Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 131, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 June 1910 — CHIVALRY IN GEORGIA. [ARTICLE]

CHIVALRY IN GEORGIA.

(location Of EUtqoette In IClevatora Diacnaaed In Two Cities. A placard in an Atlanta office building’s elevator says that men passengers (in the elevator) need not pull off their hats because women are present. "Men of Atlanta!” shouts the Georgian in holy terror, “shall a foolish placard * * * sound the death knell of a custom which has beeff tor three full centuries one of the distinguishing traits of the gentle South?” We fear that undue excitement has got the Georgian a little mixed as to Its facts, the Savannah News remarks. We do not believe that it has been the custom in the South “for three full centuries” for men to pull off theii hats in elevators when women were present. “Three full centuries” would take us back to the year 1610, and we are satisfied that at that time no man, in the South or elsewhere, ever took off his hat in an elevator. We’ll go further and risk the assertion fihat George Washington himself never took off his hat in an elevator because there were women passengers, and he was certainly a typical Southern gentleman. We might venture to risk deducting two full centuries from the Georgian’s figures and assert that even at that time it was not the custom of Southern gentlemen, to uncover their heads in elevators —for the very simple and sufficient reason that there were no elevators. “Atlanta sets the pace for the South,” says the Georgian. If that were true one might well say, “Then, God help the South!” Atlanta is the least Southern city in the South. It has less of Southern manners and customs and courtesy-than any of its neighbors. No Southern city takes its manners from Atlanta. Each of them has just as good manners of Its own.