It is but fair to remark that, to the credit of physicians, it is not always those who have had the largest experience, or who stand at the head of their profession who deserve to come under the above condemnation. The men to whom the world looks for advice in the matters of which they have made a study, and who are sure of their standing, are often the gentlest, the most courteous.
COUNTING-ROOM COURTESY
Our busy men have need to remember that the man who is gentle at heart shows that gentleness in counting-room and office as well as in drawing-room and dining-room, and the fact that the person calling on him for business purposes or advice is a woman, should compel him to show the politeness which
—“is to do and say
The kindest thing in the kindest way.”
On the other hand, common courtesy and consideration for another demand that the person who intrudes on a man when he is busy should state his business briefly, and then take his departure. Only the busy man or woman knows the agony that comes with the knowledge that the precious moments of the working hours are being frittered away on that which is unnecessary, when necessary work is standing by, begging for the attention it deserves and should receive. Let him who would be careful on points of etiquette remember that there is an etiquette of working hours as well as of the hours of leisure and sociability.
ASKING QUESTIONS
Perhaps the lapse from good breeding most common in general society is the asking of questions. One is aghast at the evidence of impertinent curiosity that parades under the guise of friendly interest. Interrogations as to the amount of one’s income, occupation, and even as to one’s age and general condition, are legion and inexcusable. Every one who writes—be he a well-known author or a penny-a-liner—knows only too well the query, “What are you writing now?” and knows, too, the feeling of impotent rage awakened by this query. Yet, unless one would be as rude as one’s questioner, one must smile inanely and make an evasive answer.