FAMILY MANNERS.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 697, 23 December 1909, Page 4

FAMILY MANNERS.

■y-a. ?In a cntieiam of English life,,Mb iljßonnett wnlea' "Tho first thing that would | impress a rronchman if ho could assist uni observed at the daily career o£ an Lnglish iipuschold, Vheu ifc is not ontortauun" visitors, I wopld f as>suie,dly bo its eilonce, its singular and persistent taciturnity. Ho would say to himself Whaf au extraordinary 6iglit, all theso 6erioua and preoccupied peoplo sitting acund a table, or disposed about tho drawings room, and not carrying on a sustained conversation 1 One of thorn mntters something, there is a curt reply or a langh, and then no sound for ever so long- They don't socm to be interested in each other Tnoir custom appears to bo never to spuak unless, they have something that they positively must say l " i 'Trench families talk What is more, they talk all tho tuno, especially at meals They , nro not very particular about eating peas t ith -t a knifa or imbibing ?oup with a ( gurgle, but thoy do converse Thev do enliven the hours ■" by an exchange of ideas Ihoy do put thorn solves, to the trouble of taking down their shutters and displaying the goods in. the nin dow. T\e English are not merely too t idle and egotistic, intellectually, to takq down the shutters', but wo keep a norco end capn«ipu9 mastiff at tho door."