n when we tread on their toes is polite and is a
reasonable thing to do. But there are many silly things to learn before
we become really polite. For instance, a boy must learn to open the door
for ladies and walk after them always. This does the ladies no good and
is sometimes very inconvenient for the boy. He may be in a hurry. It is
not polite for a girl to sit with her legs crossed and her head leaning
aback on her hands. This is a position which does no one any harm, so it
is absurd that it should be considered unpolite. In old days politeness
was carried to much greater extremities than it is now. In the days
when they used to fight duels, when two gentlemen felt really annoyed,
instead of one of them saying to the other, "Go and get your sword
and let me kill you," and the other replying, "All right, I shall be
delighted to kill a man whom I detest," they demanded "satisfaction"
of each other in most polite tones and parted with low bows and polite,
though sneering, smiles. Politeness is a very good thing in moderation,
but not if carried too far.

Skeat traces the word "flippant" back through "flip" and the old
Northumbrian present participle ending "an" to the Icelandic "fleipa,"
which means to prattle--I found this out in a dictionary and copied it
down for Lalage. Miss Pettigrew was not, I think, justified in applying
the word, supposing that she used it in its strict etymological sense,
to Lalage's composition. There was more in the essay than mere prattle.
But Miss Pettigrew may have had reasons of her own, reasons which I can
only guess, for wishing to depreciate this particular essay. It is quite
possible that she was herself the person who told Lalage that it is rude
for a girl to sit with her lees crossed. My mother, to whom I showed the
composition when I consulted her about the probable meaning of flippant,
refused to entertain this suggestion. She knows Miss Pettigrew and
does not think she is the kind of person who would attach excessive
importance to the position of Lalage's legs. She thinks that the maxim
referred to by Lalage--there evidently was a maxim in her mind when
she wrote--must have fallen from the lips of Miss Campbell, the
mathematician, Carpy, or the purple-gowned woman. If she is right, I
can only suppose that Miss Pettigrew in using the word flippant meant
to support the authority of her subordinates and to snub Lalage for
attempting to rebel against time-honoured tradition.

I wal