The age-herald., 1901-08-11
SNe MaNNers and MovaAs of 0Odau.
BY ALFRED SETON.

Some critics of our own times have commented rather caustica1ly upon the manners and morals of what they are pleased to call "our best society" They point their finger at the nucleus of vain, rich and frivolous persons who shine in the public eye at Newport in the summer and on upper Fifth avenue in the winter and denounce them as an aristocratic class, renouncing the virtues and enu- lating the vices of the titled nobility of Europe. Indeed, they charge the maiden with actions unbecoming her youth and supposed innocence, and the matron with sinful attachments and almost shameless depravity.
 That any apology for prevailing man. ners or any explanations of actions should be offered these censorious writ CTS may 1t must be confessed be con- strued to be an evidence of weakness. No one will attempt to deny the asser- tion that manners have greatly changed during the last twenty-fiv years. but who dare assert that morals have retro graded. Manners are constantly chang ing. They are affected by circumstances The manners of the Puritan colonists in Plymouth may sharply contrast with those of the well-bred and cultured peo- pie of Beacon street, Boston, in this year of grace. The manners of the sim ple-hearted Dutohmen of New Amster- dam may contrast strangely with the fashionable element In upper Fifth ay- enue during the gay season, but the mor- als of the people of these and those days. if they differ at all, vary for the better Morality sits lighter on people now-a- days. Like the clothes of today which are an improvement on the steeple- crown hats and the cumbersome sur coats, fitting more comfortably and gracefully, manners have become less irksome and morals less forbldding
 Now, no doubt, women prominent in the social world regard divorce very dif- ferently than they did some years ago. A few years since woman from whom husband obtained divorce lost friends and position, and if she married again many doors were closed to her There is abundant and conspicuous evidence that society does not concern itself in these matters nowadays, or if 1t does 1t does not become aggressive. Some years ago divorce cast disgrace on a family, and even close friends and relatives spoke of 1t only in whisper. Today 1t is table talk. But this does not affect morals, 1t affects manners. If some vr- tuous matron abandons the path of recti- tude and wifely honor, no one will cham pion her act, and If she marry again so- ciety may even not exclude her. Such are the manners of today; but If she find no imitators of evil example, morals have not been affected Indeed it may be said morals have improved, because many a weak man and woman have been hound- ed into vicious lives by the austere and unforglving conduct of unbendlng nor alists.
 There Is much to deplore in the pres- ent state of manners, however. because with too many the worlds opinion, which Is reflected in conventionalities, is held to be the code of morals. The license of the English court in the days of Queen Anne may have largely resulted from the free and easy manners of the court, but today, when each and every individual entertains very clear and precise ideas as to what is right and what Is wrong moral transgressions are not apt to fol- low in the wake of too easy manners. Yet, while moral transgressions may not follow, purity of thought does suffer, and the estimate in which certain things should be held Is unquestionably lowered Bad manners impeach the good name of men and women, which the poet wisely declares to be ''the precious jewel of their souls"
 No one can observe the barriers of re-