The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1905-04-08
COURTESY ONE OF
THE CARDINAL VIRTUES
Oady Catherine Milnes-Casken in Chi
cago Tribune)

Gady Catherine Mnnes-Caskeu in Chi
cago Tribune)
IT am the pink of courtesy" Shakes
peare makes Mercutio say to Romeo,
as the highest praise a gentle man can
bestow upon himself or another. Re
member now when you meet your an
tagonist, do everything in a mild, agree
able manner. Let your courage be
keen, but at the same time as polished
as your sword" This was considered
excellent advice in the eighteenth CEN
fury, and worthy of a well bred man.
AT Fentenoy the supreme example of
old French courtesy returns to me, "A
vous messieurs les premiars,'' as the
little French officer said before firing.
But if few of us can take part in
such splendid examples of world famed
courtesy, everybody can do something
TO make life sweeter. The crippled and
manned cross every man and woman's
path. Help your lame dog over the
stile." The advice is as good now as
it was in Swift's time. We all of us
know lame dogs. Dogs on three legs
blear-eyed and unlovely, to whom the
pull over a barrier in life not only saves
materially but warns their hearts with
gratitude. What a fine thing hope ISL
wrote the sage, and what joyous
thing TO bring ii back to some poor
broken heart by a well timed word of
kindness, an attentive ear, or gracious
art of courtesy.
Manners are the shadows of virtue,
the momentary display of those quail
tiles which our fellow creatures love
and respect" wrote Sydney Smith. But
if these shadows are not f1eeting, but
grow in time to be the real thing, they
are indeed beautiful and health giving,
and become in time the fair frame of
fair picture. PoliteneSS can be skin
deep, but courtesy is the outward and
visible sign of a noble nature. NAL
ice is murder begun" but the courte-
Gus mans or womans first aim is to
set at all their ease, to efface with dig
nifty distinctions of rank, and to make
life sweet and happy to all whom sur
round them.
In an address of the emperor of ia
pan to the sol liers and sailors of his
empire a few years ago special stress
was laid on the Importance of five par
JicUlar virtues. The members of the
two forces are commanded above all
10 be loyal, courteous, brave, upright,
and frugal. act, above all things,
the Japanes no.. It is necessary to
subdue thy own SELF" "Self-mastery,
the maintenancr G equanimity of tenn
per uiluEI lti 10. Us UillOllS, DlCSGllAG
Of mind. conn oslre under trying cir
cumstances," ali these are considered
necessary virtues for a Japanese no
BILE
One of the first duties of Samurai
education is to be courteous to all, so
that each unity of society might be
agree able and delightful to the rest,
'Stoicism and politeness, apparently so
far apart. are in reality brother and
sister He bears all that she may
shine. Without her he is stolfd, With
out him she IS trivial so writes one of
the most brilliant and learned of the
japanese professors of today. Courtesy
is now rarely taught to children here
as a necessary part of their education.
Ugly tricks are seldom eradicated, or
little rud5neSses reproved. As has been
truly said by a brilliant novelist
Young people want airing, they
want to be out of the world to get ripe.
II is curious thing how little the inn
portance of good manners is inculcated
upon the rising generation. and YET
from a worldly point good manners
open many doors.
Gentle consideration and a modest
bearing are singularly attractive even
10 the most worldly The push OF
modern life is ugly, and always vulgar
elf-advertiSement is not pretty, even
when successful. To fly above the yul-
gar fight of common souls is supreme
~ rare i'm these days of many inVen-
tons. The material side of life is al
ways with US, and preacher is more
than ever wanted to impress upon M
hearers the Importance of living ut
tie in spiritual things, and not looking
upon idealists as idle dreamers, IN facl,
of not belonging totally and entirely 10
he wi rrsr md 70 he L
Lord Hills dying consolation was.
''T have no enemies" 1t was said OF
him that all men who knew him loved
him, and that his nature was without
jealousy, and that he the shropshire
hero, went through life courteous, tsh-
der and pitiful. 1t was told of MN
that he never missed an opportunity
81 doing a kindness to any man, anu
always in such manner that ne
seemed to be receiving the beneht anu
the recipient comforting it.
Discourtesy is brutality to the heaTIt
o. soul Of another. We have an
seen some such acts of cruelty done
tho nervous siienced. the bully triumph
ant and the modest made ashamed.
These savage onslaughts are the WORK
o, small. and generally ignorant Souls
and posterity If ii cannot save the VIC
tim holds UP at least finger OF Scorh
al MIN who did the harn
Who killed Jack Keats?
J. says the Quarterly,
SO savage and tartarly,
Twas one of my feats."
And the world now says, miserable
and wretched critic reviewer, not TO
have recognized such magnihcent
genius
Appreciation was your golden oppor-
tunity and the mud that you threw
rests for all time upon your hands-on
you is the mark Of the beast
If most of us were asked to quote one
courteous action in particular, PROD
ably many would tell the story of Sir
Walter Raleigh and the cloak, and re-
late how that "worshipful t~-1ht by
a deed worthy OF the best annals OF
chiyalry, prevented the maiden queen
from soilng her shoes. But story as
Charming is told of New Zealand gar
lant of the last century, "One evening, I
u is said, this swain. after securing az /
The postofice his treasured mail budget
was seen escorting his lady love nome |
through the i'll lighted, muddy streets |
Of little Christchurch. A light OF some /
sort was needed at an especially miry |
crossing. The devoted squire DID rol /
spread out his cloak as did Sir Waiter
Raleigh. He had no cloak TO spread !