Travelers have certain rights guaranteed by their regularly-purchased
tickets. Within such bounds they are privileged to claim all comforts
and immunities.
But the mannerly tourist will claim no more. He will not take up more
room than he is entitled to while other passengers are discommoded.
Nor will he persist in keeping his particular window open when the
draught and the cinders therefrom are troublesome or dangerous to other
people.
If travelers carry a lunch-basket, they should discuss its contents
quietly, and be careful not to litter the floor with crumbs, or the
_debris_ of fruits and nuts, nor to leave any trace of its presence
after the luncheon is finished.
If a lady is traveling under the escort of a gentleman, she will give
him as little trouble as possible. She will amuse herself by reading,
or studying the landscape, leaving him at liberty to choose similar
diversions when conversation grows tedious. She will carry few
parcels, and if possible will have arranged for some one to meet her at
her station, so that her obliging guardian need not be taxed to look
after her beyond the railway journey's end. If the gentleman has
attended to the purchase of tickets, and the paying of dining-car fees,
etc., the lady will repay those expenditures, as a matter of course,
thanking him for the trouble that he has taken to give her "safe
conduct."
A gentleman thus traveling as escort will attend to all matters of
tickets, the checking of baggage, etc.; and will see that the lady is
comfortably settled for her journey, with some thoughtful provision in
the way of magazines, and possibly a basket of fine fruit. He will see
that the porter and the maid (if there is one) are attentive to her
comfort, and will not relinquish his charge until he leaves her, either
at her final destination, or in the care of some one authorized to
relieve him of the responsibility. He will perform all these duties
cheerfully, and endeavor to convey the idea that it is a pleasure to
him; and this will be better shown in his manner than by any
conventional protestations.
There ought not to be such a thing as "hotel manners." But there is;
and it suggests certain important injunctions.
Hotel partitions are usually thin, and sounds are penetrating. Private
affairs should not be loudly discussed. Tourists should learn to
converse in quiet tones, and to make as little "racket" as possible
with furniture, boots, etc., and to be polite enough not to keep other
guests awake late at night with the noise of music, laughter, or loud
talking. The "manners" at table, in the reading-rooms, and about the
corridors should conform to whatever law of etiquette in private or
public life the incidents may indicate; since, at a hotel, one is both
_at_ home and _not_ at home, in two different aspects.
In driving with ladies, a gentleman gives them the seat facing the
horses, riding backward himself if any one must. He will alight from
the carriage first, on the side nearest his seat, to avoid passing in
front of the ladies; and will assist them to alight, giving as much or
as little support as the case demands. A light finger-tip on an elbow
is all the help that a sprightly girl may need, but her grandmother may
require to be tenderly lifted out bodily. A gentleman will
discriminate, and not use an uncalled-for familiarity in helping a lady
out of a carriage.
When several ladies are driving, the youngest ones in the party will
ride backwards. A hostess driving with her guests enters her carriage
_after_ them, unless they are noticeably younger than she is; but she
does not relinquish her usual seat to _any one_, unless she happens to
have a party of venerable ladies.