Avoid too great a restraint of manner. Stiffness is not politeness, and, while you observe every rule, you may appear to heed none. To make your politeness part of yourself, inseparable from every action, is the height of gentlemanly elegance and finish of manner.
CONTENTS.
| PAGE | |
| Introduction | [3] |
| [CHAPTER I.] | |
| Conversation | [11] |
| [CHAPTER II.] | |
| Politeness | [31] |
| [CHAPTER III.] | |
| Table Etiquette | [50] |
| [CHAPTER IV.] | |
| Etiquette in the Street | [66] |
| [CHAPTER V.] | |
| Etiquette for Calling | [75] |
| [CHAPTER VI.] | |
| Etiquette for the Ball room | [91] |
| [CHAPTER VII.] | |
| Dress | [116] |
| [CHAPTER VIII.] | |
| Manly Exercises | [154] |
| [CHAPTER IX.] | |
| Traveling | [176] |
| [CHAPTER X.] | |
| Etiquette in Church | [183] |
| [CHAPTER XI.] | |
| One Hundred Hints for Gentlemanly Deportment | [186] |
| [CHAPTER XII.] | |
| Parties | [222] |
| [CHAPTER XIII.] | |
| Courtesy at Home | [228] |
| [CHAPTER XIV.] | |
| True Courtesy | [244] |
| [CHAPTER XV.] | |
| Letter Writing | [252] |
| [CHAPTER XVI.] | |
| Wedding Etiquette | [280] |
| [CHAPTER XVII.] | |
| Etiquette for Places of Amusement | [294] |
| [CHAPTER XVIII.] | |
| Miscellaneous | [298] |
GENTLEMEN’S BOOK OF ETIQUETTE.
CHAPTER I.
CONVERSATION.
One of the first rules for a guide in polite conversation, is to avoid political or religious discussions in general society. Such discussions lead almost invariably to irritating differences of opinion, often to open quarrels, and a coolness of feeling which might have been avoided by dropping the distasteful subject as soon as marked differences of opinion arose. It is but one out of many that can discuss either political or religious differences, with candor and judgment, and yet so far control his language and temper as to avoid either giving or taking offence.
In their place, in circles which have met for such discussions, in a tête à tête conversation, in a small party of gentlemen where each is ready courteously to listen to the others, politics may be discussed with perfect propriety, but in the drawing-room, at the dinner-table, or in the society of ladies, these topics are best avoided.