The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-07-13
A WORD FOR THE BOYS.
Thanks to Their Cultured Mothers
They Have Good. Manners.

'Idler" in New York Post
About 1875 a new generation with new
manners began to make it's appearance; A
number of them had been educated AT Eng
liSh universities, and came home burning
to upset all old ways and teach their elders
how to live. They broke away from the old
clubs and started smaller and more eXclu-
sive ones among themselves, principally in
the country. This is period OF BAD man
ners. True to their English model, they
considered it a sign of superior position to
be uncivil and to refuse to make any effort
towards the general entertainment Wneh IN
society. Not TO speak during a dlnner
party to either of your neghbOrs was the
supreme chic" As a revolt from the
twice-told tales of their elders. they held
1t to be bad form" to tell story, no
matter how fresh and amusing it might be.
Any unfortunate outsider who was raSh
enough to venture TO tell one 10 a crcIe
sitting in the club window was crushed py
having his tale received in dead silence.
Then one of the party would ring the
bell" and the circle order drinks at the
teller's expense as the penalty for having
dared to amuse them. How the shade OF
the professional story-telier must nave
shuddered-he whose story never was ripe
until it had been told a hundred or SO times,
and who used to produce certain tale at
a certain course as surely as clock-Work
That the storytelling type was a pore, L
grant YOU To be grabbed on entering your
club and obliged to listen to smith Iast,
or to have the conversation after dinner
mCnopolized by Jones and ms eternal
Speaking of coffee, remember once, ETC
added an additional hardship to existence.
But the opposite. which became tne IasnloIi
among the reforners, was hardly less Wear
ing To sit among a group OF perfectly
mute men, with an occasional word crop
ping into the silence like stone IN
well, was surely little better.
A very pretty girl told me she had once
sat through an entire cotlhon with youth
whose only remark during the evening nad
been (after absorbed contemplation Oh the
articles in question:, How do you like my
socks?" On another occasion / had my
neighbor at table say to me, thlnk the
ritghf hoe
sitting with his eyes closed!' Not at all:
He was only practicing his newly acquired
'repose of manner, and HVlng up 10 the
standard of his set
The model young man of that period had
another way with him which got on the
nerves of his elders to a considerable eX-
Tent viz his pose of never seeing you.
If he came into drawing room where you
were sitting with a lady, he would snake
hands with her and begin a conversation,
entirely ignoring your existence, although
YOU may-have been his guest at dinner the
night before, or he yours But he never
seemed conscious of your presence. Ihat
was also a tenet Of his creed borrowed
from transatlantic cousins, VINO, by the
way during the time speak or, found
America, and especially our Eastern cities,
happy hunting ground, all the cubs,
country houses and society generally open
ing their doors to the sesame or their
nationality. 1t took our innocent youths a
good ten years to discover that there was
no reciprocity in the arrangement. and II
was only in the next epoch (the last OF the
three above referred to- that our youth re-
covered their self-respect and assumed
towards foreigners in general the attitude
of polite indifference which is their man.
ner to us when abroad.
l look at the boys growing up around me
with sincere admiration they are so far
ahead of their immediate predecessors in
breeding, in civility, in Difference 70 older
people, and in thousand other little ways
that mark a really high-bre man. The
stray Englishman of no particular standing
at home no longer finds our men eager to
entertain him. to put their best hunter
him indefinitely. and make him honorary
member of every club they belong to. II
is a constant source of pleasure to me TO
watch this younger generation, so plainly
do l see in them the influence of their
mothers-those women we knew as girls
and who We're so far ahead of their
brothers and husbands In refinement and
culture (as l had occasion to point out in a
former paper9 To have seen these girls