Evening star., 1927-11-17
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELf.

The use OF ordinary courtesy in gift
| giving and receiving tends to take
away the slight unplea sartness which
| such action carries with 1t. thus rem
| dering a service both 10 giver and re.
| cipient.
To continue the example of courtesy
beginning with a simple Thank you"
| common practice requires that the
one who confers the gift reply, You
are welcome" or some such state.
ment, to relieve the mental tension.
tAnother testimonial to the bad side
of gift giving)
When one thanks another, and the
| other docs not murmur some such re-
| ply, the first person feels more or less
as if his courtesy were wasted. There
| are many other situations in every
day living in which one who believes
| in civility is faced with the question
| Is my politeness wasted?
| Today so standardized is dress, both
among men and women, that it is
scarcely possible for one to tell, by
| looking at them. whether unknown
persons are habituated TO courtliness
or are in the category of those per.
sons who have been brought UP in
a stable" as the homely old adage
put it.
IT is to save themselves from un.
wanted and unmerited Sights and re-
Bluffs that men who have arrived"
adopt a policy of making as few con.
facts with others as possible, not from
any desire to be high hat" or be-
cause they suddenly amass unto them.
selves a swell head" or anything of
that sort
They have discovered that they save
themselves a lot of trouble and worry
simply by cutting their acquantances
down to those they have discovered
to be entirely civilized beihg8--and no
one is civilized who canot he ordna-
rily polite himself, both I'm his own
conduct and in the reception of the
words and actions of others.
In public vehicles or crowds. where
one meets all sorts and conditions of
men, the temptation arises to forget
the manners taught one long ago.
or at least such residue as has not
been knocked out of one by the buffets
Of time.
1t is distinctly a strain upon ones
bump of civility to step aside to allow
a woman to enter a street car first 20
have the same lady deliberately tread
upon ones toes, without so much as
an apology as she passes.
Many a man, in the old days. swore
to get up no more when, after he
had done so, the fat lady calmly ap-
propriated the vacated seat without
so much as a glance to left or right,
and. indeed. in some cases, with an
indignant expression. as if she were
saying to herself, What right did
you have to be seated in the first
place. you sap?"
Today the most trying situation
upon the strained courtIiness of the
average male is the custom of taking
off ones hat in an elevator. Many
men regard it not only as a waste of
effort, but as distinctly a nuisance to
all concerned. since the hat on the
head is out of the way, whereas a hat
held waist-high is in every ones way
in 4 packed elevator
Yet all true courtesy. however un-
acknowledged. is worth great deal to
the person who indulges i'm ii. 1t may
seem wasted, but worth great deal to
~hat Of it? There is great deal of
waste in every issue of life. and what
can be wasted to more point than
decent civility to ones fellow human
beings? THE gift is to the giver,"
some one has we'll said