The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1906-12-07
NEW YoRK's. .Bap. MANNEgs.
A Philadclphian Tells OF His EXpcri-
enceS in the Metropolis.

| ductors, cahmel, statesmen, and eyen
the policemen seem to. vie with each
other as to who will excel i'm the art
of bad manners.
Stand on New York street cor
ner, for instance, and hail a trolley;
car after car VIII whirl by you with
the motol man as abstractedly re-
gardless of you as If you did not ex
list. Four Of these cars rushed by
me the other day and / jumped on
the fifth, took my stand near the mo-
torman, and called his attention to
four women at the next corner " ION
we passed.
Didn't those women want TO get
on?" | asked.
They did" was the Illuminating
answer.
Don't you stop this car when
people want to get on" | continued.
II do when I think it's right
see?" he answered, and then turning
to me he politely added, "and | can
do IL without your help, too"
Two blocks further up and q po'
liceman, who had boarded the car.
nudg)d the motorman and indicated
with a side motion OF his head a man
standing on the crossing with 40
women hailing the car with one
hand, while in the palm Of the other
he showed quarter! The car
stopped instantly; the man got on
the front platform, and as he passed
the motorman he slipped the quarter
into the latter's coat pocket. The
passenger took seat in the ca.
N,nt I'm and sat next to him.
Pretty e. .ensiye, that sort OF
thing. isn't it," | ventured.
1T is," said the man. but I've
found it's about the only way to get
these fiends to notice you, ana I'm
in hurry"
And so, thought, it has come TO
this in New York twenty-five cents
to stop "A car and five cents to ride
in it,"
| went to n theatre box Office and
asked for two seats for the evenings
performance and their location.
-Four dollars, came the reply as
two tickets were slid under the glass
window.
Let me see the diagram, please"
! asked. Il want to see where the
seats are"
Good seats" cane the answer.
Take them or leave them"
'I'll answer that question, my
friend" | replied. when | see the
diagram, and III keep this line be-
hind me waiting until do see it..
And then there was slammed down
In front Of me the tHgram, and the
two seats were back of post, OF
course!
That was the right thing to 40,
said a man in the theatre during the
evening. Those fellows ought to be
taught to he polite"
But why don't you New Workers
do it," | asked.
oh" he replied, were hardened
likeness here any more. It's a doai
art" And it is, no doubt of that!
A policeman put it well to me , lly
the other evening. had hailed him
goodnight" as he stood G the
corner.
THANK you, sir; same o you"
he replied, and as | caugh his eye
and stopped he said:
Just n bit unusual sir!"
"Unusual?" | asked.
''Yes, sir" he replied; there ism
much politencss in this town"
But YOU haycnt forgotten to be
polite" | said.
well I'm now on the force-just
six months. Ill lose II all right, sir.
1t isn't in the air here"
"A great congested city" is the
most general excuse advanced But
SO is London, greater and even more
congosted. Yet incivility is the ex-
Ception there and not the rLle. Get
into a wagon jam in LondoL. and
jokes begin to ~ among the drivers.
But set into similar jam in New
York, and instead there is a series
of Car-splitting oaths and obscene
language that is anything but agree
able TO women who happen to be
near.
Nor is il American" as .omc
New Workers choose TO say, for il is
significant fact that the further
You get from New York the moro
courteous the people become. 1t is
the spirit of gross and hard ma
tcrialism that dominates and pre-
walls from the highest to the lowest
Perhaps the policeman was all too
close TO the truth when he said: 1t
isn't in the air" But New Workers
can put il Into the air" If they
choose, unless they have grown
wholly Indifferent TO the reputation
of their city. For. as il is. the fact
cannot be denied that. despite its
finer and higher side, despite all that
its institutions are doing for educa-
! tion and religion, New lork's pre-
/ dominant reputation to-day is that it
! is a city Of bad manners, and the
! grossest of bad manners at that
! 1tN Ladies' Home Journal.