Every code of etiquette has contained three elements: basic moral duties; practical rules which promote efficiency; and artificial, optional graces such as formal compliments to, say, women on their beauty or superiors on their generosity and importance.
In the first category are considerations for the weak and respect for age. Among the ancient Egyptians the young always stood in the presence of older people. Among the Mponguwe of Tanzaia, the young men bow as they pass the huts of the elders. In England, until about a century ago, young children did not sit in their parents' presence without asking permission.
Practical rules are helpful in such ordinary occurrences of social life as making proper introductions at parties or other functions so that people can be brought to know each other. Before the invention of the fork, etiquette directed that the fingers should be kept as clean as possible; before the handkerchief came into common use, etiquette suggested that after spitting, a person should rub the spit inconspicuously underfoot.
Extremely refined behavior, however, cultivated as an art of gracious living, has been characteristic only of societies with wealth and leisure, which admitted women as the social equals of men. After the fall of Rome, the first European society to regulate behavior. in private life in accordance with a complicated code of etiquette was twelfth-century Province, in France. Provinces had become wealthy. The lords had returned to their castle from the crusades, and there the ideals of chivalry grew up, which emphasized the virtue and gentleness of women and demanded that a knight should profess a pure and dedicated love to a lady who would be his inspiration, and to whom he would dedicate his valiant deeds, though he would never come physically close to her. This was the introduction of the concept of romantic love, which was to influence literature for many hundreds of years and which still lives on in a debased form. in simple popular songs and cheap novels today.
In Renaissance Italy too, in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, a wealthy and leisured society developed an extremely complex code of manners, but the rules of behavior. of fashionable society had little influence on the dally life of the lower classes. Indeed many of the rules, such as how to enter a banquet room, or how to use a sword or handkerchief for ceremonial purposes, were irrelevant to the way of life of the average working man, who spent most of his life outdoors or in his own poor hut and most probably did not have a handkerchief, certainly not a sword, to his name. Yet the essential basis of all good manners does not vary. Consideration for the old and weak and the avoidance of banning or giving unnecessary offence to others is a feature of all societies everywhere and at all levels from the highest to the lowest.
One characteristic of the rich classes of a declining society is their tendency to ________.
A. take in the recently wealthy
B. retreat within themselves
C. produce publications on manners
D. change the laws of etiquette
Eskimo villages today are larger and more complex than the traditional nomadic groups of Eskimo kinsmen. Village decision making is organized through community councils and co-operative boards of directors, institutions which the Eskimos were encouraged by the government to adopt. They have been more readily accepted in villages like Fort Chimo where there is an individualistic wage ethos and where ties of kinship are less important than hi the rural village such as Port
Burwell, where communal sharing between kinsmen is more emphasized. Greater contact with southern Canadians and better educational facilities have shown Fort Chimo Eskimos that it is possible to argue and negotiate with the government rather than to acquiesce passively in its policies.
The old-age paternalism of southern Canadians over the Eskimos has died more slowly in the rural villages where Eskimos have been more reluctant to voice their opinions aggressively. This has been a frustration to government officials trying to develop local leadership amongst the Eskimos, but a blessing to other departments whose plans have been accepted without local obstruction. In rural areas the obligations of kinship often ran counter to the best interests of the village and potential leaders were restrained from making positive contributions to the village council. More recently, however, the educated Eskimos have been voicing the interests of those in the rural areas. They ,are trying to persuade the government to recognize the fights of full-time hunters, by protecting their hunting territories from mining and till prospector, for example. The efforts of this active minority are percolating through to the remoter villages whose inhabitants are becoming increasingly vocal.
Continuing change is inevitable but future development policy in ungave must recognize that most Eskimos retain much of their traditional outlook on life. New schemes should focus on resources that the Eskimos are used to handling as the Port Burwell projects have done, rather than on enterprises such as mining where effort is all to easily consigned to an unskilled labor force The musk-ox project at Fort Chimo and the tourist lodge at George River are new directions for future development but there are pitfalls.
Since 1967 musk oxen have been reared near Fort Chimo for their finer-than-cashmere undercoat which can be knitted. But the farm lies eight kilometers from the village, across a river, and it has been difficult to secure Eskimo interests in the project. For several months of the year-at the freeze-up and break -- up of the fiver ice -- the fiver cannot be crossed easily, and a small number of Eskimo herdsmen become isolated from the amenities and social life of Fort Chimo.
The original herd of fifteen animals is beginning to breed but it will be difficult to attract more herdsmen as long as other employment is available within the village.
The Eskimo-owned tourist lodge near George River has been a success. American fishermen spend large amounts of money to catch trout and Arctic char, plentiful in the port sub-Arctic rivers. The lodge is successful because its small size allows its owner to communicate with his employees, fellow villagers in George River, on a personal basis. This is essential when Eskimos are working together. If the lodge were to expand its operations, the larger number of employees would have to be treated on a more impersonal and authoritarian basis. This could lead to resentment and a withdrawal of labor.
What was the Canadians' attitude towards Eskimos in the past?
A. They were a useful source of unskilled labor.
B. The Canadians had the responsibility of looking after them for the Eskimos' own good.
C. They should be encouraged to carry out useful government projects.
D. They should be kept under firm government control.