e; found wherever man
is found. Formulas fashion themselves as paths do, as beaten highways
leading toward some sacred, high object, whither many men are bent.
Consider it: One man full of heartfelt, earnest impulse finds out a way
of doing something--were it uttering his soul's reverence for the
Highest, _were it but of fitly saluting his fellow-man_. An inventor was
needed to do that, a poet; he has articulated the dim, struggling
thought that dwelt in his own and many hearts. This is the way of doing
that. These are his footsteps, the beginning of a 'path.' And now see
the second man travels naturally in the footsteps of his foregoer; it is
the easiest method. In the footsteps of his foregoer, yet with his
improvements, with changes where such seem good; at all events with
enlargements, the path ever widening itself as more travel it, till at
last there is a broad highway, whereon the whole world may travel and
drive."

SALUTATION ORIGINALLY AN ACT OF WORSHIP.

A lady writer of distinction says of salutations: "It would seem that
good manners were originally the expression of submission from the
weaker to the stronger. In a rude state of society every salutation is
to this day an act of worship. Hence the commonest acts, phrases and
signs of courtesy with which we are now familiar, date from those
earlier stages when the strong hand ruled and the inferior demonstrated
his allegiance by studied servility. Let us take, for example, the words
'sir' and 'madam.' 'Sir' is derived from seigneur, sieur, and originally
meant lord, king, ruler and, in its patriarchal sense, father. The title
of sire was last borne by some of the ancient feudal families of France,
who, as Selden has said, 'affected rather to be styled by the name of
sire than baron, as _Le Sire de Montmorenci_ and the like.' 'Madam' or
'madame,' corrupted by servants into 'ma'am,' and by Mrs. Gamp and her
tribe into 'mum,' is in substance equivalent to 'your exalted,' or 'your
highness,' _madame_ originally meaning high-born, or stately, and being
applied only to ladies of the highest rank.

"To turn to our every-day forms of salutation. We take off our hats on
visiting an acquaintance. We bow on being introduced to strangers. We
rise when visitors enter our drawing-room. We wave our hand to our
friend as he passes the window or drives away from our door. The
Oriental, in like manner, leaves his shoes on the threshold when he pays
a visit. The natives of