Heads or Tails

4 August 2000

(two days late)

The theme of this week's Heads or Tails Meme, as hosted by Skittles, was MANNERS, and while I'm a few days late, I still wanted to offer my contribution. With most children already back to school or facing the last days of freedom that only the summer can afford, I thought it would be most appropriate to concentrate my efforts on school manners. My googling brought me to this book from 1921. I thought you would enjoy reading some of the schoolhouse etiquette from nearly a century ago:

1. Boys, hats off on entering a building; don't put them on again before you are at the outer door, ready to leave, even though you should see grown men violating this rule.
2. Hold the door open for a girl or an older person to precede you in passing through, then glance over your shoulder to prevent the door from swinging back into the face of any person who may be following.
3. Observe, boys, that well-bred men rise when addressed by a woman who is standing.
4. Avoid whistling in the school building, and even in the private home, for your whistling may be annoying to some who cannot help hearing it.
5. Care for your finger-nails, your face, your hair, in your room at home, not before mirrors on your locker doors, or in any other public place.
6. Boys, it is not necessary to help the girls mount the stairs in school unless they are blind or crippled.
7. Girls, it is better not to twine your arms about one another in the corridors and on the stairs.
8. Say "Yes, Miss Brown"; not merely "Yes" if you know the name of the one addressed. If you do not know her name, let your tone and manner indicate so fully your feeling of respect that the omission of the name will not be noted. Say "Yes, Sir" to men.
9. When reciting, stand erect with your hands at your sides. Your attitude will invite favorable attention if you stand with one foot slightly in advance of the other, and the weight of the body on the forward foot.
10. Speak so distinctly that everyone in the room must hear you; otherwise, not everyone will get your thought.
11. Show especial deference - not indifference - to your superiors in age, office and the like. Do this not once, but always. Watch for opportunities.
12. Rise when an older person who is standing begins to talk to you.
13. Avoid rushing into or through the Lunch Room. Walk.
14. Eat slowly and noiselessly; don't "feed". Avoid talking when your mouth is full. Take small mouthfuls, so that you may talk without giving offense. Keep your lips closed when chewing. Never use your knife to carry food to your mouth.
15. In school, in a store, in a club, on trains, in short, whenever you use a public wash bowl, leave it as clean as possible.
16. Do not scatter toilet paper about. Keep the toilet rooms neat and clean and free from all writing on doors, walls, windows.
17. Do not loiter or visit in the toilet rooms.
18. In order to appear to the best advantage, keep your hands out of your pockets.
19. Try not to jostle one another. If by chance you do, say, "Pardon me."
20. Never, never, be so disgusting as to spit on the floor, on the stairs, or into the waste-paper box; your your handkerchief.

Now, if you all excuse, me, I've got to get back to my housework - got a laundry basket full of handkerchiefs to tend to!