The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1921-05-03

amiability also finds expression i
them. 1t is this which gives ~
spirit. SIS fear gives them form M
the form is gone. but the spirit hs.
not been abolished. We all ino~
people whose natural sweetness.
makes their manners charming Al.
though they are anything but Tor.
NAL. The trouble is that vulgari,y
bad taste. brutality, also have fres
play where the f0rmalisms hays
been abandoned. In a country
such as early Victorian England or
our own ante-bellum south, chill.
dren were taught a code Of man.
ners as rigid as the rules Of chess.
On certain occasions they mus! bow
in certain ways. There were set
forms for saying and doing every.
thing. The cad and the dolt could
thus be given a semblance Of
courtesy. They would lack the
! grace which is lent by fine spirit
but their acquired formalisms
i would keep them from being often.
sive. Any one. If caught young
| enough, can be taught the outward
form of manners. Even MONKEYS
have been trained to good taAh
manners.
The case seems TO be, then, that
the decay of formal manners has
added to the spontaneity Of human
| intercourse, and where natural
good taste and good feeling pre-.
vail, it has probably not detracted
| from the charm Of social life. On
the other hand, it has undoubtedly
given free play to vulgarity and
bad taste and feeling, and has
caused the social spectacle as Z
; whole TO deteriorate. You ma!
consider it gain or loss, as 20,
choose, but in either case you ma,
, comfort yourself with the though
that it is inevitable. There will b
, no return to the days Of forma
courtesies and long gallan
speeches. We have come to car
: more for directness and honest
T than for grace and artificial beaut,
: Manners and Character.
Beyond a doubt the decay {
: formal manners has made life moi
S difficult for those who have stron
8 feelings of irritation or resentmel
to conceal. Formal manners ter
: to conceal these things automati
t ally. The proper speeches and &c
s lures are made from long hal
: while the inner man may be boilin
: That good manners are sometim
f sort of heroism is pointed out
v Nadal, an American writer and 1
s acute social observer. He notes I
: salient fact that pleasant name
v are relatively easy for those W
s are happily adjusted to life a
, we'll cared for, who encounter !
J. tie opposition. But they are a
II other matters for the man or WON
IS who is cast for a fighting part
life, who is thrown into the stru
gle with nothing but his abiliti
v and is forced to develop and asst
1t them in the face of every kind
lr opposition. Such persons inev
e ably generate speech and actil
n Again there are some to whom
" conventions and customs OF
y ciety seem pleasant and easy, a
e others, whom they gall at aim
l. every contact. In these. too,
e. restrained and pleasant mani
is may be little less than a herois
lie In estimating the manners of an
so dividual it is always we'll to Il
le into account how much they rep
sent of irritation or strong feel
e. held in leash.
al Those who are not gifted with
We best of taste, or who are freque
e, ly shaken by feelings that must
in concealed may we'll study tbs
Of tiers of Lord Chesterfield,
is preached to his son code of nj
ke ners far too formal for mod
er use, but who went to the heart
lg the matter when he said that
TX requirement of good manners
e. wholly a matter of attention.
We Is profoundly true. If you
1g watch the other fellow and liz
e. to him, instead of trying always
ce assert yourself. you can easily
We just what he expects Of you.
to treat people as they justly exl
a to be treated, so far as you
ut without compromising your
n respect, is the best of manners.