The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1901-05-07
GOOD MANNERS AND TRUE ~POLETENEsS.

NOOD .lAEAA NAANO AAAN
Let Us begin by convincing u
selves that no one can be truly we'll
bred and entirely courteous who is
selfish. To cease from struggling
for our own advantage and striving
to secure the best of everything is
the very corner stone of true polite
ness.
The next foundation for perfect
good lies in being always
courteous just as careful at home
as in company of strangers. That
which we only use occasionally we
are never sure of we want to realize
that we have to act from principle
and never violate it before we a
rest satisfied that manners are
truly good.
Very often a young girl who has
not been able to 9 much of the
world and is not in contact with
those whom wealth and travel have
made familiar with the usages of the
most polished circles, wishes from
the bottom of her heart that she had
some one to tell her what was ''the
correct thing to do"
Of course, there are certain for
malities which can only be under
stood by contact with the places and
things to which they apply, but for
the general conduct of our lives the
highest form of courtesy and the
one which always compels respect
and often wins love, is to seek the
comfort and pleasure of others in
preference to our own. The best
manners are taught in the school of
heart.
WHERE TO BEGIN.
If at home there are especially
comfortable. seats-pleasant places
where the light falls delightfully."- on
book or work if there are certain
things which IRE helpful and which
add to personal comfort if at table
there is Ii choice of foOd-the best
cut of the chicken-the finest orange
the daintiest cake here are op-
portunities to put our principles of
self-fOrgetfulness in practice. 1t
may seem almost laughable for. me
to say that l often judge peoples
breeding by the way they help
themselves at table, yet there is
hardly a better test. / have seen a
man who considers himself a very
accomplished gentleman manage to
take all the top, brown buckwheat
cakes every morning for a whole
winter, leaving ladies older than
himself to eat what was cold and
sodden. His graceful manners at
public places, and all his bows and
smiles, left him still, in the opinion
of those who lived under the same
roof, an i'll hammered man. Greedi-
ness in any form is the very height
of Tudeness.
The consideration and self forget
fulness which begin at home not only
cultivate ones self but educate and
beautify family life. A sister who
is yielding and gentle has an extra
ordinary effect upon rude brothers,
aud without one word of reproach
she softens and wins them over to
the conduct of gentlemen. If, as the
Scripture says, ga soft answer
turneth away wrath, " Il continual
gentle endeavOr to make others COM
Portable is sure to bring forth a re
timing influence in any family.
COURTESY IN BUSINESS.
Those whose lives lead them into
the more sheltered paths will not be-
grudge these few words to their
young sisters who are called every
day to patiently help others in shop
OF work-rCom, or Office or factory
we must not forget that all these
associations are really, whatever
gain we desire ourselves, ways of
helping the worlds progress and
doing cool. o
No II can imagine wlatra delight
IS to find a truly grucious young
girl waiting and ready to aid her