ETIQUETTE FOR PLACES OF AMUSEMENT.
When you wish to invite a lady to accompany you to the theatre, opera, a
concert, or any other public place of amusement, send the invitation the
day previous to the one selected for taking her, and write it in the
third person. If it is the first time you have invited her, include her
mother, sister, or some other lady in the invitation.
If she accepts your invitation, let it be your next care to secure good
seats, for it is but a poor compliment to invite a lady to go to the
opera, and put her in an uncomfortable seat, where she can neither hear,
see, nor be seen.
Although, when alone, you will act a courteous part in giving your seat
to a strange lady, who is standing, in a crowded concert room, you
should not do so when you are with a lady. By giving up your place
beside her, you may place a lady next her, whom she will find an
unpleasant companion, and you are yourself separated from her, when the
conversation between the acts makes one of the greatest pleasures of an
evening spent in this way. In case of accident, too, he deprives her of
his protection, and gives her the appearance of having come alone. Your
first duty, when you are escorting a lady, is to that lady before all
others.
When you are with a lady at a place of amusement, you must not leave
your seat until you rise to escort her home. If at the opera, you may
invite her to promenade between the acts, but if she declines, do you
too remain in your seat.
Let all your conversation be in a low tone, not whispered, nor with any
air of mystery, but in a tone that will not disturb those seated near
you.
Any lover-like airs or attitudes, although you may have the right to
assume them, are in excessively bad taste in public.
If the evening you have appointed be a stormy one, you must call for
your companion with a carriage, and this is the more elegant way of
taking her even if the weather does not make it absolutely necessary.
When you are entering a concert room, or the box of a theatre, walk
before your companion up the aisle, until you reach the seats you have
secured, then turn, offer your hand to her, and place her in the inner
seat, taking the outside one yourself; in going out, if the aisle is too
narrow to walk two abreast, you again precede your companion until you
reach the lobby, where you turn and offer your arm to her.
Loud talking, laughter, or mistimed applause, are all in very bad taste,
for if you do not wish to pay strict attention to the performance, those
around you probably do, and you pay but a poor compliment to your
companion in thus implying her want of interest in what she came to
see.
Secure your programme, libretto, or concert bill, before taking your
seat, as, if you leave it, in order to obtain them, you may find some
one else occupying your place when you return, and when the seats are
not secured, he may refuse to rise, thus giving you the alternative of
an altercation, or leaving your companion without any protector. Or, you
may find a lady in your seat, in which case, you have no alternative,
but must accept the penalty of your carelessness, by standing all the
evening.
In a crowd, do not push forward, unheeding whom you hurt or
inconvenience, but try to protect your companion, as far as possible,
and be content to take your turn.
If your seats are secured, call for your companion in time to be seated
some three or four minutes before the performance commences, but if you
are visiting a hall where you cannot engage seats, it is best to go
early.
If you are alone and see ladies present with whom you are acquainted,
you may, with perfect propriety, go and chat with them between the acts,
but when with a lady, never leave her to speak to another lady.
At an exhibition of pictures or statuary, you may converse, but let it
be in a quiet, gentlemanly tone, and without gesture or loud laughter.
If you stand long before one picture or statue, see that you are not
interfering with others who may wish to see the same work of art. If you
are engaged in conversation, and wish to rest, do not take a position
that will prevent others from seeing any of the paintings, but sit
down, or stand near the centre of the room.
Never, unless urgently solicited, attach yourself to any party at a
place of amusement, even if some of the members of it are your own
relatives or intimate friends.