They are civil to strangers. They are civil to each
other. Mr. Laing, in his "Notes of a Traveller," makes these remarks:
"This deference to the feelings of others in all that we do is a moral
habit of great value when it is generally diffused, and enters into the
home training of every family. It is an education both of the parent and
child in morals, carried on through the medium of external manners....
It is a fine distinction of the French national character, and of social
economy, that practical morality is more generally taught through
manners, among and by the people themselves, than in any country in
Europe."[1]
[Footnote 1: SAMUEL LAING--_Notes of Traveller, on the Social and
Political State of France, Prussia, Switzerland, Italy, and other Parts
of Europe_, p. 55.]
The same kindly feeling might be observed throughout the entire social
intercourse of working men with each other. There is not a moment in
their lives in which the opportunity does not occur for exhibiting good
manners--in the workshop, in the street, and at home. Provided there be
a wish to please others by kind looks and ways, the habit of combining
good manners with every action will soon be formed. It is not merely the
pleasure a man gives to others by being kind to them: he receives
tenfold more pleasure himself.
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