attempt a character sketch of the bus conductor deipicted in on saying
Answers
ON SAYING PLEASE….
Alfred George Gardiner was a British journalist and author. His essays were written under the pen name, “Alpha of the Plough” and are highly regarded in English literature. Gardiner was editor of The Daily News from 1902-15. Under his direction, it became one of the leading liberal journals its day. From 1915, he contributed to The Star under the pseudonym(pen name)“Alpha of the Plough”. His essays are uniformly elegant graceful and humorous. His uniqueness lay in his ability to teach the basic truths of life in an easy and amusing manner. The Pillars of Society , Pebbles on the Shore , Many Furrows and Leaves on the Wind are some of his best known writings.
This essay deals with little but socially important incident from our day to day life. It tells us about the great value of politeness and mannerism. The author points out that bad manners are anti social.
Though bad manners are not considered criminal in the eyes of the law, the society always look down upon the rude people. According to Gardiner, good manners and bad manners are really contagious. If bad manners of one person influence others and make them rude and ill tempered, good manners of one person also affect others and make them be polite and kind in turn.
The essay starts with an incident of a lift man in a City office who threw a passenger out of his lift because he didn’t use the word “Please”. He just said “Top” and not “Top-Please”. The liftman was undoubtedly in the wrong and was fined for the offence. Discourtesy is not a legal offence and it does not excuse assault and battery (allow you to attack anyone). No legal system could attempt to legislate against bad manners and therefore, legally, it is not a punishable offence. Anyone maybe as uncivil as he may please and the law will protect him against violent retaliation. The law does not compel anyone to say “please”. Here A G Gardiner says, “we infect the world with our ill humours. Bad manners probably do more to poison the stream of the general life than all the crimes in the calendar”
The words like “please” and “thank you” make us courteous by which we keep the machine of life oiled and running sweetly. If you command for anything, you will get the service in resentment but if you ask nicely(courteously), you will definitely get the service with willingness and good feeling.
Here, Gardiner also talks about a polite bus conductor who is the symbol of courteousness and mannerism. Once the narrator got into the bus and eventually came to know that he had no money to buy the tickets. The polite conductor didn’t make him leave the bus but instead, he gave him the ticket. After that the narrator began to observe him whenever he boarded his bus. The conductor would always make his
passengers comfortable with his patience and courteous behaviour. Particularly, the narrator was surprised with the ease with which the conductor got through his work.
In conclusion, Gardiner says that we must get the civilities if we want to make life kindly and tolerable for each other. The polite man may lose the material advantage, but he always has the spiritual victory.