human free agents.

The rough places on which the effects of polish have not showed are
too numerous for me to touch upon more than a few of them in this
talk. We will acknowledge that the paint and varnish are not all that
is necessary. The wood must be hard and prepared for the flowing
process, if the wagon is to stand the scrutiny of critical eyes. Too
often the paint is laid on thickly--perhaps too thickly--over
indifferent material, and the first shock or scratch makes it scale
and flake off.

As the test of the genuineness of the polish must be its durability,
so intimacy is the standard by which we may judge of the finish of the
so-called well-bred man or woman. If the refinement be ingrain, the
familiarity which inevitably breeds contempt will never intrude
itself.

To come down to everyday particulars: One of the unwarrantable
familiarities is to enter a friend's house without ringing her
door-bell,--unless you have been especially requested to do so. No
ground of intimacy on which you and your friend may stand justifies
this liberty. The housekeepers are few and far between who, in their
inmost souls, will not resent this invasion of their domain. It argues
an enormous amount of self-conceit on your part when you fancy that
you are considered so entirely one of the family that your unannounced
presence will _never_ prove an unwelcome intrusion.

In country places neighbors contract the habit of "running in" to see
one another. Were the truth known, many a housekeeper, deep in
pie-making and bread-kneading, would gladly give her handsomest loaf
for two minutes in which to smooth her rumpled hair and change her
soiled apron.

It is only in books that the heroine always looks so charming, no
matter in what labor she may be engaged, that she would be glad to
receive any acquaintance. Of course our housewife's husband may see
her when she is baking, and our domestic moralist would argue that
what is good enough for him is good enough for callers. Perhaps it
does not occur to her that the husband has so often found his wife
dressed "neatly and sweetly" that the cooking costume will not make
upon him the disagreeable impression it might produce upon a caller
who sees her hostess once in this guise where the husband has hundreds
of opportunities of beholding her in company clothes.

It may be remarked in this connection that the persons who are guilty
of lapses like that of entering your front door unannounced