BALLS AND DANCES
In order to succeed in the modern ballroom, and especially in the ballrooms of our exclusive country clubs, a young gentleman or lady of fashion must today be possessed of the following two requisites: i. A “Line.” 2. A closed car. The latter of these “sine qua nons” is now owned as a matter of course by most families and is no longer regarded as a mark of distinction. The former requisite, however, is not so common, but it is nevertheless true that any young person with ambition and a good memory can eventually acquire a quite effective “Line.” It is a great aid in this direction if one happens to have spent a year or more at one of our leading eastern universities or “finishing schools.” These vary, of course, in degree of excellence, but it does not pay to be dogmatic on this subject, and to those who would insist that the Princeton “Line” is more effective than the Harvard ditto, or that the Westover “Line” flows more smoothly than that of Farmington or Spence, one can only say “De gustibus non disputandum est.” “Lines” vary also in accordance with the different types of girls who happen to be using them, and (to misquote a rather vulgar proverb) “What is one girl’s food may be another girl’s poison.” Thus it happens that the “Line” which is most universally and interminably employed by the “beautiful” type of girl (consisting, in its entirety, of the three words “How perfectly priceless”) would never in the world do for the young miss whose chief asset is a kind heart or a love for really good books.
The above diagram (one of man), filling the instructive and refined pages of PERFECT BEHAVIOR, will serve as a model to any debutante or dancing man who seriously sets out to achieve social eminence. It is only fair to warn aspirants that rigid adherence to the formula is essential and that any slight slackening of the pace is likely to prove fatal. On the other hand, we confidently guarantee complete success to those who, in reverence and faith, keep the final goal always in sight. His (or hers) be it to keep the sacred flame burning and to pass the torch along from father to son, from mother to daughter till the end of time, or so long as they do not make any mesalliances, which is just as important in America, whatever may be said to the contrary, as among our “English cousins.”