We must respect the rights of property. It is wrong to take a garment, book, or other article before or after school without asking permission. If anything is borrowed, it should be returned promptly with thanks.
If we are distributing materials to the class, we should hand articles quietly and politely to each in turn, and in collecting never snatch a book or paper.
When a number of scholars are waiting for a drink at recess, we sometimes see them crowd and push one another, each trying to serve himself first. It makes us think of cattle at a watering-trough. The cattle know no better, but boys and girls do. The polite way is for each to stand back and wait his turn. This is not only the pleasantest but the quickest way for all to be satisfied. If boys and girls are waiting together, every gentlemanly boy will wait for the girls to drink first, and the girls should accept his politeness in a polite manner.
The same remark applies to conduct in the dressing-room before school. Scholars should quietly wait for others to hang up clothing and use the looking-glass, instead of pushing forward to secure the first chance.
These early habits of courtesy or rudeness will cling to us through life. When we see people rushing for the best seats in cars or steamboats, and crowding others aside at counters and railroad restaurants, we may be reasonably sure they are those who, when boys and girls at school, pushed others away from the looking-glass and the drinking place.
In speaking of occurrences, we must not say, "I and James went." We ought to speak of ourselves last in all cases, except where mischief has been done, when we should relate our own share first.