Evening star., 1932-10-23
Culture We Owe Our Children
BY EMILY POST.
Famous Authority on Etiquette.

beauty of speech depends almost entire
ly upon the early training of child at
nome, and of course. l mean your child.
All the education of lifetime can rare
ly, if ever. obliterate the evidence of
lazy or careless pronunciation that has
0een allowed to become habit in child
hood. Therefore don't let your child
tumble its syllableS, leaving half of
them out: Vienna say yatolem?;
Jogafy";; or adding others. "Y yam;
giving others the wrong sound or in
f1eXion: "Muree. Evelun, automobile" !"
Don't let little child begin lazily to
Make it open its throat and even exag-
gerate its enunciation slightly. Later
on, when it copies the distorted pro-
nunciation of choolmate-and chill
dren copy every sound they hear
check it at once. If necessary. make an
exercise list of vowels or syllables and
make the child practice it. (You will
have to devise your own listD For ex-
ample, if your child begins saying "ket"
and "het" and "merriage," make it say
cat and hat and marriage; m a, a, "a
marriage. If it picks up last" or
"Jehst," make 1t say Just. uh, Unjust;
if it says al raht," make it sit up and
say crisply: "Awl right, aw aw aw lie ie
lie. In other words, don't let it get into
bad habits, which all too easily become
fixed.
TRAITS of language remain indelible,
like the stamp of the potter on
fresh clay. The priggish correctness,
which characterizes later applied veneer,
can never be mistaken by the knowing
for that which is deep under the glaze.
Never, in other words, affect a diction
that is too pr-r-ee-cise; don't say "cul-
ture"; don't cut apart "at-all."
Let US turn to home training in char
acter, which Is even more important,
except that character changes and de-
velops as understanding grows. Which
is why wrote awhile ago that one of
the first things baby learns is to dis
tinguish- between things which belong
to him and all those which do not.
Being granted full rights over his own
things, he very soon learn the fairness
of respecting the things which belong
to others. He also learns the beauty of
gcn3rosity.
The next lesson is that of his re-
sponsibility toward his obligations.
Rather freely translated, "noblesse OBJ
lige" means merely that the more
things one has, the wider ones obliga-
tions. Teach him that his toys de-
pend upon his care and protection.
Garry this further by giving him a
bird or pet animal to care for. Teach
him that he owes duty to them be-
cause of their trust in him, their de-
pendence upon him. Also teach him
that kindness is but another word for
courtesy. Give him examples of the
vulgarity of rudeness. Teach him the
obligation Of his word and Of his debt.
X X
4 BOVE ALL teach him the principles
of sportsmanship, which is merely
a ccnpocite term for fair play, courage,
truth and self-control. Teach him toll
e-Gt N of the opinions and courteous
consideration Of the rights Of others.
Teach him, in every way you can, the
difference between the simplicity Of
people who are genuine and the boast
fulness of those who are sham. Teach
him the principle of suitability and por-
ton, which are the fundamentals of
taste. And If you teach him even half
Of all these virtues, you can let all other
details of the art OF living (which for
want Of Q better word We inadequately
call etiquette) take care Of themselevS.
(cepyrght. Iss2.l ---.-