In meeting your elderly friends in the street, look at them long enough to give them an opportunity of recognizing you; and if they do so, return their salutations respectfully, not with the familiar nod you would give to one of your own age.
Never remain seated, whilst a person older than yourself is standing before you, talking to you.
Never lounge on a sofa, while there are those in the room, whose years give them a better claim to this sort of indulgence.
Never tease a person to do what she has once declined.
Never refuse a request or invitation in order to be urged, and accept afterwards. Comply at once. If the request is sincere, you will thus afford gratification; if not, the individual making it deserves to be punished for insincerity, by being taken at her word.
It is not polite when asked what part of a dish you will have, to say, "Any part—it is quite indifferent to me;" it is hard enough to carve for one's friends, without choosing for them.
It is not polite to entertain a visitor with your own family history, or the events of your own household.
It is not polite for married ladies to talk, in the presence of gentlemen, of the difficulty they have in procuring domestics, and how good-for-nothing they are when procured.
It is not polite to put food upon the plate of a guest without asking leave, or to press her to eat more than she wants.
It is not polite to stare under ladies' bonnets, as if you suspected they had stolen the linings from you, or wore something that was not their own.