The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1914-03-12
GOOD BREEDING
AND I'LL MANNERS
Another Meritorious Paper Read Before
the Chautauqua Circle at Recent
Meeting, in Which the Writer Expresses
his Views Logically.
COURTESY GOES FAR
By w. p. II. 3457.

If | were asked to state JUS
VIII degree of s"ccess depended
upon good manners" | would say
it is impossible TO estimate to how
great degree success does depend
upon good manners. We all know
however that if two men were to
start in life each with the same quail
tiles, except that one was kind
courteous, and obliging, while the
other was stiff, rude, and unobllg.
ing, the former would make the sue.
cess IN life and the other the failure
| remember an instance which il.
Illustrates this point exactly. In g
small town which | had occasion tc
visit, there was drug store kept by
a man who was anything but al
ideal merchant. He had plenty ol
money, as large and well equipped g
shop as / have ever seen in place
of that size, and he advertised his
goods widely. A block or 50 fur
ther down the street there was an
other drug store. not nearly SO large
or we'll supplied with wares, for il
was owned by young man who
had invested his last dollar in
his somewhat meager equipment
Another difference was, that the
man in the larger shop was a surly
disagreeable sort of a person, one
who seldom spoke unless directly
addressed. and then in a tone that
was anything but pleasing. While
the other man was always smiling
obliging and willing to please.
When you bought goods from the
former you felt that he was doing
you a favor to sell them to you; the
latter always said, thank you, come
again." or let You 90 away with
some other phrase equally as appre-
ciative.
| Forced Out of Business
A year or so later while travelling
through this same territory, and on
stopping at the town, | found that
the larger druggist had gone, gone
because, as he explained, there was
not room for decent drug store in
the place. While the other man had
extended his business until he had
obtained as large and we'll equipped
a shop as that of his rival had been.
He found no difficulty in making his
business profitable one, he had no
trouble in keeping his customers;
once they visited his shop they were
only too glad to accept his invita-
ton to call again, and called so reg
ularly that he was on the high road
to success. A true capacity for
courtesy Is high gift. ard courtesy
is an important business detail, a
great asset, in getting under the
buyers skin. To my mind, amiabll-
ity and a fine discernment of the
wishes of the individual customer
are the only real weapons with
which small business man can hope
to beat his competitors. Courtesy
goes farther and does more TO hold
the buyer than bargain sales.
find that people would rather
deal with a small but amiabIe and
accommodating trader than with a
vast establishment run like ma
chine.
The executive heads of great
western railroad. consider that po-
Iiteness In handling travelling public
is form of advertising that costs
nothing, bu, which leaves a lasting
impression upon those receiving cour-
teous attention, far outweighing the
arguments of printed pages; this road
according to the directors, has al
ways endeavored to instill into the
minds of its employees the fact that the
golden key to success lies in the
measure of courteous and careful
attention given to it's patrons. In
the popularity of this company has
attained lies the proof that in a very
large degree the effort has been sue
cessful.
The cashier of a large bank in
Chicago has formulated a good sys-
tenn for application Of courtesy in
business which has been productive
of practical results. During the
course of days work, this bank
official must meet many callers, each
of whom has some pressing mat.
ters" to discuss or present for his
approval or dlsapproval. A consid-
cradle number of gentlemen, some
worthy and some misguided, forget
that the time of bank official is
precious. Often they tarry TOO long