. "Well, if growing up would make
some folks more agreeable, it's a pity we can't hurry about it."

"Wilfred, what are company manners?" I questioned from the depths of my
easy chair.

"Why--why--they're--it's _behaving_, you know, when folks are here, or
we go a visiting."

"Company manners are good manners;" said Horace.

"O yes," answered I, meditating on it. "I see; manners that are _too_
good--for mamma--but just right for Mrs. Jones."

"That's it," cried Bess.

"But let us talk it over a bit. Seriously, why should you be more polite
to Mrs. Jones than to mamma? Do you love her better?"

"O my! no indeed," chorused the voices.

"Well, then, I don't see why Mrs. Jones should have all that's
agreeable; why the hats should come off and the tones soften, and
'please,' and 'thank you,' and 'excuse me,' should abound in her house,
and not in mamma's."

"Oh! that's very different."

"And mamma knows we mean all right. Besides, you are not fair, cousin;
we were talking about boys and girls--not grown up people."

Thus my little audience assailed me, and I was forced to a change of
base.

"Well, about boys and girls, then. Can not a boy be just as happy, if,
like our friend Russel, he is gentle to the little girls, doesn't pitch
his little brother in the snow, and respects the rights of his cousins
and intimate friends? It seems to me that politeness is just as suitable
to the playground as the parlor."

"Oh, of course; if you'd have a fellow give up all fun," said Wilfred.

"My dear boy," said I, "that isn't what I want. Run, and jump, and shout
as much as you please; skate, and slide, and snowball; but do it with
politeness to other boys and girls, and I'll agree you shall find just
as much fun in it.

[Illustration: _"It is Burke who brings a glass of water."_]

"You sometimes say I pet Burke Holland more than any of my
child-friends. Can I help it? For though he is lively and sometimes
frolicsome, his manners are always good. You never see him with his
chair tipped up, or his hat on in the house. He never pushes ahead of
you to get first out of the room. If you are going out, he holds open
the door; if weary, it is Burke who brings a glass of water, places a
chair, hands a fan, springs to pick up your handkerchief,--and all this
without being told to do so, or interfering with his own gayety in the
least.

"This attention isn't only given to me as the guest, or to Mrs. Jones
when he visits her, bu