in manners is observation. In
company, where you are in doubt in reference to any rule or form, be
quiet and observe what others do, and govern your conduct by theirs;
but except in mere external forms, beware of a servile imitation. Seek
to understand the principles which underlie the observances you
witness, and to become imbued with the spirit of the society (if good)
in which you move, rather than to copy particulars in the manners of
any one.

VI.--PRACTICAL LESSONS.

But the most important instrumentality for the promotion of the
externals of good manners is constant practice in the actual every-day
intercourse of society; and without this our instructions and your
study will both be thrown away. Begin now, to-day, with the next
person you meet or address.

IV.

FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES.

Courtesy is the beautiful part of morality, justice carried to
the utmost, rectitude refined, magnanimity in trifles.--_Life
Illustrated._

I.--MANNERS AND MORALS.

Good manners and good morals are founded on the same eternal
principles of right, and are only different expressions of the same
great truths. Both grow out of the necessities of our existence and
relations. We have individual rights based on the fact of our
individual being; and we have social duties resulting from our
connection, in the bonds of society, with other individuals who have
similar rights. Morals and manners alike, while they justify us in
asserting and maintaining our own rights, require us scrupulously to
respect, in word and act, the rights of others. It is true that the
former, in the common comprehension of the term, is satisfied with
simple justice in all our relations, while the latter often requires
something more than the strictest conscientiousness can demand--a
yielding of more than half the road--an exercise of the sentiment of
benevolence, as well as of equity; but the highest morality really
makes the same requisition, for it includes politeness, and recognizes
deeds of kindness as a duty.

II.--RIGHTS.

In this country we need no incitements to the assertion and
maintenance of our rights, whether individual or national. We are
ready at all times to do battle for them either with the tongue, the
pen, or the sword, as the case may require. Even women have discovered
that _they_ have rights, and he must be a bold man indeed who dares
call them in question. Yes, we all, men, women, and children, have
ri