footstool near the fire. It is a mark of honor to be asked to sit by her. In America the Jewish people keep the old patriarchal idea More Good Examples from Abroadtoward the aged. A boy should bring the most comfortable chair in the room forward for his grandmother. A girl should fetch a shawl for chilly shoulders, see that the reading-lamp is properly placed and thread a needle for dim eyes. If grandfather is deaf, sit near him and keep him in touch with the conversation. Don't shout to him. Shouting often confuses the deaf, and besides it calls other people's attention to his affliction. He is much more apt to understand you if you raise your voice very little and take care to speak distinctly.
A boy should rise with his father, when ladies enter the room, and see that they are comfortably seated. Everyone should be cheerful, good-tempered, ready to talk, or to listen to music or to reading aloud and to join in parlor games. You should neither do all the talking, The Rights of Childrenand thus make a bore of yourself, nor sit glum as if you were nursing a grievance. The old idea that children should be seen but not heard, is no longer held. Children's interests are just as important as grown people's—but they are not more so. They should not be allowed to interrupt or correct anyone else. A child's mistakes should be corrected by near relatives because he is a learner, but he should not be ridiculed or snubbed or teased, or be allowed to chatter about nothing.
- Evil communications corrupt good
- manners
- —New Testament.
