The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1904-09-21
FORGOT TO THANK HER
MAN GAVE HIS SEAT TO WOMAN
in CAR IS
The Lack of Courtesy of Women to
One Another in Stores and Cars and
the Value of Kind Word to Clerks
Who Stand All Day Behind Counters

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A story which appeared in print re-
Gently has moral as well as humor.
A man went into the office of one OF
the papers which run a personal col
umn and inserted the following:
Gentleman regrets that he forgot to
thank lady who kindly consented to
take his seat in the car and he signed
it "Absent-minded Brute" New that
little story speaks volumes and shows
that men who do not give their seats
to women in cars have their point of
view and some excuse for annaining
seated. When a man is polite enough
to rise and stand in the car aisle dur
ing a long ride when he is tired, it
certainly repays him just little to
have the woman in question show in
some way that she appreciates his
courtesy. But when she pumps down
without even a glance at him, he can
not be very much blamed if he in
wardly resolves he has been a fool and
viii never be one again. This is one
of the reasons why men are doing
these courteous little acts less than
ever before.
Why cannot women be more cour-
teous in every relation of life? If one
watches closely, especially in shops,
the amount of discourtesy one sees is
simply astonishing. When a woman
is talking to the clerk behind the
counter about what she wants. for an
other woman to come up, break in and
ask that clerk to wait on her, is rude.
But it is done hundred times a day.
OF course there are times when a
woman keeps a clerk a length of time
Tor which there is no possible excuse,
and if one turns to the woman and
says Pardon me-" she might speak
to that clerk without discourtesy to
the other shopper, but these instances
are not many, and a tactfu1 woman
will know how to get around such a
situation. But the breaking in rudely
of women in stores is too we'll known
to need description. Then again 1t is
such a little thing to be polite to
clerks, to say 3I thank you," or you
have taken a great deal of trouble for
me- or something pleasant after you
have made some tired girl haul down
a hundred dollars worth Of goods and
then purchased a spool of thread and
had it sent home. Sometimes pleas
ant. appreciative word may make the
tired clerks headache completely dis
appear, and yet how few women think
of it.
Ask some girl at the lace counter or
glove counter about human nature and
you Will have your eyes opened. The
girls who work in dry goods shops
find out a great deal about women ;
they will tell you that to wait on Mrs.
Black makes a day seem like a year
and takes the joy out of living. But
to wait on Mrs. White is a real pleas
ure; she will make them feel younger
and happier just by little courtesy.
And it is so easy, so cheap. There are
women, professional shoppers, whom
everybody in stores fees from They
want color which nature never pro-
Tided. or width which never comes,
or price laughably low, and these
things are just excuses to shop. Shop
ping is the bane of some women. 1t
exerts a remarkable fascination over
them and they start out regularly
every morning and foregather at the
popular dry goods stores, there to look
and talk and price things.
But if these women who are so care
less would only put themselves in the
places of the tired women who stand
behind a counter all day and think
how they would like to be treated as
mere machines to do the bidding OF
shoppers. they might change their
ways. Politeness costs nothing, and
Yet is one of the most valuable things
in life. 1t makes all the difference be-
tween kindness and Indifference.