INCONSIDERATE MAN

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1680, 11 May 1904, Page 38 (Supplement)

INCONSIDERATE MAN

A lady, .-writer in the '‘King” regrets that the ordinary male, who can be so pleasant and lovable Avhen he likes, has such conspicuous shortcomings. “What can be said for the men who insist on forcing their way out or in of the stalls of a theatre twice between the acts, no matter how narrow or how crowded the stalls may be? A man who would never dream of asking a lady to rise in a drawingroom, or think of pushing past her. will do "both indifferently six times in. the course of a play lasting from 9 till 11. One sees nowadays innumerable youths who thinks nothing of lounging, with both hands in their trousers pockets, into a room full of ladies, as if they were entering a bar; who will stand and talk to a lady in the same attitude; who will seat themselves at a restaurant table before she is seated; who will remain seated when a lady stops to talk to them in passing; who will not rise to open the door for her: and a thousand other trivial signs of a lack of manners, having its root in indolence, conceit, and selfishness.” Through being thoughtless, the ill-man-nered man throws away many chances: '‘The certainty in a woman’s mind that a man is courteous and tactful, will make her expand like a flower in the sun, for a courteous man puts a woman on good terms with herself, and consequently on good terms with him, whereby hie reaps his reward in many ways. Illusions are one of the most important things in life, and are absolutely necessary between, the sexes, both as regards mental and physical qualities; and nothing keeps those useful buffers against disastrous realities in such good order as mutual courtesy and tact. Alas! therefore, that the modern male has become blind to the advantages to be reaped by courtesy in small things.”

THE FLAX INDUSTRY IN THE MANAWATU.