NOR will the lift-man’s way of meeting moral affront by physical violence help us to restore the civilities. I suggest to him that he would have had a more subtle and effective revenge if he had treated the gentleman who would not say “Please” with elaborate politeness. He would have had the victory, not only over the boor, but over himself, and that is the victory that counts. The polite man may lose the material advantage, but he always has the spiritual victory.

I commend to the lift-man a story of Chesterfield.* In his time the London streets were without the pavements of to-day, and the man who “took the wall” had the driest footing. “I never give the wall to a scoundrel” said a man who met Chesterfield one day in the street. “I always do” said Chesterfield, stepping with a bow into the road. I hope the lift-man will agree that his revenge was much more sweet than if he had flung the fellow into the mud.