A pleasant voice is a charm, either in man or woman.  A noted teacher of singing once remarked that the cultivation of the speaking voice is a positive duty, and possible to almost everyone.  Certainly a harsh, squeaky, shrill or affected tone of voice may be improved by care and endeavor.

CHURCH ETIQUETTE.

Surely the church is the place where one day’s truce ought to be allowed to the vanities, the dissensions and animosities of mankind.—­Burke.

The church is sometimes sarcastically referred to as “the social stepping-stone.”  It is a fact that the newly made rich and the vulgar often choose a church attended by the people of fashion whose acquaintance they most desire, rent a high-priced pew, and become prominent through their benefactions and their services in church work.  They are “taken up,” after a time, in a fashion, and unless too socially impossible through lack of good breeding, may, from “fringers,” become “climbers.”  “I might go to that church for a hundred years and no one would notice me,” bitterly complained a woman who had undertaken the social uplift via the church.  The woman in question defeated her own object.  She dressed in the extreme of style; she always came in late, with much rustle of silk and rattle of bangles; her hair was “touched up” and her face rouged.  The well-bred and refined members condemned her on these grounds.  Nevertheless, where a stranger comes who bears the hall-mark of culture and refinement, the church connection is often an aid to social habilitation, though it should never be sought as such.

Friendly Advances.—­Friendly advances generally come from pew neighbors.  Respond to them courteously but without undue eagerness.  Do not expect your pastor to become your social sponsor with his congregation, and remember that though he will probably call after letters of church membership are presented, you have no claim upon his family, nor the families of any of the church officers through acquaintance in business life.  This is often a grievance to people from smaller towns who, moving to a city, expect the families of their business associates to assist them socially.  Two men may be partners for ten years without their wives knowing each other by sight, if they chance to move in different social circles.

Demeanor.—­One should dress quietly at church, give attention to the service and the clergyman, and not linger unduly in the vestibule to gossip or greet friends.  To notify the usher if one’s pew will not be occupied is a courtesy if the preacher is popular and the church crowded.  To be disagreeable in case strangers are shown to one’s pew, or mistakenly seated there, is unkind and unchristian.  Giggling, smiles, exchange of smiles or bows in the church proper are regarded as bad form.

[Manners and social customs 777]

NEIGHBORHOOD ETIQUETTE.