MANNERS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 19986, 29 June 1920, Page 9

MANNERS.

Morals nnd manners, which giro colour to life, are, of much greater importance than laws, which arc hut their manifestations. r lhe law touches us hero and there, hut manners are about us everywhere, pervadhm society like the air we breathe. Good manners, as wo call them, aro iieithei more nor less than good behaviour consisting, of courtesy am] kindness, benevolence .being the preponderating clement nr all kinds of mutually hone, beia.l and pleasant intercourse amongst, miuian beings. “ C'ivilitv,” said Lad'. Montagu, “costs nothing and buy’:, i every Hung;.’’ The cheapest of all tilings is kindness, its exercise requirmg the leant possible Double and se]fF.acnfico. “-Win hearts,” said Bui leigh to Queen Elizabeth, “and yon have all molds hearts and purses.” If wo would only let nature iicl; kindly ■ reo from affectation ami artiiico, the results on social good humour and lappmesa would be incalculable. The bttlo courtesies which form the small change of life, may separately aupcar or little intrinsic value, hut "they acquire their importance from reoetition nnd accumulation. Thev are‘like the spare minutes, or the groat a. day, which proverbially produce such momentous results in the course of a twelvemonth, or in a. lifetime. Alaimers aro the ornament of acliofi; and there is n wav of sneaking a kind word, or of doing a kind thine' winch greatly enhances their value. Mliat scorns to be done wilh a grudge oi as an net of condescension, is scarcely accepted as a favour. Yet there aiq men who pride. thems-fres upon their gruffness; and though r| !C v may possess virtue nnd capacity, their manner is often such as to rondor them almost insupportable.--Samuel Bmue?.