Date:  Fri, 28 Oct 1994 10:43:28 -0500

From:  Lewis Sanborne <lsanbore[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]SAUNIX.SAU.EDU>

Subject: Re: born in a barn



Joan Livingston commented

>In my childhood home, "born in a barn" referred exclusively

>to someone who didn't close an outside door behind them. For

>table manners, there was a verse, "Mabel, mabel strong and able

>                  Get your elbows off the table."



These were the phrases and meanings in our family as well in the 60s. My

father was raised in upstate NY and my mother in Brooklyn. We replaced

Mabel with the name of the appropriate sibling, and were occassionaly bold

enough to insert father. Mom NEVER put her elbows on the table.



>My sense is that being brought up right

>had as much or more to do with manners as with ethics and morals

>(e.g. being honest, loyal, etc).



My experience matches Joan's here as well. My parents still seem more

concerned with the surface manifestations of manners than with broader

ethical issues. Manners, or their absence, are easier to identify and

hence judge.

Lew Sanborne

St. Ambrose University

Davenport, IA 52803

319 324-8266