Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-06-23
LATE PARIS HINTS
Good Manners or the Lack as Seen
at the French Capital,
ONLY SURFACE WELL BRED TOO OFTEN
Simple and Sumptuous Costumes
on the BouIevards.
FOR BOTH YOUNG AND OLD
Special Correspondence of The Evening Star

Special Correspondence Of The Evening Star.
PARIS June o. 1900.
The week has been bright and sunshiny
and with 50 little dust that the ffacre has
been veritable thing of unadulterated joy.
Paris is the reservoir for a continual in
flowing stream of visitors, foreign and
otherwise and the cry is. and will be until
late in September, And s,in they come
American Russian. Norweg ian and Span
ish-these are the elements that seem to
pre,iominate in the hotels and all public
places of interest With the exception of
the smart society women who come over
here at Easter time to choose the gowns for
the London season, l have seen very few
English people about OF course, there are
always a few Enthusiastically Britons about
in the houlevards, which precinct to the
average native Albion constitutes the only
recognized haunt Of Partisan civilization.
On the whole 1 may truthfully say that
but few well-known English faces have
hitherto been recognized at the exposition
Seeing such a conglomeration of people
reminds me of a saying that l once heard
from the lips of witty advocate of univer-
cal suffrage: when the wurrld began. the
Creator only made two men-and wan OF
them was q woman" Ever since the be-
ginning, though the lives of men and wo-
men have been entwined for good or for
evil. their interests have been divided, and,
alas, only too often antagnnistic- From the
days of the first pair in their rural menaee
down TO the very latest marriage de con-
venance in the world today men and wo-
men have never existed in perfect harmony:
Doubtless there are many and varied
causes for this incompatibility of tempera-
ment, but seeing the people that do see
here makes me more positive than ever
that the chief cause of the trouble lies with
the men.
..Whst has made Won come TO this con-
clusion?' you ask.
Manners, And. again, manners! And,
once again, manners.
In travelling one meets all sorts and con-
ditions of men and women. and all sorts of
manners as we'll To those who have a
liking for that most fascinating of studies
the study of human nature-the greater
the diversity the deeper will be the interest
aroused
The Golden Rule.
Good manners will tend to make any one
attractive. A well-bred man or woman is
strongly fortified against the onslaughts of
an antagonistic world, and, moreover, IS
likely to meet with hearty and sincere
welcome everywhere. Good manners
generally credited to the sInirking man and
the snivcling woman who are excessive of
civility or superfiuous of politcness are not
the sort that l have reference to, but !
speak of the true and real courtesy that
springs from the kindly heart and the cul
tivated mind. which is the outcome of great
unsclhshness and generosity of spirit. The
number of people who well bred the
surface only is far too great. Penetrate the
thin veneer imposed on them by civilization
and custom and mark the revelation, self
ishness. ignorance, vanity, greed. brutality
in short, nothing more than beastliness
clothed in human form
Scrape the gliding off the idol of the world
of literature ami of art, and what do You
find? Fisuratively speaking. nothing but
coarse-grained wood or stone. cold hard
and senseless. Only too marked is the sem
blanCe of culture people whose manners
are apparently irreproachable, but who in
truth are utter vuigarianS in mind and
heart Only too true Is II of some of those
men whose manners are the very pers6niG-
cation of chivalry and the essence of cour-
tesy in society, or when the eyes of their
little world are upon thnrn that they seem
determined, when in the safe retreat of
their homes and compauioned only by those
unconsidered triies, their unfortunate
wives, TO emulate the manners of the labor
er-or his swine. There many, too who
assume that same freedom Of restraint even
among their associates; especially is this
noticeable among those who assume privi-
leges by reason of superior position or pow
er of authority.
Polite and Otherwise.
To my mind good manners should be for
all day and for every day. not even Sun
days excepted, for home use well for
abroad. The man who is polite to every
fair stranger and treats her with the re-
Spect ana rrOfuSe petltS SONS and attention
which he denies to his wife is a cad at
heart. No matter what the world may
credit him with being. he will ever remain
cad, for no amount of surface polish
ever change a man Of that stamp into a
gentleman Such a creature is scarcely fit
to receive the appeEation of man" A shy
awkward individual. big rough fellow
who would be as helpless as a log in smart
society but who would be real and honest
and - hful. and whose sterling goodness
would cause him TO shine with the radiance
of a jewel in his own home. is Infinitely
To be preferred.
The worst hammered men are those of the
lower middle class, for they seem pos
sesSed with an uneasy consciousness of
their own impOrtance-so much so that
they IN mortal terror of losing any of il
by treating women with the kindness re-
epect and consideration which undoubtedly
are their due. Men in the higher or the
lower class neither so self-couscous
nor stupid. They more manly and
consequently more gentlemanly, more kind
ly and more natural.
Middle Class BAD.
The manners of the middle class man are
conspicuous by their absence. He clothes
himself with his incivility with gar
ment and his rudeness and boorishness he
counts unto himself for righteousness
Though / am not sure that l quote accu-
rately, OF the sentiment l am certain.
think II was the great priest of politeness
who said that the manners of the we'll
hged man show ease without familiarity,