The Washington herald., 1915-08-25

How many of you who have boys to
rear have begun to teach them the small
courtesies of life-raising the hat when
they greet an acquaintance on the street.
rising to their feet when an older per-
son enters the room. stepping aside to
let an older person pass through the door
first, all the little apparently meaning
less things that really mean SO much
in our intercourse with each other?
That is a long question. but l want you
to ponder it long, too, YOU members of
the Mothers Club who read this talk.
have heard mothers say that these
things are foolish and unreasonable: that
they tease a child who does not under
stand what they mean and make him
really rude and bOoriSh in the end in
his revolt against an early compulsion
to observe them.
Il never fused with Jack to make him
learn those things. said one mother at
a club meeting, where We Were discuss
ing this matter. Il never allowed him
to speak impolitely to people. and l
tanGht him TO obey me when l told him
to do anything. but as for all that hat
raising business ans standing until older
people were seated. l left that until ne
was grown. | didn't want to make a,.
imitation man out of him.
Well, | have recently met Jack, and
he is not an imitation man yet. am
sorry to say he lacks the polish which
rounds off the rough corners and makes
human intercourse pleasant and pos
sible. Enimportant these little OBJ
servances are. they are the wheels which
make our social life go round | do not
h,r. hot al
life in its larger sense which includes
all we have to do with our fellow-men
and is only made possible by a kindly
consideration for each other.
AT that same club meeting another
mother rose to her feet as soon aS Jacks
mother was seated and said she could
not agree that the teaching of manners
should he left until a child is grown
Il have two boys she continued. land
from the time their capstrings were dis
carded I began to teach them to tip
their hats to people they knew on the
street. Also. l always told them to rise
when older people entered a room where
they were. Even I had to smile to my
self sometimes. to see them scramble
from their toys on the floor. for the fat
little legs were not easy to move. and
my mother often reproved me for the alb
surdity. she called it, of making them
do it.
They didn't understand it at the time.
and dare say they often wondered in
their little souls what ii all meant; but
persisted. and now. if i do say 1t my
self they are the most genuinely polite
boys of our acquaintance. 1t Is second
nature to them to, be polite. and people
often tell me it is pleasure to have
them come to see them"
l know those boys. too. l am happy to
to say. and, as their mother claims. they
are genuinely courteous, always and
under any provocation. They are ex-
tremely popular socially. too. and have
more invitations, and from people worth
knowing, tina. they have time to accept
Don't you think thiI mother'I plan
was better than the one pursued by the
mother of Jack? You see. even IL the
youngsters did not understand what it
meant when they were tiny little fel-
lows. they formed the habit OF obedience
by doing as their mother requested In
the matter. and by the time they were
old enough to really understand. the per-
formance of these trivial courtesies had
become habitual with them and made
gentlemen of them.
Do not be afraid. either. dear moth
ers. that the children will not UNDER
stand tho meaning Of the observances
you are trying to teach them. In their