Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1912-06-08

AOAh1 aA' "
On the day of the luncheon Alice eNi-
IDENTIFY had come directly from business
and had worn her best suit ana he'
prettiest lingerie waist to do ono u
the occasion. Helen had been shoppnis
and had Intended to go home anu
change her tailor-made twhich' pS ''
way. was far handsomer than Aiice >
neat blue suit), for an afternoon lio.N'
hut being pressed for time came
hotel directly from shopping
lyon must pardon my appearing III q
.ai,or.made suit she said to her most
ess. .'but really I had to bus d
hot and bv the time l had selected one
a uos almost / o'clock and l didn nave
time to change my SUIT a.
At this Alice, who was too hono9. -
,ro,ooize for her attire, which, pesioes
being i'm perfect keeping with the o'ea
sion. was the best she possessed rooNi"s
embarrassed while the equaiy e"pai-
ra ssed hostess tried to smoo.h 'ha.'ei
over and to keep the conversation lI'ni
the all-absorbing topic OF dress Du'
ING hills in the conversation, however,
Helen would insist upon telling her
friends how ashamed she was uhtIi
every one except the irrepresslble Helen
was too uncomfortable to enjoy the
dainty luncheon.
The incident called to my mind an
other which Is its total antlthesls'
Probably most of you have heard IT,
but like all great lessons drawn from
fact or fancy it is worth repeating.
A distinguished man had gathered
nbout him at dinner one night a group
of well-known scientists, writer's ana
statesmen, among them a young lawyer
who gave promise of rising to the nAd
of his profession and who had brayelys
fought to overcome the handicap of a
poor aud humble origin. He had be-
come a protege of the host, who rec
ognized the fact that the sooner the
rough edges we're worn off the more
easily could his young friend gain the
position his talents deserved. With this
end in view he had planned to include
him in all social gatherings.
At the close of the dinner the finger
bowls were set before each guest. The
young lawyer, who had become engrossed
In conversation, neglected the careful
watch he had heretofore maintained on
the actions of his neighbors, squeezed
the piece OF lemon in the bowl ana
drank the water. In an instant the
host had met the situation with u
politeness that is greater than all con-
ventions, all rules of etiquette. He
raised the finger bow to his lips and
every one of the guests did the same.
The young lawyer probably soon learned
of his mistake, but | am sure he always
kept a grateful memory of his host and
the guests at his first formal dinner.
THEN there IS another ass of the
rudely polite, members of which | know
you nave all met in your travels. They
are those who out of the fulness OF
their knowledge consider 1t their duty
TO repeat a -mispronouneed word or an
ungrammatical sentence, giving 1t. of
course, the proper pronunciation, the
proper grammatical construction. |
was in the company of n the other
day at a rather large and rather formal
gathering. A mutual friend. who hal
shown remarkable courage at a recent
fire, was the subject of discussion.
IF that had been me | would have
lost my head completely" said the first
speaker.
"If it had been ] no means of escape
would have entered my head said the
second speaker.
Now no one wished the second speaker
TO repeat the grammatical error made
by the first, but several of us present
wished that she had substituted some
other form, such as "If it had been my
case instead of so pointedly and pub
licly correcting one of the company.
All of us can quote incident after in
cident where the aggressively polite
member of a company has made all the
others i'll at ease by failing to remember
that true politeness consists of adding
feeling to Knowing. No matter how