Chapter VII: Letter VI: MANNER--(Continued.)

RULES TO BE OBSERVED IN MAKING MORNING VISITS, AND IN SOCIETY GENERALLY.

Aversion to Ceremonious Morning Visits--Proper Hours--Suitable
Brevity--Character of Conversation--Card of Announcement--
Visits made at Hotels--Precautionary Rules--Mode of entering
a Drawing-Room--Drawing-Room Rules--When Meeting other
Visitors--When interrupted--When wishing to leave a Message
or make an Appointment, etc.--Proper Courtesy when Visitors
are taking Leave--Short Visits of mere Ceremony--Attendance
upon Ladies making Morning Visits--Attentions Suitable--
Introducing--Ladies to take precedence in rising to go away
--Gentlemen calling together--Dress, etc.,--When awaiting
Ladies in a Public Parlor--Standing when Ladies are Standing
--Offering the Arm--Suitable Gait--Minutia of Politeness--
Morning Wedding-Receptions--Whom you should Congratulate--
General Directions--Tact and Good Taste--Leaving Cards--Visits
on New-Year's Day--Ceremonious Intercourse with Superiors--
Manner at Church--Mrs. Chapone's Rule--Self-possession one of
the Distinctive Characteristics of Good-Breeding--Whispering,
Laughing, Staring, etc., to be avoided--Retaining the Hat not
admissible--Salutations at Church--Attending Ladies at
Concerts, Lectures, Opera, etc. etc.--Propriety of Retaining
the Seat you take on Entering--Incommoding Others--Courtesy
due to Those near you--Manner of well-bred Persons in a
Picture Gallery, etc.,--Reverence due to the Beautiful and
the Good--Partaking of Refreshments in Public Places--
Discourtesy of any Semblance of Intrusiveness--Etiquette in
Joining a Party--Politeness not to be laid aside in
Business-intercourse--Elaborate ceremony unsuitable, at
times--The Secret of Popularity--Manner at a Public Table--
Courtesy to Others--Self-importance a Proof of Vulgarity--
"Fast" Feeding--Pardonable Luxuriousness--Staring--Listening
to Private Conversations--Rudeness of Loud Talking and
Laughing, Shrugs, Glances, or Whispers--Courtesy due to a
Lady entering a Dining-Room--To Older Persons--Meeting or
passing Ladies in Public Houses--Influence of Trifles in the
Formation of Character--Frequent Discourtesy in ignoring the
Presence of Ladies in Public Parlors, etc. etc.--Politeness
due to Women, in Practical Emergencies--Nocturnal
Peccadilloes--Travelling--True Rules--Courtesy to Ladies, to
Age, to the Suffering--Indecorum of using Tobacco, etc. etc.,
in Public Conveyances--Ceremony a Shield, but not an
Excuse--A Challenge Extraordinary--Anecdote of P----, the
Poet--Practice and Tact essential to secure Polish of
Manner--Life-long Stumbling--Practical Rules, the result of
Annoying Experience--Carriage Hire--Driving with Ladies,
etc.,--Manner in Social Intercourse--As Host--Etiquette of
Dinners at Home--Precedence--Distinguished Guests--A Lady--A
Gentleman--Reception and Introduction of Guests--True
Hospitality as Host, better than mere Ceremony--Manner
towards those unacquainted with Conventional Rules--Manner at
Routs, at Home--Attention to Guests compatible with good
_ton_--Anecdote--Respect to be rendered to all one's
Acquaintances in General Society--To Married Ladies--To
Strangers--The Distinction thus Exhibited between the
Under-bred and the genuine Man of the World--No one
entitled to Self-Excuses in this Regard, 157

ANECDOTES, SKETCHES, ETC.

A PROPHESY.--Table-Talk--A Rescue and a Lady's Gratitude
--Jealousy Disarmed--Backwoodsmen--Cordiality--Costume and
Courtesy--Retort Courteous--An Interpolation and a Protest
--Mr. Clay's Popularity with the Fair--Secret of his Success
in Society--Mr. Clay and the _Belle Esprit_--A Definition
of Politeness--A Comical Illustration--A Pun--A well-turned
Compliment--Unconsciousness of Self--A Stranger's Impressions
--A Poetic Tribute, 179

THE DEVOTEE OF THE BEAUTIFUL.--A Morning Drive--Anticipation
--Spiritual Enjoyment--Discord--A Disappointment, 184

THE SOLDIER'S WIFE AND THE GHOUL.--A Journey--The truly Brave
--The Arrival--A Chapter of Accidents--Self-Reproach--The
Ghoul--The Calmness of Despair--The Versatility of Woman--
But a Step from the Sublime to the Ridiculous--The Ghoul
again--A Defiant Spirit--Punctilious Ceremony, 186

A FAIR CHAMPION.--A Query and its Solution--A Sketch--Raillery
--A Tete-a-Tete--An Interruption--"Fashionable" Hospitality--
Genuine Hospitality--A Mother's Advice--An indignant Spirit--
Rebellion, 193

THE MAN OF ONE IDEA.--An Object for Worship--A Soiree--A
Polite Colloquy--The Host at Ease--A pleasing Hostess--The
Climax, 198

Young America--an Anecdote, 200

THE PRACTICAL PHILOSOPHER.--A handsome Aristocrat--An
Accusation--A Courteous Neighbor--Fall of a "Fixed Star"
--Favorite Aphorism of Mrs. Combe--The Daughter of the
Siddons, 201