Chapter VI.

_MANNERS AT HOME._

FIRST TWO YEARS.

ILLUSTRATIVE LESSONS.

LESSON 19.

=Purpose.=--To awaken an interest in home manners.

=Method.=--A conversation.

_The Lesson._

Whom do you love best in all the world?

“Papa and mamma.”

Why do you love them best?

“They are good to us.”

“They take care of us.”

“They love us.”

How ought you to repay them?

“We ought to be kind to them.”

How kind?

“We ought to be kinder to them than to any one else in the world.”

What means about the same thing as kindness?

“Politeness.”

If so, ought you ever to be impolite to them?

“No, Miss B., we ought to be more polite to them than to any one else.”

_Note._--A similar lesson on politeness to brothers and sisters may be given here.

LESSON 20.

=Purpose.=--To specify attentions due to home friends.

=Method.=--A conversation.

_The Lesson._

How ought we to treat everybody?

“Politely.”

Whom should we treat the most politely of any one?

“Our father and mother.”

“And brothers and sisters.”

“And everybody at home.”

When you first see the people at home in the morning, do you ever forget to speak to them?

“Yes, Miss B.”

And what else sometimes happens?

“We look cross.”

“And perhaps we cry.”

Would you like to know how you can always be pleasant and polite to your own home friends in the morning?

“Yes’m.”

I will tell you. There is a little key which you can all have, and if you will not forget to use it, it will always make you pleasant and polite in the morning. It is this: “Good-morning, mamma!” “Good-morning, papa!” and a “Good-morning!” to all who are present. But this must be said in a certain way. Can you tell me how?

“Pleasantly.”

And how should you look when you say it?

“Good-natured.”

“We should smile.”

Yes, a pleasant “Good-morning!” and a smiling face will help to make the whole family happy. I wish you to remember about this key, and shall ask you to learn these words:

“Good-morning! that’s the golden key That unlocks every day for me.”

_Note._--Similar lessons may be given here, closing with the “keys,”

“When evening comes, ‘Good-night!’ I say, And close the door of each glad day.”

“When friends give anything to me, I’ll use the little ‘Thank you’ key.”

“‘Excuse me,’ ‘Beg your pardon,’ too, When by mistake some harm I do.”

“Or, if unkindly wrong I’ve given, With the ‘Forgive me’ key I’ll be forgiven.”