POLITE FROM THEIR CRADLES.
An En o 'h«-h lady, recently back from
Japan, told how the graceful m^nneis of the Japanese aie cultivated by early train-
ing. "Every home." said she, "is a school of depoitment. and n baby is taught to bow almost as soon as it can walk.
"I remember how delighted I v.as with the politeness of a tiny boy of three, tv ho. on my cnteiing the house of liis parents, received me with a quaint bow and the most perfect courtliness and telfpossession
"Little girls are taught to teceive visitors, to attend to then wants, and to be graceful in cverv movement and attitude.
"Self-restraint is one of the chief les-ons which Japanese children have to learn. Any display of disappointment, irritation, or impatience is regarded* as almost criminal. The result is seen in the general self-con-trol of the Japanese, who think it shameful to show a sad 01 angry face in public.
"A fretful or self-wrlled child is a great rarity in Japan. Even in their play the children ai - e decorous for they are taught to consider boisteious mirth as vulgar in the extreme.
"I thought at fir^t that all these polite manners might be supeifici.il, but soon found that they originate in real kindliness and amiability.
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Bibliographic details
Otago Witness, Issue 2527, 20 August 1902, Page 63
Word Count
214POLITE FROM THEIR CRADLES. Otago Witness, Issue 2527, 20 August 1902, Page 63
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