~Miss Maime's Manner~

While visiting the gift shop at the St. Louis arch this summer we discovered the little treasure book “Children’s Manners and Morals”. I posted a bit below that I think you may find fun and interesting. While amusing to read we started wondering how we can implement more ‘training’, if you will, for our Little Lady and Gent. Here is one idea. Post a new manner every week on the fridge white board and discuss and practice daily. We are trying that and have started with the manner that is in the frame below. Our plan is to change it  every week. If you have ideas, please share them with us and if you try our idea, let us know how it worked.





“The most important of all earthly things are purity of heart and correctness of principle.” –The Girl’s Own Book, 1834


MORAL MAXIMS

1. Remember that God sees all your actions and all your thoughts.

2. Never forget the golden rule, to do by others as you would have others do by you.

3. Deal frankly with all, particularly with your parents or guardian, never   attempt to conceal your actions, or your motives.

4. When you have formed a good resolution, never put off the time for carrying it into execution.

5. Be as polite and amiable at home, as if you were among strangers.

6. Cherish love for your brothers and sisters.

7. Next to goodness, strive to obtain knowledge.

8. Have a scrupulous regard to neatness of person.
                        -The Girl’s Own Book, 1834

Where is beauty found? True beauty?

In a face full of wrinkles or the face of a 21 year old?
In the body of a mother who has bore 4 children or the young ballerina?
In a harsh and critical demeanor or in kindness and patience?
Or does authentic beauty radiate from inside us… from our mind, our soul, and our spirit?
~Jeannie

~What Are We Missing?~

One of the things my Mom taught me was that civility really does matter and I still embrace that belief today. In fact, now it seems more important to me than ever. As the editor, Nancy Lindemeyer, of Victoria Magazine stated so eloquently, “Our world is fast paced and our own lives and those of our children need careful tending”. In today’s garden of life that is one area that is overlooked and weeds are commonplace in society. Now it is accepted and amusing for children as well as adults to be rude, gross, and flat out un-ladylike and un-gentlemanly.
 Recently my kids have been enthralled listening to the CD series ‘Samantha’ from the American Girl Collection. I find myself so completely captivated listening along with them. We are taken back to 1904 and the civility that once was customary and expected.
I wouldn’t want to even think about wearing a dress and petticoat that weighed up to 25 pounds but there is a certain charm to seeing little girls in fanciful dresses with frilly aprons.
I also wouldn’t want my children to be seen and not heard as we would miss so much of their sweet chatter and memorable phrases, however I’m sure we all agree that it is a pleasure to be around children with proper behavior and who use their good ‘old fashioned’ manners.
Hours were spent on meals in fancy parlors with exquisite table settings. Certainly they ‘knew how’ to enjoy the experience of close friends and family. What are we missing by living life in the fast lane? How much more richly our lives would be blessed if we took time to ‘linger’…
 In school, children learned character building skills that were as important as arithmetic, geography, and history. Reading books taught more than just reading. They showed how polite, honest girls and boys always ended up better off than rude, dishonest children. They wrote essays and speeches about right and wrong and memorized and recited them in front of the entire school. What an inspiration for all of us to take the time to teach our precious little ones these foundational principles.
Our wish is that we make it a priority to plant the seeds of civility, manners, and graceful living that can be applied to our modern day culture. ~ Lindsey

{Much more beautiful than ribbons and lace is a lady who always controls the emotions on her face.} ~Lindsey Lakins

~Simplicity in Beauty~

As I watch Sadie, my oldest grand-daughter, dressed up in her soft pink  tights and worn ballet slippers, ‘perform’ the Nutcracker in my living room I am once again in awe of the simplicity of beauty.  Trying so hard to keep her toes pointed and her legs straight, fingers held a certain way, and oh yes…don’t forget to smile pretty.  Just as the actual performance moved me to tears last year so her ‘in-home’ performance can do the same. That to say while I want to ‘stop and smell the roses’,  ‘throw my hat in the tree’  or in this case, ‘watch the ballet show’ so often I think that I am too busy. (For me) it’s time for a change. It’s time to pick a flower and put it in a tiny vase, it is time to look into a dear friends face and see her beauty (wrinkles and all), it is time to notice the detail in a lacy doily lovingly fashioned by my ancestors, it is time to use the good dishes….just because, it is time watch the butterfly float around the back yard.  Join me in taking a breath and soaking in the simple beauties. ~Jeannie

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