es on letters given him to
mail, and consulting his watch in company. It would be difficult to
find a better rule for courtesy with which to impress a boy or girl
than the advice written by William Wirt to his daughter:

"The way to make yourself pleasing to others is to show that you care
for them. The world is like the miller at Mansfield 'who cared for
nobody, no, not he, because nobody cared for him.' And the whole world
will serve you so if you give it the same cause. Let all, therefore,
see that you do care for them, by showing what Sterne so happily calls
'the small sweet, courtesies of life,' in which there is no parade,
whose voice is to still, to ease; and which manifest themselves by
tender and affectionate looks, and little kind acts of attention,
giving others the preference in every little enjoyment at the table,
walking, sitting or standing."

There is one gross breach of good breeding which can hardly be due to
inattention. There is a homely proverb to the effect that one "should
wash her dirty linen at home," and it is to the violation of this
advice that I refer. Discussing home matters, complaining of the
actions of members of your family, or confiding their faults or
shortcomings to an outsider, even though she be your dearest friend,
is as great an act of discourtesy as it is contrary to all the
instincts of family love and loyalty. Your father may be a hypocrite,
your mother a fool of the Mrs. Nickleby stamp, your brother a
dissipated wretch, and your sister a professional shop-lifter, while
your husband combines the worst characteristics of the entire
family--but as long as you pretend to be on speaking terms with them,
stand up for them against all the rest of the world; and if matters
have come to such a pass that you have severed all connection with
them, let a proper pride for yourself and consideration for the person
to whom you are talking deter you from acknowledging their faults.
These persons are members of your family--that should be enough to
keep you forever silent as to their peccadilloes or sins. But, if you
do not feel this, for politeness' sake refrain from making your
listener supremely uncomfortable by your complaints. No true lady will
so far forget her innate ladyhood as to be guilty of this rudeness.

To fulfill what Mrs. Stowe calls our "mission," we women must insist
on the observance of the conventionalities at home. Husbands are
sometimes, even when "taken young," too o