Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1900-07-26
SMART BUT i'll. BRED.

! Il I y K W. n + )
Mrs. Amelia Ciere Mason discpurses
in the August Century of The De-
cadence of Manners. Some of her.
keenest shafts are leyelled at the girl
of the period.
II seems a triie unjust to the clever.
and well bred American girl To dwell
upon q familiar type SO much in evil
tlenee as to oNershadow all the others
and pass everywhere as representative,
hui ii is question of tendencies. This
typical girl of the day puts on mannish8
airs With rnannish clothes, spices her
talk with slang, not always of the
choicest, tosses her pretty head in
proud defiance as she puts down her
parents, her elders. and her superiors
indeed. she admits no superiors tho
thisseio of quality does not admit in-5
feriors and snubs them without mercy
-proneunces a final opinion on subjects
Of which she does know even the al
phabet, shows neither respect for white
hairs nor consideration for favors
which she claims as q right, and calls
+ all this swell" smart" and proper
expression of her fashionable, or un-
fashionable, independence.
The same spirit runs thru the entire
social gamut. There is nothing more
contagious than bad manners; it is SO
easy for the selfish instincts to come
fuppermost when the pressure OF the
Law. written or unwritten, is removed.
The inso!enee of servants is sufficiently
emphasized. Even the shop-girl waits
upon You with half disguised imperti-
hence. often impertinence without any
disguise and replies TO your civil word
With a lofty stare. a S much as to say,
Since you are politeto me you can
not be of much consequence"
The causes are not far to seek. A
potent one s.the rush and hurry of life
Iin which everybody is intent upon do
ling the most in the least possible time.
There is no leisure for small courtesies.
Int is a heterogeneous scramble for the
lloaves and fishes. in which the survival
of the fittest resolves itself into sur
vival of the strongest. 1t is something
/ akin to brute force that gains the prize.
whether 1t be seat in the car or a seat
| in congress. Indeed. we claim, as a
part of our national glory. the trait so
| well expressed by the word 'spush." 1t
makes little difference what one pushes
so long as it stands in the way. Men
bin the garb of gentlemen do not scruple
Ito thrust aside delicate women who
| happen TO be moving before them in
| the procession. Well-dressed women
| run over one another. tbs the same
/ spirit applied to the minor morals as
| that which prompts the Wall street
4 magnate to walk over his weaker rival.
/ and the laboring man who has organ
| lied in the name of freedom and human
4 brotherhood to crush out of existence.
/ if he can. his poorer nsighbors who
] have not--the spirit of instructive, tho
| sometimes Unconscious, selfishness,
| whether 1t he crudely clear or hidden
under some high-sounding name. Nor is
1 the fact without its significance that
women, who are natural arbiters OF
manners as we'll as conservators Of
morals, have been driven by necessity
Into the iinstling crowd 1t is an alter
native between struggling for a foot
| hold in the world or sinking: and sue
scess nine times out of ten. is the trl-
umph Of aggression. This in itself Is
fatal to the sslf-cffacement which is
50 strong an element of good breeding,
lana tends toward a radical change in
the habits ard traditions Of woman
hood, which must react more or less
4 upon society.
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