One bright day in April little Alice was dressed all ready for a birthday party. She had on a pretty, new pink frock, of which she was very proud, and over this she wore a cloak, but the cloak was not quite long enough to cover all the pretty dress, for which Alice was not sorry. She was all the more pleased about the party because she had to go by train. It was only three miles, but Alice thought that was quite a long journey for a little girl of ten to take all by herself.
Her mother brought her to the station, and when the train came up, Alice jumped in and sat near the window, opposite to a tall, nicely-dressed boy. Now before Alice came into the carriage, what do you think the boy had been doing? He had been sitting with his feet up on the cushions opposite, and his boots were very muddy. Can you guess the rest? Poor Alice sat down on the muddy patches left by the boy's dirty, wet boots, and her pretty pink frock was spoilt.
Can you tell who was rude in this story? "The boy was rude." What did he do that was rude? "He put his feet up." Then we will say, "It is rude to put our feet up". The proper place for feet is the floor. What effect did the boy's rudeness have on Alice? (or to younger children): How did the boy's rudeness make Alice feel? It made her unhappy. Then I think we might say that manners are rude when they make other people uncomfortable or unhappy.
Write on Blackboard and let the children repeat the following:—
What is it to be rude?
If in our work or in our play
We take our friend's comfort away,
And make him sad instead of gay,
Why that is to be rude.
XLIX. BANGING DOORS.
98. How Maurice came home from School.
How is it that boys and girls so often forget to close the door quietly? When Maurice went out to school in the afternoon he knew that his mother had a headache, but by the time he came home he had forgotten all about it, and so he stamped in with his muddy shoes unwiped, leaving the front door wide open.
His mother said, "Close the door, Maurice," and he gave it a great bang, which made her shudder.