PROUD MOTHER (haughtily). "YOU ALLOWED YOURSELF TO BE WON ALTOGETHER TOO EASILY, EDITH!" EDITH. "I SUPPOSE I DID. BUT AS ALBERT IS RATHER BASHFUL, AND I AM NEARING THIRTY, I THOUGHT IT ONLY PROPER TO MAKE IT JUST AS EASY AS POSSIBLE FOR HIM."

ETIQUETTE OF BEHAVIOR IN PUBLIC
PLACES.

T

I serys al quit à imitative which the
seems almost impossible that an American woman, with the
dowry of quick intelligence and imitative faculty which she
possesses, which make her, if she chooses, so clever an artist, so
skilful a musician, so honorable in her desire for the higher edu-
cation, so well dressed, and so bien posée, as she almost immediate-
ly becomes after contact with the world, should remain so obliv-
ious of the evident proprieties which she shocks, at home and
abroad, by her con-

duct in public places;
yet here is where she
fails.

She talks and laughs
at the opera when an
artist is singing. She
behaves worse at a
matinée than any oth-
er woman in the world.
She crowds, shoves,
shows temper and a
lack of good feeling.
A lady used to take
her children to the
matinées at the Acad-
emy of Music. She
had to give it up, she
was so annoyed at the
conduct of opulent la-
dies who crushed the
children in their un-
mannerly struggle for
places. An American
does not in her opera
box always behave
quietly and like a lady.
She gets up, turns her
back on the audience,
adjusts her dress,
laughs and talks au-
dibly to her cavalier.
She has no sense of
the etiquette of public
places. If she were a
man she would be hiss-
ed, and once or twice
in the history of man-
kind she has been
hissed, and she should
be more frequently
hissed, until she learns
to respect the feelings
of others. The absence
of reverence, that at-
mosphere in which
many women are
brought up, makes her
commit these vulgar
sins in public. She is
impatient of advice,
and angry at the im-
plied doubt of her own.
knowledge. An Amer-
ican woman in Europe
does not like to be told
that she must
treat her courier with
familiarity; she does
not like to be told that

not

she appears badly on

the Pincian Hill: she

would rather appear
badly than be told that
she appears badly.

To a woman who is

frivolous and made up
of vulgar vanity it may
be very agreeable to
see men stare at her
from the pit, as she
makes herself conspic-
uous at the opera. It
may repay her to see
herself in the columns
of a newspaper as a
fast, loud young mar-
ried belle. But when
she goes to a European
opera - house she re-
ceives what she de-
serves an intimation
from the police that
she must behave bet-

ter or be put out.

A young American

prima donna used to
be invited by an Amer-
ican lady to go with

ed respect and a good manner. It is better anywhere than in
the large cities. At the opera and theatre it is getting worse.
Who and what are those persons who dare talk when music is
going on, and interfere with the rights of others? The question
has come up seriously within the year as to the propriety of wear-
ing at the theatre hats so high that they obstruct the view of the
stage. How many a woman sins in this respect! She makes the
man or woman behind her perfectly uncomfortable, and reserves
to herself the right to be detested during the whole performance.
Does any woman wish to be so disagreeable? What is popularity

AUTUMN TOILETTES.

Fig. 1.-BRAIDED CLOAK.-BACK.-[For Front, see Page 692.]
For pattern and description see Supplement, No. VII., Figs. 27-30.

her to the opera and to sit in a conspicuous box. She took her
manners with her, talked, laughed, ate sweetmeats, threw papers
into the next box, and behaved as if she were tipsy. Christine
Nilsson sat in a box near her. Gravely, silently respectful to the
singers was the great Swedish genius. She did not do any of these
things. She looked mournfully at the American. The story is as
old as human folly. The best and the highest are the most re-
spectful. The lowest in rank are impertinent and poor in manner
and style.

Our republicanism would become far more genuine if it includ

American women.

TEN CENTS A COPY. WITH A SUPPLEMENT.

The American owes this patriotic duty to his flag. He should aim at correcting all public exhibitions of bad manners, such as loud talking in a private box at the Academy of Music or the Metropolitan Opera-house, no matter by whom done. The more prominent the social position of the woman, the greater the offence. She has had an opportunity to know better. Bad manners may be the outcropping of ignorance and of vulgarity, or they may be the assumption of the nouveau riche, who pretend in that way to show their power. They must remember that it was by such presumption that certain French ladies were

Fig. 2.-FAILLE FRANCAISE RECEPTION TOILETTE.-FRONT.
For Back, see Page 693.-[For description see Supplement.]

worth if it can be lost in an evening at the theatre? Is the pret-
ty face worth anything-the becoming bonnet worth anything-
if every one around is prevented seeing the stage? In society, in
a crowd, we need les convenances; they help us to keep our natures
in check; they make the world a fit place to live in. When we
are exposed to the brutality of ill-mannered people we learn how
uncomfortable the world would be if there were no etiquette.
The best book of etiquette should bear the motto, "Do unto
others as ye would that others should do unto you."
Foreigners say that decorum in public is not a peculiarity of

brought to the guillo

tine in 1797 and later on, and that there is a guillotine called public opinion which may behead thera some day. Americans can do everything well; why cannot they learn to behave decently in public places? Why should not an American gentleman, while carefully learning the code of every European court, infuse into his correctness a certain fresh originality, a vivacity and wit, which the old civilizations have lost, and instead of being a dead copy of an English swell, have a flavor of his own? And why should not an American woman be lowvoiced, thoroughbred, quiet, polite, and well dressed, as well as original and beautiful?

English critics say that the American young man of fashion is too dead-and-alive, and the young woman too noisy. An American girl does too much as she pleases. She becomes the most pampered of wives or the most independent of spinsters. She can be author, artist, teacher, doctor, or lawyer, as she thinks fit, and she can everywhere be respected. But when she behaves outrageously in public places, making every one around her uncomfortable, she

must expect to be hissed; and if in Europe, she must know that her position will not be respected. American society is very patient; it tolerates eccentricity in woman, but it is getting impatient of loud talking at the opera, high hats and late comers, horsy girls, and women who dress like men, who at watering-places and by the sea show no knowledge of the etiquette of public places.

The habits of an American wateringplace vary with the situation. At the great crowded seaside places-Narragansett, Long Branch, etc.-it would seem as if some women lost all sense of its being a public place. The close juxtaposition makes a very hot-bed of gossip. Each young couple is watched as

they stroll off for a twilight walk; idlers have nothing to do but to talk of the busy ones; and it is amazing to see how much less men exploit their contempt of appearances at a watering-place than women do. It would seem as if some women lost their senses in a crowd; some interloper into the ranks of respectability becomes the companion daily and hourly of innocent, respectable, and unsuspecting ladies at a watering-place, and her manners can hardly be criticised as being worse than the general average. The wholesale violation of good manners and of etiquette is shocking, and the conduct of young Americans at a watering-place has been