The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-03-25
Gertrude Atherton Says School for. Manners Is
 Americas Greatest Need


 profiteer, making ready to storm the portals of society, l should feel primed for the debut. and quite-or almost-as certain of myself as if I had been born in lower Fifth ave- nue in 1880. Almost, for panic some times invades the ample bosoms of profiteer ladies, and memory jumps the tracks. It would still be quite possible to use the salad fork for the fish fork, or inscriAe oneself in visitors book as Mrs. So-and-So. under the momentary delusion that one was in a hotel But at least they Will see how to answer a note and not sign 1t Mrs. So-andSo; how not to introduce their guests by the hideous collocation, MT. Blank meet Mrs. Dash;' forbear to laugh in pub lie at the top of their voice, or to look too ostentatiously rich; learn how to furnish their new houses and tables properly; observe the formulae when visiting country houses, par tlcularly in regard to clothes; treat their servants decently: forbid a man to take their arm on tSe street, and, In short, behave generally as if they were civilized beings.
 It is curious fact that while the lower classes in England are quite frankly vulgar and the middle mid dle-classes merely snug, and similar classes on the continent either pie turesque or inoffensive, the great masses of the American people alone are common. Whether this is a re- suit of democracy, or the terrific pressure and struggle for existence, rcannot say, but the fact remains. Commences is the national vice. It Is worse and more deteriorating than alcohol and tobacco, and only de- gree so than drugs. Why has it escaped the reformers?
 No doubt it will be asked: What need of polish when man has golden heart?' And the G. H. is the pride of the vest, where manners are at their worst. We'll the answer is: If only because good manners give one sense of superiority not even contributed by success in business, the golden heart. and the Declaration of Independence. And the sense of inferiority, no matter how subtle, has an insidious effect on the character. 1 fancy there are more inferiority compleXes due to this subconscious Knowledge of commences than to the failure to compete with abler men. or to get ones name on the front page of newspaper.
 No man ever was an anarchist who did not have a hideous sense of infe- riority; and no man. with or without militance, hates his "betters" if his breeding is as good as theirs. Good manners, if universally cultivated among our Babbitts, would not only give man poise and serenity which would enable him to meet the Ills of life with equanimity, but pos sibly to avert them. Many deal" has failed because the man bringing good thing to a person of wealth and polish was found personally in- suffera ble-possibly suspicious. More over. the rough edges of contact 1 ha 1. T m be easier. for feelings" would be respected. Egos are as sensitive as pockets. And if certain formality were observed in the daily life of every household. no matter how hum ble, that pride in self. so necessary to human happiness, would ensue as a matter of course. The man with a frowsy household may assure himself that he is as good as the man in the mansion, but he doesn't really believe. it, and subconscious wounds canker. There istoo much arrogance in Amer ica and too little pride.
 Inestimable Advantage.
 Moreover in every business deal, in every controversy, public or pri- vate. the man with breeding has an inestimable advantage over the rough diamond or the golden heart in the uncouth shell. Breeding gives boise.
 
 fusion of mind and loss of temper. As for women-a woman who is poor but well-bred is happy in her sense of infinite superiority to the pluto crats that snub her. They do not ever wourd her pride Not that I am arguing-nor does Mrs. Post - that good manners are invariable in peo- pie of the best society" The habit of wealth, of exalted position, the irritation induced by climbers. a0d the constant attacks upon their pock- etbooks. often make them very ill- mannered indeed. sometimes brutal. Moreover there is often a streak of vulgarity in the best of families, which may not bear looking into, and which finds it's release in dealings With the less fortunate. however, lit- tie it may be agitated by their equals But they are never the most popular members of their world. and are all ways ceusured. The New York wo- man who said she was famous in her circle because she was rich and rude" may have been loved for her golden heart and tolerated because she was "one of them," but no woman was more severely criticized. Socie- ty, using the word in the fashionable sense, could not exist without a gen. eral standard of good manners.
 or course. we all know that the young of fashionable society, as well as of less exalted circles, have ad- jured good manners for the >!6ment. and Mrs. Post does not ignore them by any means. Whether this new div agation is due to the backwash of the war or to the movies. where the most picturesque manners obtain and may appeal to the imaginations of the young, it would be hard to say: but at the moment the manners of the flapper are far worse than her m n y,I I. on the next generation and it's 'sso- ciety'-for they are the future moth CTS and leaders-is hard to predict Perhaps there will be a natural re- vulsion, for we have had the social eXcressence, just as we have had tenn porary eXcressences in literature and art. before this: or perhaps they will decide that anarchy would be fun and do all they can to help it along But 1t IS hardly phenomenon for worry. They are all conservatives at heart
 Says Mrs. Post: "Etiquette remem- Der, Is merely 8 collection of forms by which all personal contacts in life are made smooth" Here is the whole thing in nutshell. elo argument could be stronger. And it is safe to say that if all employers had been invariably polite to their employees there would have been fewer strikes. Not only because the poor man is particularly susceptible to good man ners. but because cultivation of gentle manners involves more sym pathy of understanding. and acts as a dissolvent on congenital selfishncss.
 O O O
 Describes Real Scenex.
 Let no one be alarmed at the pros pect of being obliged to read "Et- auette." even if it is put into the school curriculum and is made as compulsory as geography. Not only is it's style delightful, but it reads Ike first-class society novel. Mrs Post carries set of characters, de- seriptively named. that are quite as true to life as any hero or heroine