Democratic Sentinel, Volume 13, Number 1, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 January 1889 — Good Manners. [ARTICLE]

Good Manners.

Perhaps good manners are not good aorals, though the time was when the words morals,and manners amounted to pretty much the same thing. When the New Testament was Lran rioted into English, in 1611, it taught its readers, and still teaches us, that “evil communications corrupt good manners.” A.nd the revisers of 1380 have left the good manners to stand, changing only communications into company. So I have very nigh authority for saying that what I am driving at in this letter has something to do with the basis of character. A bad man may have the handsomest manners, the manners of a gentleman, and thereby the more thoroughly fitted to work all manner of mischiei with greediness. He is a hypocrite in the world, as one who merely pretends to be a saint is a hypocrite in the church. But the beginning, middle, and end of good manners may be condensed into the divinely given principle of preferring others to ourselves; denying self for the happiness of another ; rendering to everyone his due, as superior, inferior, or equal. If mothers sown the maimers of the children, they should feel the burden of responsibility. They may permit the inborn waywardness of the child to gt unchecked, while he grows to be a pert saucy, forward, disagreeable, dreadful boy, a terror to the neighborhood, and a nuisance to everybody but his doting mamma. She gives him a stick of candy when a stick of something not so sweet would do him more good. She coddler him into a curse that by and bywiU come upon her own head. Just as ths twig, etc. Blood is great, and blessed are they who are well born. But more than blood, better than pedigree, is cul» ture. Train up a child in the way he should gs>. He will go in it then. Teach him to respect those who are older than Mm. self; to rise up before the aged. 2Enead was pious, because he honored hit father. It is a long way toward godliness to obey one’s parents. And happy is the parent and happy the child whaa ’■o»e is retained wit.% leva. One of th? very best efforts that humane societies have ever made is that of inducing horse owners to do away with the blind bridle. There are cases where, perhaps, blinds are useful, but usually they are uselcs?, and not only that, but their tendency is to hurt the eyes. They are a great impediment to the free sight of the horse, whose eyes are so set that it looks rather sidewise instead of directly in front. With a blind, on, therefore, the animal has no fiee range of vision. In addition to this, if the blinds press against or strike the eye, the latter will most likely be damaged. Under all the circumstances the practice of putting blinds upon our bridles is about as foolish as checking up a horse’s head until the only thing that it can see is the sun and sky. Some may think that blinds look well, but even that is doubtful. We are of the opinion that a blindless bridle looks just as well on a horse as anything that can be put on its head. In our tow ns and cities where humane societies have an opportunity to create public sentiment in regard to the matter, many of our most stylish turnouts have no blinds on the bridles, Western Rural. Bouquets. What a pleasure to gather the beau* Cfful flowers, and fashion them into bouquets, to ornament our rooms, decorate the graves of our dear ones, or gladden the heart of the invalid! They are fit messengers of love and sympathy to our sick and suffering friends, tel iug their own story <fl Xe-veuly care and . rot->ction.