Teaching Politeness.

Otago Witness, Issue 2817, 11 March 1908, Page 74

Teaching Politeness.

A mother noticed a remarkable change in the deportment of her six-year-old son. From being rough, noisy, and discourteous, he had suddenly become one of the gentlest and most considerate little fellows in the world. He was attending the kindergarten, and his mother naturally inferred that the change was somehow due to he teacher's instruction. "Miss Smith teaches you to bs polite?"' she remarked in a- tone of interrogation. " No," said the boy, " she never says a word about it." The mother was puzzled, and all th« more when further questioning brought only more emphatic denials that th« teacher had ever given her pupils lessone in good breeding. " Well, then," the mother asked finally, "if Miss Smith doesn't say anything, what does she do ?" " She doesn't do anything," persisted the boy. " She just walks around, and we feel polite. We feel just as polite as— anything." That was all he could tell about it, and his mother began to see through the mystery.