Page:Book of Etiquette, Volume 1, by Lilian Eichler.djvu/291

 they take place in the intimacy of the home circle or in a more formal gathering.

The conversation should be agreeable. Quarreling, nagging, gossiping, scandal-mongering, and fretting are absolutely taboo.

We have already said that children catch their manners from the people about them. This is as true of their playmates as of their parents and when the child is in school nearly all day and playing out somewhere the rest of the time except during the evening when he is at home studying it is perhaps even more so. The most rigid discipline and the most loving care will not prevail against the example of Tom, Dick, or Harry, if these three have been allowed "to run wild." There is a glamor about lawlessness even among children. This should be kept in mind by their parents, and while they should be placed, insofar as it is possible, among desirable playmates, there should not be too stern repression. For this may stifle development, it may breed sullenness, or it may engender rebellion.

There are too many parents to-day who try to bring up their children "by the rule." There is no rule. Each child is a law unto himself and the best way the mother or father can learn to take care of him is to study the youngster himself.

Instead of the swaggering playmate or one that is otherwise undesirable the parent should offer something better. Of course, he should be his child's friend and counselor as well as his parent, but the wisest and most