Manners.....what a concept?  It seems like something we used to take for granted, something everyone seemed to have ingrained into our early years from the time we could speak.  "Don't forget to say please and thank you" we would say to our children and also heard from our own parents.  What prompted this dialogue on manners you say?  Well, I'll tell you a story that happened to me today and I just can't ignore it.

I was running errands in town this morning and stopped by my favorite store: Barnes and Noble.  If you know me, you know I LOVE BOOKS!  While browsing the shelves and relaxing and enjoying myself, a woman passed right in front of me and the bookshelf.  Slowly, sauntering her way into my line of vision, I was appalled.  Excuse me? EXCUSE ME!!!!! I wanted to shout.  How rude!  And then I thought, does no one have manners any more?  Not even the most basic of manners?  Evidently they are getting fewer and far between.  But then I thought, "have I done something similar before?"  I would like to say absolutely not, but probably I have.  Not as rude as what happened to me today because I try to say excuse me constantly in a public area, even when it's not my fault.  But I have probably been guilty of some faux pas in the manners department.

Reading through the above little books, I am reminded how big a part manners played in early America.  George Washington memorized those 110 rules of civility while he was 15 years old.  No wonder he was considered the very image of gentlemanly behaviour.  Some are out of use and quite comical, such as #13: "Kill no vermin as fleas, lice, ticks &c in the sight of others.  If you see any filth or thick spittle, put your foot dexteriously upon it. If it be upon the clothes of your companion,  Put it off privately, and if it be on your own clothes, return thanks to him who puts it off."  Now I know we don't have to pick vermin from each other, but the point is be aware of how you look and help a companion if necessary.  Glad he never went to Wal-Mart!  But my very favorite rules are the first and the last that he memorized: #1"Every action done in company ought to be with some sign of  respect to those that are present" and #110 "Labour to keep alive in your breast that little spark of Celestial fire called Conscience".  Remember Jiminy Cricket? "Always let your conscience be your guide".  

Our Heavenly Father put this little "Celestial Spark" in every one of us.  If we would all strive to at least follow these two rules every day, what a better place this would be.  These two rules remind me of the life that Jesus Christ exemplified for us every day and are what he calls the two greatest commandments:  Love the Lord your God with all your heart and Love your neighbor as yourself.  Who is our neighbor?  In this day and age, it is not those who are just like us, believe just like us, look like us, or affiliated with our political party, but anyone we come into contact with.

My goal for 2020 is to try to obey those two commandments with all my heart and those two rules in George Washington's little book.  Love and respect will go a long way and it begins with me!

The Brooks house: 

This is as much as I know about the Brooks house so far.  It was built in 1850 by a free black man named Etienne Cashmere.  Like so many of the folks in Ste. Genevieve at the time, Mr. Cashmere was of mixed race (French and African American).  I’m Missing the history from 1850-1890 

so that’s where we’ll pick it up.  Mr. Bill Brooks was born around 1893 in Ste. Genevieve, Mo.  He was at the right age to serve his country during WW I (The Great War).  His unit was in combat in France which was highly unusual for that time.  Colored troops were usually relegated to the service areas of the military, such as cooks, etc.  Mr. Brook’s unit saw heavy combat and he came home highly decorated.  He married a young lady named Johanna McNabb and they had three sons.  Mrs Brooks was very well educated and was a college professor at Harris-Stowe University in St. Louis, Mo.  She also taught the black children of Ste. Genevieve in this house and at the little black school on the other end of town.  She decided to go to nursing school in St. Louis and was tragically killed in a car accident on her way home one night.  Mr. Brooks never remarried and was left with three small sons to raise on his own.  They were aged six, four and two at the time of her death.  Education was very important to the Brooks family, but they could only attend school to the eighth grade in St. Genevieve due to segregation.  When it was time to go to high school, Mr. Brooks put the boys on a Greyhound bus every morning and sent them to Festus, Mo., 35 miles north of Ste. Genevieve where they attended the black high school. Wanting to achieve more, they all entered the military to get college educations through the GI bill.  The oldest son, Bill Jr. became the Vice President of GM in Detroit and was also appointed as Assistant Secretary of Labor under President George H.W. Bush.  The middle son Sydney was great at Football and went to USC where he mentored a young player named O.J.Simpson.  O.J. named his first born daughter “Sydney Brook” after his mentor.  Youngest son Jack joined the Air Force and worked at the Pentagon for a time before returning to St. Louis to work for McDonnell Douglas.  The neatest thing is my small connection to this wonderful family.  I went to a small, private school in Festus and we needed a gym facility for our sports programs.  My school bought the old high school for colored students and I was watching games and doing high school plays in the same building these boys attended school. So I call the Brooks lHouse my “miracle” and I am so honored to have played a small part in saving this historic home.

Welcome to. . .

FOR A LARGER VIEW, CLICK ON FULL SCREEN ICON