Harper's Round Table, September 17, 1895 Part 10

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE PUDDING STICK]

This Department is conducted in the interest of Girls and Young Women, and the Editor will be pleased to answer any question on the subject so far as possible. Correspondents should address Editor.

I am going to have a little chat with you, girls, on the obligations of good breeding, and first I will begin by relating an incident.

A friend of mine was in a Broadway cable-car the other day. You girls who live in New York know just how the big cable-cars swing along, how fast they go, and how many people they can accommodate. Most of you have taken rides in electric cars which to-day are to be found all over our country, scurrying along like mail in some of the rural places, where, once out of sight of the village, and on a level stretch of road, they fairly fly. I could tell you of one line where the cars rush along over a down grade at a furious rate of speed, while the smiling pa.s.sengers cling to the seats or frantically hold on to their hats and parasols, and once safely out, everybody takes a long breath of relief. But this is diverging. I was going to tell you of my friend's adventure in the New York car, a sober-moving thing in comparison with its country cousin. And my tale has nothing in the world to do with the speed or slowness of the car, anyway.

My friend took his seat, and presently began to be very uncomfortable.

For everybody seemed amused at him, glances were levelled in his direction, girls giggled, elderly ladies drew their faces into a pucker, and the atmosphere of the place was as electric as the fluid which sent the car through s.p.a.ce. After a short interval the puzzled gentleman discovered that it was not he who was the object of mirth to his comrades on the road, but a poor, shy, blushing, tearful, trembling, frightened girl who was sitting by his side. She, poor child, was dressed in an outre fashion, which did not please the set of people in that conveyance, and, evidently, she had met with an accident, for her clothing was tumbled and torn, her face was bruised and cut, and one hand had been wrenched and seemed to be paining her very much. I can imagine nothing more brutally ill-bred and rudely ignorant and unfeeling than the behavior of those silly girls and boys, and still more silly grown-up people in that car. Can you? They were laughing at a child who had met with an accident on her wheel!

Now, for an opposite picture. One afternoon lately, at the terminus of a great railroad, in a crowded waiting-room, a foreign lady with her attendants attracted some observation, but was neither stared nor laughed at. Yet her costume was really extraordinary. Around her neck she wore a dozen chains of gold, linked together and sparkling with rare gems. The chains hung to her waist, and gleamed like a gorgeous breast-plate. Pendants of diamonds hung from her small brown ears. Her small dark hands were loaded with jewelled rings; her head was enveloped in many folds of white silken gauze. Open-worked silk stockings covered her little feet, and she wore high-heeled slippers with painted toes.

Her travelling-gown was a rich shimmering brocade, ill fitting and with a long train. Her maids, one fair and white, the other black as ebony, were loaded with baskets and bundles, and her servitor held in leash two magnificent collies, while a green and yellow parrot chattered from his perch on the man's arm.

All this was a sight to arouse attention and excite curiosity, but _this_ was a well-bred throng of people gathered in the waiting-room, and the lady, probably a princess from some tropic island, was annoyed by no looks, laughter, or remarks.

One of the first rules to be adopted by a thoroughly polite person is this: Never show surprise, except of the genuinely gracious kind, the kind that expresses cordial interest and pleasure. Never laugh at an awkward predicament, at, for example, a fall, or a mistake made by another. Be careful never to pain any one, friend or stranger, by ridicule, or by thoughtlessly plain speaking.

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ILL-TEMPERED BABIES

are not desirable in any home. Insufficient nourishment produces ill temper. Guard against fretful children by feeding nutritious and digestible food. The Gail Borden Eagle Brand Condensed Milk is the most successful of all infant foods.--[_Adv._]

ADVERTIs.e.m.e.nTS.

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Oh, Boys and Girls,

AND ALL WHO ARE YOUNG AT HEART

IF NOT IN YEARS,

_HERE IS FUN FOR YOU!_

=WATERLOO= is novel and =exciting=! It costs $1.25 ($1.50, express prepaid from publishers). It is one of the famous

Parker Games

Our Ill.u.s.trated Catalogue, including "=Innocents Abroad=," "=Chivalry=,"

"=Authors=," "=Napoleon=," "=Yankee Doodle=," and 100 others, for two-cent stamp. "=Brownies=" and "=Wonderland=," by mail, 35 cents each.

Look for the imprint.

PARKER BROTHERS, Salem, Ma.s.s., U.S.A.

There are two cla.s.ses of bicycles--

COLUMBIAS

and others

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Columbias sell for $100 to everyone alike, and are the finest bicycles the world produces. Other bicycles sell for less, but they are _not_ Columbias.

POPE MFG. CO., HARTFORD, CONN.

You See Them Everywhere

Oh, Boys!

The

"Rugby" Watches

have been designed especially for you. They have nickel, sterling-silver, or gold-filled cases, and cost from four to ten dollars.

The silver have etched designs, and the gold-filled are handsomely engraved.

Just Right Size for Your Pocket.

Perfect time-keepers, and warranted in every particular.

Send to us for the "Rugby" Catalogue, and ask any jeweler to show the watches.

The Waterbury Watch Co.,

Waterbury, Conn.