been exceedingly different: that I
had never failed to receive a civil reply to my questions--often
communicating the information requested: and that I could not help
suspecting that their failure to receive similar answers arose, in
part at least, if not entirely, to the plainness, not to say the
bluntness, of their manner in making their inquiries. The correctness
of this charge, however, they sturdily denied, asserting that their
manner of asking for information was good enough for those to whom
they addressed themselves. Unable to convince them by words of the
truth of my suspicions, I proposed to them the following simple and
conclusive experiment:

"'Let us take together a walk of two or three hours in some of the
public streets of the city. You shall yourselves designate the persons
to whom I shall propose questions, and the subjects also to which the
question shall relate; and the only restriction imposed is, that no
question shall be proposed to any one who shall appear to be greatly
hurried, agitated, distressed, or any other way deeply preoccupied, in
mind or body, and no one shall speak to the person questioned but
myself.'

"My proposition being accepted, out we sallied, and to work we went;
and I continued my experiment until my young friends surrendered at
discretion, frankly acknowledging that my opinion was right, and
theirs, of course was wrong; and that, in our passage through life,
courtesy of address and deportment may be made both a pleasant and
powerful means to attain our ends and gratify our wishes.

"I put questions to more than twenty persons of every rank, from the
high-bred gentleman to the servant in livery, and received in every
instance a satisfactory reply. If the information asked for was not
imparted, the individual addressed gave an assurance of his at being
unable to communicate it.

"What seemed to surprise my friends was, that the individuals accosted
by me almost uniformly imitated my own manner. If I uncovered my head,
as I did in speaking to a gentleman, or even to a man of ordinary
appearance and breeding, he did the same in his reply; and when I
touched my hat to a liveried coachman or waiting man, his hat was
immediately under his arm. So much may be done, and such advantages
gained, by simply avoiding coarseness and vulgarity, and being well
bred and agreeable. Nor can the case be otherwise. For the foundation
of good breeding is good nature and good sense--two of the m