Rensselaer Republican, Volume 12, Number 40, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 June 1880 — Politeness of Spaniards. [ARTICLE]

Politeness of Spaniards.

You cannot imagine a more polite company, writes a correspondent of the Worcester (Mass) Spy, than a crowd of Spaniards waiting at the station. No pressing on one another, no confusion; a kindly interest in strangers and deference to those who appear not to understand the language or customs of the country. A curious instance and illustration of this occured one day as I was buying tickets at the city station. They weigh all gold coin, you know, and take nothing on its apparent face value, as we do, without submitting it to a test. The hour for the departure of the train had about arrived, and the crowd was large, and I had taken my place at the head of the long line of people who wanted to buy tickets. The coin I handed to the ticket agent was one that had been clipped by some Jew, and it took a good while for the ticket seller to weigh and estimate what deduction should be made from its face value. Do you suppose the crowd pushed and pressed, and denounced the ignorance of foreigners, as I fear might have been the case in some of our American cities? Not a bit of it' They waited each in his turn, in the most considerate manner, vindicating my claim to have but a small deduction made, and showed instead of impatience, an amount of sympathetic interest wliich, with us, is apt to be reserved for personal friends alone.