Year: 1869

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Republican.


Popular Manners in England and Ger


many.


The manners of the people here
strike one as much more democratic
than those of the English. There is
far less apparent consciousness of in
ferioritv on the part of certain classes,
especially servants and trades people.
In England this was very noticea-
BILE. The walters, for example, in the
hotels and restaurants, did not seem
to assume any common humanity
with you. They understood their
business. The average English wait
er made YOU feel that his father and
his grandfather. were walters before
him. Surely blood and breeding must
have combined to produce q man who
knew the duties of his place so exact
lyi Some of them were most digui-
fed personaces. / remember the watt
er at the Afitre Tavern, in Oxford,
that paragon of English inns. Such
inns L had read of, but supposed they
were among the things of the past,
along with mail coaches and the like.
But at the Afitre, for the first ii me,
and at many places afterward, did we
find the comfort, the privacy, the ira
ditionaI character of landlord and bar
maid and ostler, all in their glory,
making q whole that gave to the say
ing "Shall 1 not take mine ease in
mine inn ?" n meaning never before
dreamed of. Our walker at the Mitre
was a dignified gray-haired function
airy, with q flavor Of the antiquity and
venerableness that pervaded the old
college town. With what quiet he
spread the table in the bright little
sitting room, how he removed the
covers as if he had practiced the ma
neuver for life-timeI And how did
l blush inwardly on making mis-
take in carving under the eyes of that
accomplished man! More wonderful
still was the head waiter at the Edin-
burgh, that most perfect of hotels,
with every merit but cheapness. We
named him the Arch bishop of Canter-
bury. 1 never met his grace, but do
not believe he is more dignified or
affable old gentleman, and 1 hope I
should not feel so abashed in his pres
ence. Not that our Edinburgh great
man was in the least overbearing, far
from it; his very amiableness joined
to such majestic manners made you
feel ashamed to accept menial officers
at the hand ofsUch a venerable charac-
ter.


The average English waiter did not
OveraWe YOU, but he did not in the
least interest YOU. He was a perfect
machine, whose whole function was
to serve tables; and there was about
him no suggestion of a mans life or
interests. L do not remember seeing
one exhibit any emotion except once;
in that case he was dissatisfied with
his fee, and demonstrated in an hum
BILE, but deeply injured manner. Graft
tude for fee it was not their habit to
express, except in the decorous, me-
chanical manner in which they did
everything else. Your German greets
you with bow and smile, if an ae-
quaintance; is attentive and handy,
and bids you goodbye when you go
out. He is perfectly respectful, but
not abjeot. When unimployed he
chats quietly with his fellows, listens
to the music when there is any, and
is awake to other things as well as his
business. If you give him nothing,
very good, he is just as civil; for ever
so small fee he is graceful.


There is n like difference between
the shop keepers of the two countries.
In England there was generally some
thing very like servility in their man
ner toward you. They were too obse-
quious by more than half. Generally
they tried to make conversation of a
very Indifferent sort. Their whole
said. "HOw can / recon-
mend myself to you. How can I in
duce you TO honor me with your au-
gust patronage 2n In German shops
there is q pleasant style of manners
both in sellers and purchasers. As q
customer enters the store he takes off
his hat. "GOod day" is interchanged
when one comes in. "Adieu" as he
goes cut. / have noticed how even
the common and poor people rarely
fail in these salutations.. The seller
meets the buyer as an equal, and is
civil but not obsequious. l ought to
say that he generally names a higher
price for an article than he expects to
get. Such is the custom of the coun-
try, and a disagreable one it is. The
receiver ofmoney says .sThank you''
/ have heard it from q
postoffice clerk for payment on let
ter! The universally of these ex-
pressions is not much in itself. but the
of it generally has something
Of cordiality, a suggestion Of real
kindness of feeling. 1t is pleasant to
receive such greetings from every ser
want III the house. when you meet
them. The women among these house
are generally of a good class;
it is customary for parents of small
means, but some respectability. living
in the country, to send their daughters
TO be servants in the city for some
years. In this way, if in a good place
4 girl learns the different branches of
housekeeping, perhaps the higher ones
Of nice cooking, &c, and after time
she marries, tradesman very likely,
or returns to her country home.