consideration.
The individual having an exalted es-
innate of himself. with the uplifting
tendency always Oh the rise, should
never in any stress of fate incarcerate
such soaring ego in the narrow COLI
fines of some small situation serving
the public. He crowds his working as
sociates i'll the narrow sphere. and he
bores and botherS the people who have
business with MIN 10y the ridiculous as
sumption of what he is not-even in his
own minds eye. manners. properly
speaking, regulate our words and ac-
tons i'll the routine of perSo nal inter
course" but assuredly with the man of
peryisive ego there is no regulation
possible, for manners are out in the
cold.
Only obtuseness, or. above all, the
firm appointing pull" of such an en-
ploye keeps him in place. Otherwise
his superior official. behind his bulwark
OF o5tuseness. hearing complaints of
neglect and arrogance from time to
time, might be moved to follow an I'M
mortal precedent furnished by one
Laurence Sterne in "Tristram Shandy."
When. presumably, the buzzing of the
fly became too pronounced in the room.
Uncle Toby was considerable enough to
put ii out of the window. with the MEM
orable remark, The world is big
enough for thee and mer' Mark you.
he said the world-not the room, for
small as the insect was, it needed all
out of doors for the scope of its annoy
ance
The superior official seldom fingers
in an atmosphere that is not congenial
to his ease-craying temperament-so no
ones ego is likely to disturb him-and
perhaps, too, as is often the case. he is
t1attered by noting an imitation of him
self by the employee. as if seen through
the big end of an opera glass.
If the public employee, with his o'er-
topping ego is distasteful enough. he is a
mild nuisance to the being who has a
small place and just fills it, IN an insti-
tuition where the public is constantly
coming and going. The clerk with the
towering valuation of himself is careful
not to belittle it before the pablo, al
hough he may be dictatorial and pre-
sumptuous, and often ridiculous.
Nevertheless, he is watchful enough
to play his part, such as it Is. consist
emily and seriously. Such disposition
is regarded as the browning excellence
of farce acting-to play it with impas-
stoned earnestness. But the being who
just fills the small situation has no idea
of acting any part. The routing literal
ness of his own nature is enough for
his purpose. He seems to hate his
little job, and appears to be wholly
animated with the unfagging desire Of
making the crowd passing before him
esch day suffer for the virulent grudge
he bears the world, either 10y a hypnotic
remOtenesS of expression in regarding
his victims. by Sights, and, finally, by
contumelious words of direction how to
assist him in earning his little stipend
with the least effort to himself.
This queer impulse of our common
nature, to fall upon the innocent in our
eXacerbati0n OF spirit when matters go
wrong with us. is hazardous. and. in
Paris at least, a punishable offense
when carried to extremes. A few
weeks ago. according to the correspond
ence of the Lon1on Telegraph. in that
fair city, where good Americans eX-
pect to 20 when living, and when they
die, as the Boston proverb ends it, a
party of young men were attempting
many grotesque feats on wagers. One,
more rashly emulous than the rest, bet
francs that lie would empty twelve
tumblers of wine with each stroke of
the clock at midnight. The glasses were
in a row before him, and with one in
hand he awaited the signal. but when
the clock had struck twelve he had
only emptied four Jumblers. He put
down his money and went out, followed
by customer of the cafe. who was
merely looking on, and was, moreover.
perfect stranger to him.
He rushed upon the unlucky man and
attacked him with so much fury that he
bled profnsely, as lie deposed when his
assailant was arraigned in the police
court, given sentence of two months
Imprisonment aud fine of 80 francs.
The judge was wholly impervious to the
prisoners defense that he had been
drinking and did not remember the
occurrence, and the inference was that
leisurely respite OF enforced reflection
was necessary TO learn the wisdom of
bearing pecuniary losses with equa-
nimlty.
Once Robert A. Smith had an Oppor-
tunity to deaf summarily with the
truculent being in the small place
serving the public. and he had chance
to rank with this French judge only tor
q constitutional benignity which death
alone can quench. His honor
was standing by the elevator In
the court house one day talking
to a friend while the elevator
waited for him. with the small stipen-
diary inside. Impatient at the slight
delay, ana perhaps at the thought of
how many people were escaping the
usual gauntlet, he exclaimed: IF you
two old buffers want to talk, go and
stand somewhere elsen The elevator
man started to move it, but restrain
ing gesture from the mayor halted it,
until the the coloquy ended, and he
l.