The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1930-04-30
Indiana Hit
as Home of
DiSCOurteSy
By MARTHA LEE

You may not like this much, but
after all, if it is fault SO obvi-
Gus man feels called upon to write
about it, I do think it should be
brought to our attention.
There is a lot to be said, both in
agreement and disagreement with
the letter 1 am going to print, but
just the same, whether the writer
has been unduly harsh or not, some
thing should be done about it all.
Dear Miss Lee-Discourtesy isn't thing
Of cline. race. or nativity. until one SUM
bers one night in Indiana. I'VE found that
out.
One may search this globular sphere and
nowhere will one find as many short voiced
telephone answers. brazen pushing and
showing in street cars and department
stores. and daily rudenesses as while bask-
ing in the slow Of the so-called Hoosier
hospitality,
Take the department stores. Clerks APP
pear to care little whether they sell you
anything or not. There's one exception
to this in a store that seems to have
garnered all the courteous women IN In
diana. If not that. these women make
courtesy fine pretenSe.
If you're lined I'D waiting to pay a
restaurant check "hog of hurry" Is apt
to nudge you into brass rail, land low
blow appendix-ward and after Lewis
deadlock get his (or herr change and
rush out the door,
Street car conductors and motornen
seem to have a human quality inculcated
in them for they surpass those Of their
trade in other cities for Chesterieldian
manners. Postmen OF the city seem to
know how to smile once in while, but
otherwise "blahr'
I have mingled with the rich, the poor,
the middle class of this state and the
sole aim seems to be to get as much out
of you as possible with the least effort.
Egotism is rampant. No one knows any
thing unless they've lived here required
span of years and can identify themselves
as Hoosiers by having "big jowls' and be-
ing splendid whisperers regarding their
fellows conduct.
Examples are myriad: The time an at
tempt was made to obtain charge &C
count at store and the 'I-don't-give-
a-darn" whether you get it or not atti-
tude was met with: you pass bottles Of
pop toward the seventh row back at a
ball game. and even pass back the change
and get for all your Inconvenience cou-
pie of grunts; you are stumbled across in
movie shows without pardon me-; even
the mattresses in some of the restaurants
hardly will permit you to eat before they
take the dishes away.
And what to do about it? Nothing. To
the best pushing. showing. discourteous one
in Indiana goes the cream of the pudding.
whether it be in theater seats. baseball
bleacher rows or tram straps.
What to do about it? Bear up or break
new ground. OUTSIDER.
Now you Hoosiers, what say you
to this smirch upon your fair name
for hospitality and geniality. Tess
up. Quite bit of it is true. But
not only in Indiana. Maybe the
writer noticed it more because he was
expecting big things in the way OF
manners and courtesy from us. All
the rush and hustle has made us a
little careless in the way of man
ners. 1t is a bad sign when people
get too hurried to notice that they
are allowing the little nicetieS of
life to get away from them. Be-
cause those negligences reflect in
their home life and their business
dealings. Say all you want to, but
the happiest, most successful men
and women in the eyes of them
selves are the men and women who
have learned that giving, not taking
is the best way.