MANNERS

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXI, Issue 4313, 23 March 1901, Page 4 (Supplement)

MANNERS

(By Robert Hichens, in, the “Queen.”) We English are very -.often apprised ofhaving bad maimers,.and 1 -. I" have 'even; hoard iti assorted .that- : -a, - great deal of our -unpbpularity om the Continent and elsewhere Is due to our lack of persona! charm 1 . --Unfortunately- i>efsonal charm is not a gift that can be {gained by mere desire.' There are many excellent, goodhearted, and eminently ? worthy . people who' have it noU ainy m ore than plum dough'has' it.,, good; maimers be aequiretf-by'practice and;, imitation. Whenever I’ travel; "I-'cbmpare/our manners -with ■ the of other nwes, iand I try to observe carefully and without ■ prejudice;; This * yeatk-JL have been a good deal in the north of Europe; 1 T haf© heon in a small French' village; X'Tmyo'Beph. in the extreme. Booth of Franoe in a tOwny and now 1 1 am in an African, yillago of m6st mixed population.'' Here we have Swiss,;'. French; Italians, Spaniards,- jCrermahs, -Algerian Jews, ■ Negroes, . Arabsßerbers,, •Ka-'-bylos, Chawias,- and - two or ■ three ■ English' “ foOfflparihg ■ - tfe' manners' - pf the nations; it'i»“tsTaj.rjile not .very, fruitful to uiscu33 the tHiaring. kad proof brigade, the .'rich Aristocracy. who .wander . oyer the .worldj-rleaving- cards J c dri .Embassies, andr.mixing perpetually' with- the Jvari-; one courts or the.great. capitals.; -They all benav© a good cfeal alike and are generally polite by instinct, at anr rate to their equals. To their inferiors

they vary in, manner. The-French aristocracy are generally agreeable in shops, markets, trains, and so forth. So*, I think, are’ the -English; But I remember being in a shop.pn.ee at Naples when a well-known English, duchess was grossly rude to" the astonished shopkeeper, who must certainly loathe the English to this day. ~. ....

When we • go-a. little- lower ■ down and consider- the -largo travelling middleclass we find-that there-is-indeed such, a thing- as; a national ihanher. I think by far the most national manner in Europe is tho Comma. The-German mid-dle-classes travel enormously. One meets them everywhere, and they are nearly, always quite ready to-be rude in hotels,-;, omnibuses, >in jailway- trains, and elsewhere,... X should always, if pos-sible^-avoid- staying in a hotel frequented by - Gormans-- On- several occasions I have, been almost alone in big hotels thronged) by. Germans-*-once in Switzer, land, in Home bn another and in Sicily., - I found them very-impolite, absolutely regardless of other -people’s comfort or wishes, and tramplingly determined to'have’ their .own ‘way ,in everything. ’ W©; I fear,' tlake_ our modest plabe next to ' them'' m-~rudeness'., Andbtlr travelling rudeness'springs'generally; like theirs, from >n apparently deeply-rooted selfishness, which induces us to do- what 'children 'are forbidden to do—namely,' to; “snatch.” "The German and tho • English middle-classes are always inolinechto “snatch”' when frivolling. ‘They* wilh’have' their own way about windowSj seats 'at table d’hotes, corners in railway carriages and so forth; and they "would generallyrather, make a row than give iritd any one. When it cowes'to'a'pitched .battle between Germans and; English, however, the Germans generally win." Theirjrudeness seems ‘to haye a more .lasting quality ; than : that' possessed by 1 the ‘ English. They; “stay” _ f ’a emu's© of insult bettor. ‘

The French'—! except, cab drivers and nearly all -railway ‘porters—-arsi nearly always charming, whether they are travelling themselves or, seeing They are pleasant and."gay, in,, .hotels. They "seldom or novpr ,"§natch,’’ ,;pro-! ferring. to shrug ■. their .at others so engaged! They.havo an air of real enijojdhent' in,', doing ,little, things, and seem, by' ,wißh.ito :xnake things go, smoothly !fbr",aU.around:them. If ono stops at an auberge r inr any, land, kept by a French woman, how charming she is, how ■ anxious to ; please, how apparently interested in one’s comfort, and ready to enter into -iWendly . converean: tion. Just now ourpapers ■ and, the French papers declare that; the English and French are at daggers drawn. Here I aan in/a 1 far-away French:; possession, with French, officers and-soldiers just over the way, and T soamo'traco of disagreeable feeling, .I stayed-in' Marseilles, at, the- besieged; hotel five 1 days after Mr Ejugerte departurel l travelled: to Africa on*'a’ Ftenidh. J shib, 1 the" only’ Ehg- ’ lish person in'the midst : of h mdb- ; 'of French, recruith. for ; Africdn, r'egh ments, • and I never heard an offensive remark, or had, to endure' tho slightest rudeness. Every one was perfectly polite,, and even solicitous -for my Wellbeing. ; ' ■'

Italians have delightful manners, except the riff-raff , of Naples,, who like the Maltese who •gaih ' their .living in ''.Tunis and elsewhere, behave; very often like monkeys - afflicted ■ with!. , f kleptomania. Sicilians are simply fascinating/ both, in appearance and’ bearing. They are a littlelike Irish; grown. in wxehujuiy South; Austrians : are.-less sparkling, ■ but very well. bred. As to- the-Spaniards," when he ia at home.heis-munificent! T have hobnobbed in. Spain porters and muleteers who- were! courtly, ; almost like, lord chamberlains/, and the travelling' Spaniard ’usually- baa excellent and sometimes* noble manners.- j, -

.Here I spend much of my time with Arabs, negroes, and Kabyles, arid I have found them ’almost' ‘ uniformly aristocratic itr, bearing, 'full rpf ‘grace,; good temper, ; and t 'even; dejicat-o kindness; whether they ‘had anything to expect from irie ’or not.” I* am told, that if, I venture; afthfi’ nightfall alone beyond the outskirts' of the Village I may very, well chance to he assassiriated.perhaps even by one of the shepherd kings who salaams to m’« so splendidly when he meets me in, the little. white streets of the - dancers. Idare.' say-;, -but bis brethren make my stay; there so delights fnl that I feel disposed .to linger on- foi* ever. ’V,.’,..’