Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-05-12
The City is Not Famous for Its
Display of Politeness.
CHURLISHNESS In PUBLIC PLACES
Scant Courtesy is Shown in Stores
and On the Streets.
VIEWS OF a PROVINCIAL

NEW YORK. Nav II. 1900.
''would YOU call the public manners of
the New York people exactly-er-courtiy.
"a visiting provincial ventures"mely asked a
New York man the other day.
T. was in a car of an |. train. and The
visiting provincial and the New York man
were seated side by side Carelessly cross
ing his egs in such manner that he de-
nestled "a large spiotch of black mu1> from
one Of his shoes on the visiting provincials
priZ.. pair of trousers. and forgetting to
make any mention. apologize or other
WISE of that little matter. the New York
man cleared his throat eXplosively and re-
piled:
Manners? What's the Of manners"
There's no money in manners. is there?
We're too busy over here to pack cooks Of
etiquette around with us. That's tn" way
with you folls from he har'iwnnds from
dinky little towns like Washington. Tor eN-
ample You live in state If rough. I'M
,ruih primitiveness at home. vet when you
come over here To the only burg you want
L. be handled with kid gloves. County
manners. I'll? Say. isn't it enough for You
reuplc just to hc allowed 10 live i'll Nco
Nawk vii huut expecting to stack up against
Chrvalicr RaNards and Sir Walter RAJ
.ighs everywhere you GO? If there was
ANYTHING to he made out of manu"rS--'Nhich
there isn't-wr'd be so polite OYER acre that
french dancing masters world Look Ike
Then thu New York man spread out his
y hite rcd and black evening S"r@amer in
81 h Il manner tha' he dug his elbow int"
Is,Ie Iitlte dressmaker's apprentice Suing
a. his rish,-hr didn't notice this. how
.Nrr-nnd returned To his p"rusal Of the
batting averages of the New York nine.
Cannot He O,erdrnwn.
\ chapter devoted to the intangible-that
/. what letter on The Public Manners
of Ncw York People would be, The b3or
ishness seEiishness and utter lack of con-
silcrs,tinn for others exhibited in pubic
by very large percentage of New York
ers. men and women. are almost unbeliev-
able. Until you have yourself observed at
close range the public churlishness Of this
population. YOU are perhaps inclirS' to set
down good deal of what you have read
ON this subject having been peuned by
persons whose desire is to be smart first
ard truthful aftrrward. But the general
grossness of the public manners of very
much the larger proportion of the people of
New York-rich. middlc-class and poor
simply cannot be oyerdrawn- You cannot
walk ride two squares without becom-
Ing painfully aware of it. You cannot go
into store restaurant without having
thu conviction forced upon you. You can
NOT attend theater without becoming i'm
maliately Cosnizant Of it. After a while.
perhaps. you become callouSed to 1t all.
hut you never able to quite abandon
the impression that. taken in bulk, the
New Workers cannot really have very
of themselves-elSe they could not treat
each other with such a total lack of con-
sideration in public.
In New York Store.
1t seems reasonable proposition that a
customer who walks into any kind of a
store shop with the purpose of buying
something is entitled to be treated with at
least ordinary civility By the employees of
the store or shop. 1t is proposition that
IL tod in, N,I laGs tom
tiuus towns in this country than New York.
anyhow But it is distinctly and decidedly
not accepted in New York. The before
mentioned visiting provincial went into a
big department store the other afternoon
to buy hair brush. The floor walker,
after looking the customer over with visi-
bic diSapproval of the latters raiment.
pointed out the counter where hair brushes
were purveyed Two young women with
coffures a la Anna Held were chewing
gum and holding a symposium at one end
OF the counter. They both viewed the Gus
toner standing before their counter out Of
the slants of their eyes and then devoted
themselves with renewed interest to their
conversation.
Jaw. that feller's bluff" one of them
was saying to the other. Il danced with
him onct las night, an he stepped all
over me feet an tore all tn bindin' off
tn bottom % me skirt. He won't do at all. -
ID je notice what sight Liz was in that
tn las two years?'' asked the other one,
and they would probably have gone right
ahead indefinitely had not the customer
coughed ALPHABETICALLY for the purpose of
attracting the attention of one Of them.
The more frizzed OF the two turned about
and viewed the customer with some dis
dain, and then slowly walked to the point
where he stood before the counter.
Il would like to look at some hair
brushes, if you please" said the customer.
Too Busy to Attend to Business.
What kind o hair brushes?" inquired the
young woman behind the counter, adjusting
some hairpins in her back hair with one
hand and turning over lot of hair brushes
in tray with the other. Here's some fl
20 cents"
Il think would like a little better ONE
said the customer
Got some fr $119." said the naughty
young person from Cherry HILL picking up
a loose strand of her front hair and tuck
EN-" '''''0 " col ant '''N at
IF you please" said the customer
The young woman jerked a box of the
s119 hair brushes down from a shelf,
slammed the box the counter. took off
the lid and showed them in front of the
customer
These is the ones she said Then she
turned and addressed the young woman at
the other end of the counter, who was
studying her features in small hand
glass Coin L have y'r organdie
ready FIR tn dance mex Saturday, night,
Mame?" she asked.
Somehow another the customer didn't
exactly feel like buying the 81 10 or anv
other kind OF hair brush at that counter
and when he walked out he felt certain
that the young woman who had waited
him suspected that he'd concealed one
or the SLID brushes beneath his coat
This is both Photographic picture and a
verbatim report 1t is the sort of thing
that goes on all the time In New York
stores. The male clerks are quite boor-
ish as the female clerks are Indifferent.
II an attendant in a Washington store y