Never push violently through a crowd at a public place. A lady
will always find room made for her if she requests it, or if it is
requested by her escort.
After escorting a lady to a place of amusement, a gentleman may
ask permission to call the following morning or evening, and the
lady must be at home to receive that call. She should take that
opportunity to thank him for the pleasure she has enjoyed, and
find some warm words of praise for the performance. To severely
criticize on such an occasion is rude to the escort, who has
intended to give pleasure, and the performance must be bad indeed
where nothing can be found to merit a word of praise.
In visiting a fancy fair, too many persons act as if they were in
a store, cheapening the articles offered for sale, and being
careless about their criticisms and remarks. It is impossible to
tell who may be wounded by such conduct. The very lady who offers
you an article you pronounce "absolutely hideous" may have spent
hours in its manufacture, and feel proportionately hurt at your
remarks. Courtesy and words of praise are never more appreciated
than by those who have spent weary hours in preparing for this
most troublesome of all charities.
On the other hand, the position of a lady at the table of a fancy
fair is necessarily an exposed one, and requires a great amount of
modest dignity to support it. Flirting, loud talking, importunate
entreaties to unwilling friends to buy your goods, are all in bad
taste; and it is equally bad to leave your place every few moments
to visit the refreshment-table in company with your gentlemen
friends. We heard a lady boast once that she had been seventeen
times in one day to the refreshment-table "for the good of the
fair," and we could not but think the cause might have been aided
without quite such a display of gastronomic energy. No true lady
will follow friends all around the room offering goods for sale,
nor force articles on reluctant purchasers by appealing to their
gallantry.
In entering a fancy fair where many ladies are present, strict
etiquette requires a gentleman to remove his hat, and carry it
whilst in the room, but it is a rule much neglected.
It is rude for a lady to take advantage of the rule which prevents
a gentleman from asking for change at a fair. If he says, in
presenting a larger amount than the purchased article calls for,
"Pray accept the balance for the object for which you are
working," she may, of course, place the gift in her cash-box;
otherwise it is more lady-like to give back the change.