The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1904-07-30
SHE COULD NOT SPEAK
HAD NOT BEEN INTRODUCED TO
MAN WHO SAVED HER LIFE
There Are Times When 1t is Proper to
Speak to Those We Do Not Know
Those With Common Sense Rarely
Make Mistakes

There are some people unfortunately
not endowed with common sense for
whom any amount of advice would be
useless A case in point is that OF the
woman who could not thank the man
who saved her life because she had not
been introduced to him! There was an
instance of this at a wedding not lar
from here recently when one of the
ushers did not feel that he could offer
his arm to a lady to escort her to
seat because he had never seen her be
fore! These seem to be instances of
lack of common sense. There are times
when it is proper to speak to persons
one does not know, to offer some cour-
tesy or kindness to strangers, or to ac-
cept the same from them, but these
occasions are to be decided at the mo-
ment and must be a matter of lndlV1d-
ual judgment, therefore it would be
hard to lay down any hard and fast
rule about it Not to be able to speak
10 a person without an introduction II
the occasion demanded speech is an
absurdity. There are many occasions
when not to speak to d stranger be-
trays more ignorance than to do so.
Not long ago woman said that she
could not even thank a man for his
seat in the car for fear he would force
himself upon her acquaintance. That
woman need not worry. Very few men
speak to women rudely or insultingly
without some cause and the woman
who will calmly take a mans seat
without a word of gratitude is lacking
in manners. But the occasion for
speaking to a stranger or one unknown
must be judged by the person at the
moment and woman of common sense
rarely makes a mistake in this regard.
There are times on trains and boats
when it is proper to speak without in
PRODUCTION, and, in fact, hardly q day
passes when man does not offer a
woman some kind of a courtesy like
stepping back to let her get into a
car before him, or holding a door open,
and one should either thank him, or at
least incline ones head. The women
who go about the world With the idea
that every man is going to make love
To them if they are given a courteous
word we'll, l don't know What-to say
of them, save that they give them
selves good deal of unnecessary Wor-
rY. There are fewer of them afflicted
this way, however, than there are men
who think every woman has designs
on them. The latter are very plenty
and. also waste time and thought.
As far as woman speaking to a
man she does not know is concerned,
it depends a great deal upon the per-
son whether it may be done with pro-
priety As a general rule it is far from
proper, but there are exceptions to it,
and thanking a man for giving up his
seat in the car is one of them. 1t
scarcely ever hurts a woman to be
polite and the man who would take
advantage of courteous word to open
up conversation With a stranger
could very easily be gotten rid Of
There are many persons who go
through the world with tremendous
assumption of dignity and an air of
being Of great Importance, who are so
careful of their dignity that they must
insist upon being introduced even to
the letter carriers before receiving mail
from them. AS a rule, however, this
bombastic manner is apt to conceal an
emptiness in the upper story Great
people and those with common sense
are generally simple, and are not al
ways fearful of making mistakes A
sense of humor is a great help in going
through life. and those who have it are
often able to turn an awkward con-
tretemps into fun and save the stua-
ton. There is such a thing as having
great deal of manner but no manners