Men having occasion to pass before women seated in lecture and concert rooms, and all other places, should “beg pardon,” and pass with their faces, and not their backs, toward them.
In going up or down stairs, a man precedes a woman or walks by her side.
To indulge in ridicule of another, whether the subject be present or absent, is to descend below the level of gentlemanly propriety.
A reverence for religious observances and religious opinions is a distinguishing trait of a refined mind.
Religious topics should be avoided in conversation, except where all are prepared to concur in a respectful treatment of the subject. In mixed societies the subject should never be introduced.
Frequent consultation of the watch or time-piece is impolite, either when at home or abroad. If at home, it appears as if one were tired of the company and wished them to be gone; if abroad, as if the hours dragged heavily, and one were calculating how soon he would be released.
It is very unbecoming to exhibit petulance or angry feeling, though it is indulged in largely in almost every circle. The true gentleman does not suffer his countenance to be easily ruffled.
The right of privacy is sacred, and should always be respected. It is exceedingly improper to enter a private room without knocking. No relation, however intimate, will justify an abrupt intrusion upon a private apartment. Likewise the trunk, boxes, packets, papers, or letters of any individual, locked or unlocked, sealed or unsealed, are sacred. It is ill-mannered even to open a book-case, or to read a written paper lying open, without permission, expressed or implied.
Members of the same family should never differ with each other in public.
One should never appear to be thinking of his own personal rights to the resenting of a little slight, whether real or imaginary.