Plymouth High School - Pilgrim Yearbook (Plymouth, MA)

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Dedicated T ANDREE STRAKER ii Our share of night to bear, Our share of morning,- Emily Dickins

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THE PILGHHVI PLYMOUTH HIGH SCHOOL PLYMOUTH , MASS. lfl Q 5 If If g Us 9 LL 44' J ,,

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MANNERS AND DEMOCRACY by EDGAR J. MONGAN Over one hundred years be- fore Columbus set sail on his voyage of discovery William of Wykeham in England wrote, Manners Makyth Man, and thought so well of it that he gave it as a motto to his great foundations-New College at Oxford, and the famous pub- lic school at Winchester. In our day we may raise an eyebrow at William's naivete, his sim- plicity, for his motto in these times seems an exaggeration if not an absurdity. Yet sound second thought must make us pause before we dismiss these words, for, after all, the works of this great man are still flourishing after 600 years. Such vitality comes from sound common sense, and that is a commodity we can use today, as we can use manners. We make no parade of manners in our day-to-day living, follow no elaborate ritual of conduct. But we have learned that a decent regard for another man's rights and feelings and a proper respect for our own honor and dignity is fundamental to a democratic society. And, in essence, these concepts are the basis of manners also. Our courts and our legislatures feven when they oifendj function because of these considerations. The free interchange of opinion, so necessary to a democracy, must at bottom rest on what we commonly call manners, else discussion becomes no more than disagreement and may easily degenerate into mob rule. And that is one of the deadliest forms of tyranny. The antics of the Russians in the United Nations assembly and else- where in the world where their representatives meet those of the western nations, provide a case in point. Their utter disregard for the rights and feelings of others, the wild charges, the baseless accusations, the intemper- ate language, the evident bad faith, all shock us deeply. Our sense of fair play is outraged, our feeling for decent human conduct is offended, not only because the truth is not in them but because they make such a show of themselves as -well. Everyone knows that manners can be vitiated by hypocrisy, and the fawning, oily, smooth operator is the object of our distrust as well as our contempt. But the sincere and honest' man, considerate of others, no matter how humble or exalted his station, always has the regard of his fellow men, and usually their liking as well. William of Wykeham worded his motto as he did because he knew that we have to live in the world with all sorts of people, and our place in the world depends upon their estimate of us-and that, to a large degree, depends upon our manners.