BAD MANNERS.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 568, 24 July 1909, Page 10

BAD MANNERS.

Sir, —I was very pleased to-see your little" excorpt in this morning's Dominion under tho" title '.'Bad Manners." 'Inyou'might havo;added v two: or-three otter ad- ■ jectiresby "way -of emphasis;' as, for instance, ''atrbcions" or. ''shocking."-It- is, of course,': jonly silly ; to try to ''make out' 7 that no- pri-mary'-schoolßey or : primary schoolgirl - las in his or her make-up .anything of tho nature of 7 what we'.know as mannerß.' But it; is a fact that the absence' -of '"politeness. is' too common in a' nation which' is'still y'oiing andis suppasod to bo - growing vigorously.' Personaliy'l- think tho causo of waut of manners' in' tho Zealaiidor is ;; siriiplo-/shy-ness. There is no reason 'wliy -'Wanners should'liot' be as perfect in' a : -cottage as : in a" palace.' I ami satisfied "that 'they are- just •as- wanting in- a palace as : ;iri : a'cottago; - and for the same reason in both;case's, - the'lack 'of self-control in parents' or elders. 1 ; A' child ' rievor tears- the' word' "sir, '-"j or' the phraso '■"thank, you" in 'its -Homo, and when -it' gbes' 'abroad 'it"is afraid t'o.'-uso ; them:'shyness, as I'said.'. It-is hot l as though it-did- not want to use' them,-Mor : revereiice-in' the-'joung is 'an instinct- 'Heaveii''Snd' a'hard' lifo" in .the world ahead albri<> ctfii "explain' to tlitf child how 'much-that -lack-'of reverence/will'-cdst it. Tho explanation- of' the "cottage phenomenon ' ! ifl lwfiSl7 : cont(unwL,ifl the fact-tnat' tlifere i#~

no means of -separating parents and children in tho ordinary colonial home.. The parents livo. oil ono intellectual plane which is much worn at,-.tho edges and has a .good many 'cracks;and 'iiail-hplos] in it.,-The children live on<: .'another, /which, is perfect; yas, far as; it extends) and reverence, obedience, and .duty ,are-throo. of its planks'. , To','Bavo. himself trouble, (iV is usjially., tho malo parent), tho parent" drags.'.-tho' .children.''up to . his own piano, by tho scruff of. tho neck, and turns them intp, tho . port, beings who. later on become tho unhappy yoiiiig people. who liavo to oscapo from themselves. by all tho friyplous' moans of amus'oment .with which, modern society is so well endowed. However, 1, do riot iiild, 'as I indicate, so much fault . with tho' vor'y young in this matter of. manners as I do' with our older .youth, which assiiihcdly has roached tho acity to-reflect...'ln far too largo, a number of instances, ".tho vory. mdirtionts of good breeding in our-young innnliood anl young womanhood r are absent. This, again, may bo traced to. the' self-indulgonce- of parents. It is ,far easier to imitate tho. uncontrolled and brusguo address of a parqnt than to find out by one's'native wit . tho way to, provo to another - human being that that" human being holds some regard in .brio's lxisom. Person-ally, I can'number on the lingors-of one' hand, the youiig hion under twenty-five in. good society,iwho'will toko their pipes 'out; of their mouths .when' they meet mo, 1 amere acquaintance; twico their ago. And .1 can nime instahcos of yotme; men on the very topmost rungs 'of Wellington 1 society : wlio whoii I', iti-'company' with -a- young lady,', pass them, keep their pipes in their mouths. xßeallyj ::l---do'. not.know that' this ; can bo ''beat&ioanywhere: — ;■

" Hei^jVa.conversation ,• I ;was present at -between a-disreputable.old act-or and a young Listen,- to. whom he'.was.- giving hints You, kept - jour: cigatette alight just how -when ■you.-.were,stalking-;to Miss Dovely." 'yes;'? ' said the ; ■ fellow:- ; "was ,-that wrong?" "Gertainlyl '.'Perhaps-I.ought, to-.have flung it away then?" "Certainly I"; ■ ''Suppose it liad 'been a cigar?" ."Oil, well, as;-to. that—como now, she's a-poor sort of -a 4 girl, five minutes of whoso -chatter 13 not .worth .'.sixponce, isn'ti.sho?". "Right you are!" A newsboy got .'the. cigarette stump: it wasn't very-soiled—l:am,- etc., u ; ' 1 •' - F. V. W. July 19, ,1909...