Let us suppose, for example, that you are a young gentleman of
established social position in one of the many cities of our
great middle west, and it is your desire to travel from your home
to New York City for the purpose of viewing the many attractions
of that metropolis of which I need perhaps only mention the
Aquarium or Grant’s Tomb or the Eden Musee. Now there are many
ways of getting to New York, such as (a) on foot, (b) via “rail”;
it should be your first duty to select one of these methods of
transportation. Walking to New York (“a” above) is often rejected
because of the time and effort involved and it is undoubtedly
true that if one attempted to journey afoot from the middle west
one would probably be quite fatigued at the end of one’s journey.
The etiquette of walking, however, is the same for short as for
long distances, and I shall at this point give a few of the many
rules for correct behavior among pedestrians.
In the first place, it is always customary in a city for a young
lady, either accompanied or unaccompanied, to walk on the
sidewalk. A young “miss” who persists in walking in the gutters
is more apt to lose than to make friends among the socially
“worth while.”
Gentlemen, either with or without ladies, are never seen walking
after dark in the sewers or along the elevated, tracks.
It is not _au fait_ for gentlemen or ladies wearing evening dress
to “catch on behind” passing ice wagons, trucks, etc.; the time
and energy saved are doubtfully repaid should one happen to be
driven thus past other members of one’s particular social “set.”
Ladies walking alone on the street after dark do not speak to
gentlemen unless they have been previously introduced or are out
of work with winter coming on.
A gentleman walking alone at night, when accosted by a young
woman whom he has not met socially, removes his hat politely,
bows and passes on, unless she looks awfully good.
Débutantes meeting traffic policemen always bow first in America;
in the Continental countries, with their age-old flavor of
aristocratic court life, this custom is reversed.
A bachelor, accompanied by a young unmarried woman, when stepping
accidentally into an open coal or sewer hole in the sidewalk,
removes his hat and gloves as inconspicuously as possible.
It is never correct for young people of either “sex” to push
older ladies in front of swiftly approaching motor vehicles or
street cars.
A young man, if run over by an automobile driven by a strange
lady, should lie perfectly still (unless dead) until an
introduction can be arranged; the person driving the car usually
speaks first.
An unmarried woman, if run into and knocked down by a taxicab
driven by someone in her own “set,” usually says “Why the hell
don’t you look where you’re going?” to which the taxi driver,
removing his hat, replies “Why the hell don’t _you?_”
A correct costume for gentlemen walking in the parks or streets
of a city, either before or after dark, consists of shoes (2),
socks (2), undergarments, trousers, shirt, necktie, collar, vest,
coat and hat. For pedestrians of the “opposite” sex the costume
is practically the same with the exception of the socks,
trousers, shirt, necktie, collar, vest and coat. However, many
women now affect “knickerbockers” and _vice versa_.
A young lady of good breeding, when walking alone, should not
talk or laugh in a loud boisterous manner. “Capers” (e. g.
climbing trees, etc.), while good exercise and undoubtedly
fashionable in certain “speedy” circles, are of questionable
taste for ladies, especially if indulged in to excess or while
walking with young gentlemen on the Sabbath. Sport is sport, and
no one loves a stiff game of “fives” or “rounders” more than I,
but the spectacle of a young unmarried lady and her escort
hanging by their limbs on the Lord’s Day from the second or third
cross arm of an electric telegraph pole is certainly carrying
things a bit too far, in my opinion, even in this age of “golf”
and lawn “tennis.”
A young gentleman escorting a young lady on foot to a formal ball
or the opera should walk on the outside, especially if they are
both in evening dress and have a long distance to go. It is never
incorrect to suggest the use of a street car, or as one gets near
the Opera House, a carriage or a “taxicab.”
A young man walking with a young lady, when accosted by a beggar,
always gives the beggar something unless the young lady is his
wife or his sister.
So much for pedestrians. I can not, of course, pretend to give
here all the rules for those who “go afoot” and I can only say
that the safest principle for correct behavior in this, as in
many social matters, is the now famous reply Thomas Edison once
made to the stranger who asked him with what he mixed his paints
in order to get such marvellous effects. “One part inspiration,”
replied the great inventor, “and NINE parts perspiration.” In
other words, etiquette is not so much a matter of “genius” as of
steady application to small details.