Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1921-08-17
Different Kinds.
Of Bad. Manners
There Are Kinds That Matter and
Kinds That Don't. ard Here
Thcy Are.

A manners arc simply WnA
we might call uncultivatec
manners. These bad manners In
dicate no lack of dignity, or con-
sideration for other people. They
do not indicate innate awkward
ness or clumsiness. All they In
dica.e Ii that the persons who
have them. have never come very
much in contact with people who
have devoted time to the cultiva-
tion of graceful manners. Some
times we call this sort Of thing q,
the person who errs in this regard
as being provincial or rustic.
These words, however, apply only
10 the uncuitivated manners OF the
rural sections. There are just a.
many .provincialisms" Of the city.
1t is really mistake to think that
the country man or woman need
have less cultivated manners.
Perhaps at one time this was the
case. but nowadays country breed
ing has nothing to do with IL.
There ought to BE- some word like
~provincielism" to apply to the
uncultivated manners peculiar to
certain city people.
Nothing to be AshanAcd OF.
Now. as a matter of fact, these
uncultivated manners are nothing
to be ashamed of. You may have
acquired the habit In your home
OF tucking your napkin into your
dress or waistcoat. There is moth
ing gross or disgusting about the
practice nor is 1t something that
shows lack OF consideration for
other persons. The only thing ons
can say about 1t is 1t local GUS
tom. that 1t is not done by per-
sons who have had opportunity to
sec the world and mix with other
people.
You need not re ashamed of
such habit, nor ashamed of your
relatives ii they persist In it. But
II you are mingling socially with
persons who have acQuireds their
manners IN more cosmopolitan
atmosphere you will be defeating
your own purposes not to change
your habit in favor Of theirx.
There are lots Of mAnners like
this. and most persons change
them as an unconscious matter OF
initiation
The Kind Thst Matter.
Then there is another sort OF
bad manners that even the most
cosmopolitan Of people may com
NIT. These are the bad manners
that are due to lack of consfdera-
tion OF others. We say ii is i'll
bred TO crowd our way into public
conyeyances, to upbraid our ser
wants before other people, to as
sumo = patronizing manner when
talking with peryons whom We re-
gard as our interiors. But there
are some people whose pedigree
dates back to William the Con-
queror and whose education has
been perfect who do these things.
AND there are other people who
have had no advantages either Of
birth or training who have the
instructive good breeding of the
heart that makes it impossible for
them to be guilty OF that kind OF
bad manners.
Then there are, bad manners
which the French would can
gaucheries, derived from their
word for the left hand-thaf are
simply due to clumsiness and avk-
wardness. Some people have 20
struggle most against this kind of
bad manners. There are the faults
peculiar to another class of per-
sons.
II you want to mend your man
ners. start In by finding out IN
which group of faults yours lie.
Whatever the cause, remember
that persistent bad manners will
prove a handicap to any career,
and successful manners have often
carved success out of what would
otherwise be rather mediocre
life.