Book of Etiquette, Volume I

There are certain little courteous observances, certain social formalities that bespeak the true lady, the true gentlemen. Some of us call it good form. Some of us call it cultu...

The Wedding Invitation--Size and Material--Kinds of Envelopes-- Addressing the Envelopes--Invitations to Church Wedding--Invitation to Home Wedding--Wedding in a Friend's Home--...

Purpose of the Introduction--Creating Conversation--When to Introduce--Importance of Care--Special Introductions--When the Name Isn't Heard--The Correct Introduction--Group Intr...

"_The power of manners is incessant--an element as unconcealable as fire. The nobility cannot in any country be disguised, and no more in a republic or a democracy than in a kin...

At a meeting of army officers during the Civil War, one of them began to relate a questionable story, remarking, as if to excuse his lack of good taste, that "there were no ladi...

Why do we observe certain set rules of convention? Why do we greet people in a certain ordained way--by nodding or by lifting the hat? Why do we make introductions and send invi...

There is perhaps no time when the rules of etiquette need to be so strictly observed as during the period of courtship. All the world loves a lover--but this does not keep the w...

Not later than fifteen days, and not earlier than four weeks before the date set for the marriage, wedding invitations are sent to those friends, relatives and acquaintances who...

The bride and groom decide between them the church where they wish the wedding to take place and the clergyman whom they wish to officiate. When there is no religious difference...

One must study the marriage customs of many countries before the development of the trousseau idea can be fully traced. But it is interesting--especially to the bride--to discov...

There is no more eloquent commentary on the vanity of human wishes than the pomp and ceremony which, since the first syllable of recorded time have attended funeral services. Ki...

When a child is born the mother and father announce the fact to their friends by means of cards. These may be obtained in the prevailing style from any good stationer. Sometimes...

"_Politeness itself is always the same. The rules of etiquette which are merely the forms in which it finds expression, vary with time and place. A sincere regard for the rights...

The days of gallant cavaliers and courteous knights who bowed profusely and doffed their feathered hats to the very ground when introduced to ladies of the court are over. To-da...

Letters of introduction should be drawn only on relatives, or on very close friends. It is not considered entirely ethical to introduce by a letter an individual of whom the wri...

The origin of the "social" call dates from the Stone Age, when the head of a family used to leave a roughly carved block of stone at the door of another, as an expression of goo...

A rather eccentric gentleman discovered an amazing new commodity for which there had been considerable demand for many years. He became immediately famous. Reporters besieged hi...

No matter how informal, an invitation should always be acknowledged within a week of its receipt. It should be a definite acknowledgment--either an acceptance or refusal--and no...

It is customary nowadays to deplore the fact that the art of letter-writing has fallen into decay, and when we read that the entire correspondence of an engaged couple recently...

The home is the unit of our social life, and just as the whole can be no greater than the sum of its parts so the standard of behavior in a community can be no higher than the s...