Some Do’s for Boys.
As for boys, there are a few “Do’s” for them to consider if they would become that noblest work of God, a true man, a gentleman.
Do respect your father and mother and give them their proper titles at all times. To call them “the Governor” and “the old lady,” does not in the least add to your supposed manliness, but rather displays a very unmanly fear on your part that people might suppose you were in some degree under their authority; not only an unmanly, but a foolish fear, since no one is fit for authority until he has first learned obedience.
Do learn to respect women. Never speak slightingly of their worth, nor trifle with their name. Learn the lesson now, and you will find its value in your manhood.
Do treat your sisters and your girl schoolmates in a gentlemanly manner. You have no idea how much it will add to your own appearance.
Do guard against a profusion of slang that would do credit to a pickpocket.
Do be determined not to use profane expressions in the presence of ladies, children, or ministers, or anywhere else.
Do keep your lips from uttering coarse and unclean things that you would blush to have overheard by mother or sister. More than this, do not listen to them from the lips of others. A pure-minded boy will be a pure-minded man.
Do take care of your various belongings; do not expect mother or sisters to pick up your necktie, your gloves, your schoolbooks, your hat, from as many different places as there are articles, and put them properly away. It is quite as necessary for boys or men to have some neatness in their habits as for girls or women. Do learn to help yourself occasionally. It is quite possible that you should be able to arrange a necktie, comb your hair, or get the articles together for a fresh toilet without calling some one to your assistance. Quite possible and vastly convenient for other members of the household.
Do close the doors without slamming; don’t tear the house down.
Do lower your voice sometimes; everyone is not deaf.
Do be neat in personal appearance; collars, handkerchiefs and cuffs, should be spotlessly clean, and hands and finger nails receive careful attention.
Do not fail to use three brushes every day—the tooth-brush, the clothes-brush and the blacking-brush.
Do break yourself of disagreeable personal habits. Do not yawn in people’s faces, lounge in your chair, scratch head or person, or clean finger-nails when others are present.
Do not forget to use your handkerchief, and that quietly as possible.
Do decide that temperate habits are more manly than intemperate ones, and don’t think that it is one of your “rights” to smoke cigarettes.
Do learn to say “No,” to lead sometimes instead of always following.
Do be careful of your manners. Remember that as the twig is bent, so the tree is inclined, and that the polished boy will be the polished man. Polish, it is to be understood, is not inconsistent with strength, but rather adds to it. The strongest machinery is of the finest polish, and the Damascus blade is of the surest mettle.
Do be sure to give up your seat in omnibus or car to a lady. Even if she be not sufficiently grateful, you have shown your good breeding.
Do remember to remove your hat when you enter a house, private office, hotel elevator (if ladies are present), when you bow to a lady or when you offer to assist a lady.
Do lay these “do’s” up in your memory and practice them in your lives.