Evening star., 1901-07-20
MANNERS HAVE CHANGED

The man from the west. who is visiting
his married sister in Washington. wore a
puzzled look
Say" he broke out. how long has It
been back this way since kids were per-
mitted to stop being polite to their elders ?
I'll tell You why l inquire. My sister has
three young ones, among them a six-year-
old boy. He was playing out In front OF
the house this morning. and she called him.
Archibald" she sang out from the front
window
The kid looked up at her
What? said he
Come in: L want you.' said she.
I wonder said to myself. why that
young one doesn't say Mann when his
mother addresses him. He must be a bad
hammered lad, and it's queer that Sis
doesn't correct him.
The boy entered the house.
Do You want to go on an errand for
mamma II she gives you a cent? the boy's s
mother asked him.
|, !" Yes he replied.
You don't feel too warm with that
Jacket on. do you. Archibald? she asked
the kid. solicitously.
No. said he.
Il was waiting for Sis to give the cub a
belt on the Jaw for not saying ma'am' to
her. like polite little man. when she
spoke to him. and / was amazed that she
NAoA SNSu HotiSS lue AlQ 8 tdCk OF man
ners.
Before the shaver started on the errand
his father showed up.
Archie his father called to him
WhatE said the kid. just as he had to
his mother.
You remember the kind Of cigars you
got for me around the corner the last
time% said the boys daG
Yes, said the kid
Wei, stop by there and tell the man to
SEND me another box of them. And don't
loiter by the way
No said the kid
His father hadn't noticed the BOYS lack
OF manners any more than his mother had
say look a-here, Sis said to my sis
ter when got her alone that day. I'm not
trying to butt In with any advice or any,
thing like that, but why don't you tear a
picket on the fence and drub some man
ners into that boy OF yoursr
She looked at me in a startled kind Of
way, and with quite heap OF reproach in
her eyes, at that.
Why said she. what in the world do
you mean? Archibald is considered the
oest,mannered boy In the neighborhood
Is. hey?' said 1. pressing on. Well, dye
call 1t polite for six-year-old kid to say
What" and Yes and mo" to his mother
and father without prefixing any Ma am
or Sir to his remarks?'
smiled.
Why. John,' she said to me. L thought
by the way you spoke that Archibald had
require him to say "Ma'am" or sir to
US or to anybody else. Indeed, We should
punish him if he said any such things. 1t
Is not the thing for children to say
Ma am" or Sir to their parents, or to
anybody any more That sort of thing Is
now left for servants
Oh, said /, but I couldn't help sizing
my sister up out of the tail Of my eye and
putting this question to her:
Sis, just supposing you or 1 had
dropped the "Ma'am" and Sir" when we
were young ones and were addressed by
our old mother and dad, what dye think
I'D have happened to us, hey?'
That cornered her, but she got out of 1t
by saying that we lived in an old fashioned
section Of the country where the folks
were way behind the times, and all that.
Maybe Sis was right" concluded the
man from the west. but at that, I'm
bound to say that 1t sort O. jars on me to
hear the kids back this way talking to
their parents and other grown-up folks in
those familiar terms. I say sir and
a'am' to old folks right down to the
present day myself and I'm past forty,
with a pretty sizabIe bald spot on top of
my head, and 1t doesn't hurt me any to
say those things. Comes natural in fact,
because I was raised to respect my elders,
fashionable or no fashionable II 1 wasn't
a grabbed old bach. and If 1 had gang Of
young 'uns around, they'd get old fashioned
real quick and say sir and ma a'am' to
| the grown-ups, or there'd be something do
ing in the slipper and hair-brush line -
and the western man looked as II he
meant