Evening star., 1942-08-01
Good Manners
Hold Real Secret of Woman's Charm
Bv Dorothy Dir

When women think about max
Ing themselves attractive, they
think only about their figures,
their clothes and their hair-dos.
II they can achieve a string
bean silhouette and wear the
latest little number from a spe-
cialty shop and have an eruption
Of freak curls on their heads,
they consider themselves perfect
ly irresistible. Apparently it does
not enter their minds that they
need manners to complete the
ensemble, as salesladies say. Yet.
after all, the thing that we ad-
mire most in a woman is not
her looks, but the graciousness
Of her personality.
Occasionally, of course. you
come across a woman who is
gentle and tactful and respectful
of the rights OF others and who
handles all those with whom she
comes in contact with velvet
gloves, but such conduct rates
her as belonging to an older
generation. The average young
girl of today would rather be
accused of breaking all the Ten
Commandments than of having
good manners. She is as sloppy
in her behavior as she is in her
clothes, and if the general pub
lie doesn't like it, she can tell
them in no uncertain terms
where they can 60.
This seems hard indictment
to bring against the young, but
If you will check it up against
your own experience with them
you will see how true it is. In
vite the average young girl to
spend week end with you. Does
she consider for minute that
you have spent time and work
and money in trying to give her
pleasure. and that the least re-
turn she can make for your
efforts in her behalf is to fall in
with the ways of the household
and to pretend to be having a
good time even if she is bored
stiff?
Not She Not at all. If she
doesn't want to get up for break
fast. she lies abed, no matter how
much it disrupts your days
schedule and makes the cook
threaten to leave. If she doesn't
like the food, she says so with a
frankness that appalls you. If
she doesn't like your other guests,
she doesn't bother even to be
polite to them.
If she thinks she looks we'll in
a bathing suit, she continually
wonders why you don't have a
swimming pool. And If she
doesn't want to, she won't play
golf or tennis, or do any of the
things you have arranged for her
amusement She is as openly
glad to 60 home when the visit
Is over as you are secretly glad
to have her go.
She practically never troubles
to write bread and butter letter
unless her mother nags her into
doing it. Nor, for that matter, do
brides often make the gesture of
gratitude for wedding gifts that
is SO appreciated when it comes
spontaneously and hot off the
griddle, so to speak, and that falls
SO fiat when it is postponed for
months and months until you
have forgotten what it was that
you sent Marybelle for a bridal
present, and whether she married
the Jones lad or the Smith boy or
somebody you never heard Of.
OF course, respect for ones
elders is an outmoded sentiment
that has gone into the discard
along with stocks and bustles, but
nevertheless it does give you a
shock when you hear a young
boy fatty contradict a man old
enough to be his grandfather,
and telling him he must have
gotten his opinions out of the
moth balls.
On the contrary, when we see
young girl sitting down and
having a nice chat with an old
lady, we think she is so sweet
and dear we want to go out and
buy her present or make her
the queen of May or something.
But the young girls are not the
only ones who lack good man
ners and disdain to use any
suavity in dealing with others.
There are their mothers. Stand
In line in any queue, as we have
to do so often in these days, and