'Tis true—'tis pity; pity 'tis, 'tis true!
| 1787 | 1887" |
"HERE'S A HOW-D'Y'-DO!"
A Chapter on the Evolution of Deportment.
Nowadays young ladies begin making-up rather earlier, but, if Punch is to be believed, we can draw consolation from the fact that they are little worse in this respect than their modish mothers or grandmothers. Another of Punch's pet aversions was the fashionable high hand-shake introduced in the 'nineties:—
HANDS AS THEY ARE SHOOK
(New Style)
In healthier times, when friends would meet
Their friends in chamber, park, or street,
Each, as hereunder, each would greet.
Your level hand went forth; you clasped
Your crony's; each his comrade's grasped—
If roughly, neither friend was rasped.
Such was the good old-fashioned cue
Of honest British "How d'ye do?"
I think it manly still—don't you?
But now, when smug acquaintance hails
A set that would be "smart," but fails,
Another principle prevails.
The arm, in lifted curve displayed,
Droops limply o'er the shoulder-blade,
As needing some chirurgeon's aid.
THE EARLSWOOD TOTTER
Our Mashers are still improving. They no longer enter the Ball Room with their Hands in their Pockets. They have adopted a Mode of Progression more in harmony with their Mental Structure.