The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1933-04-14
By EMILY POST
Author of Etiquette, the Blue Book of Social
Usage" "The Personality Of
House." Etc
IDEAL APPROACH TO CULTURE

1t is scarcely impossible to over
emphasize the importance of earliest
home training in the art of behavior.
which is in turn an essential at
tribute of culture. Many people
seem to think that teaching the art
of behavior TO children begins and
ends with table manners. and with
somewhat sketchy rehearsals of
greetings and responses in the pres
ence of company-details of mere
mechanics, which may be learned by
anyone at any age Real training
in behavior must be focused Oh
rests Of character and of taste. which
will in later life be met by instinct
For example, the first attribute re-
quired Of every thoroughbred is self
control Whether self-expression. as
encouraged by certain modern schools
of training. can accomplish this end
as well as yesterdays belief in dis
cipline, is more or less a question
of whether you believe that the cul
tivation of a garden is best accom-
plished by letting the weeds grow,
trusting that they will destroy them
selves, or whether you believe in
pulling them up. I know the ques-
ton is not quite like that, but il
would seem that children of today
are too often humored where we of
yesterday were too often spanked!
At all events. no matter how ac-
quired, self-control is still the first
essential of character no less than of
good manners. Consideration for the
rights and feelings of others must
BE taught with a baby's first under
standing of the difference between
what is his and what is not his; this
is the earliest lesson-next to self
control-that he must learn.
received a letter only yesterday
from mother who tells me that her
child's intense pride of possession
frightens her, and she wants TO know
how ii can be checked. In answer
| can only say that unless we adopt
communistic mode of life. in which
nothing shall be owned by anyone.
a sense of possession will remain one
of the realities of life. To have and
% hold has always been the incentive,
TO deserve as well as to seize. IN
less baby knows that this thing is
his. he cannot be taught the value
of generosity, which, with Kindness. is
the foundation of courtesy.
Today when the beginning of
school and Kindergarten suggests
plans for the future education of
even very little children, / want to
emphasize the detail that is the very
first and most essential root TO cul-
ture. By which | mean such early
training in purity of speech that il
shall become instructive Nothing is
so important. And l will tell yon
why:
To every little child, speech is a
universal gift. Few children at the
age of three can carry a tune. none
nave perception of color harmony. or
form. but every child can initiate
with accuracy and ease every tone
and accent in all the languages in
the world. But this magic facility
begins to fade-sOnetimes at an
earlier age than three-and is usual
~ lost completely by the age of
twelve. Gift for pronunciation is
really a question of sensitive ear
rather than of tongue, and the rea-
son why grown people cannot. TO
save their lives, learn TO pronounce
a foreign tongue, is that they have
lost their sensitiveness of hearing.
which would have remained forever
had il been fixed in childhood. These
remarks are really in answer to a
young French woman who writes me
that her American husband is pro-
voked because she is not speaking
French TO their baby daughter She
finds it too much trouble to talk a
separate language to the child alone
II will be easy enough to learn
French, if she wants to, when she
is grownl
My answer is. this is just what
she will never be able to dol ]
quote this purposely to the many of
you who were born in other coun-