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 Tête-à-Tête--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 Soirée--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