Frost's Laws and By-laws of American Society: A Condensed But Thorough Treatise on Etiquette and Its Usages in America, Containing Plain and Reliable Directions for Deportment in Every Situation in Life |
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accept acquaintance allow amusement attention avoid awkward Backgammon bad taste ball Baron von Schmidt Beau Brummell Bound in boards breach of etiquette breeding bride Burlesque caller carriage ceremony church cloth back Comic companion Containing conversation courtesy customary dance desire dinner door drawing-room dress engaged Engravings enter escort etiquette requires friends funeral Games gentleman gilt side give gloves groomsmen guests hand horse host or hostess hour ill-bred introduced invitation JEROME HAYES kind lady's leave Letters of introduction Lord Chesterfield manners meet morning Morning dress occasion offer Paper covers parlor Parlor Magic partner party perfect person play pleasure polite possible present Price remark rude rules of etiquette salutation seat servants society speak stand strangers street Tableaux Vivants tion tomary unless visiting card visitor vulgar wait waiter walk well-bred words write
Popular passages
Page 40 - There must, in the first place, be knowledge, there must be materials; — in the second place, there must be a command of words; — in the third place, there must be imagination, to place things in such views as they are not commonly seen in; — and in the fourth place, there must be presence of mind, and a resolution that is not to be overcome by failures; this last is an essential requisite; for want of it many people do not excel in conversation. Now / want it; I throw up the game upon losing...
Page 12 - A friend of yours and mine has very justly defined good breeding to be the result of much good sense, some good nature, and a little self-denial for the sake of others, and with a view to obtain the same indulgence from them.
Page 15 - True politeness is the outward visible sign of those inward spiritual graces called modesty, unselfishness, generosity. The manners of a gentleman are the index of his soul. His speech is innocent, because his life is pure ; his thoughts are direct, because his actions are upright ; his bearing is gentle, because his blood, and his impulses, and his training, are gentle also. A true gentleman is entirely free from every kind of pretense.
Page 168 - Washington, and as she was said to be so grand a lady we thought we must put on our best bibs and bands. So we dressed ourselves in our most elegant ruffles and silks, and were introduced to her ladyship. And don't you think!
Page 28 - It would seem that good manners were originally the expression of submission from the weaker to the stronger. In a rude state of society every salutation is to this day an act of worship. Hence the commonest acts, phrases and signs of courtesy with which we are now familiar, date from those earlier stages when the strong hand ruled and the inferior demonstrated his allegiance by studied servility. Let us take, for example, the words ' sir ' and
Page 29 - We take off our hats on visiting an acquaintance. We bow on being introduced to strangers. We rise when visitors enter our drawing-room. We wave our hand to our friend as he passes the window or drives away from our door. The Oriental, in like manner, leaves his shoes on the threshold when he pays a visit. The natives of the Tonga Islands kiss the soles of a chieftain's feet. The Siberian peasant grovels in the dust before a Russian noble. Each of these acts has a primary, a historical significance....
Page 86 - For ennui is a growth of English root, Though nameless in our language ! — we retort The fact for words, and let the French translate That awful yawn which sleep cannot abate.
Page 145 - ... elevating ? then we must ourselves be what we would have our children to be, remembering the golden -maxim, that good manners, like charity, must begin at home. " Good manners are an immense social force. We should, therefore, spare no pains to teach our children what to do, and what to avoid doing, in their pathway through life.
Page 48 - Conversation is a reflex of character. The pretentious, the illiterate, the impatient, the envious, will as inevitably betray their idiosyncrasies as the modest, the even-tempered, and the generous. Strive as we may, we cannot be always acting.
Page 48 - LET your conversation be adapted as skillfully as may be to your company. Some men make a point of talking commonplaces to all ladies alike, as if a woman could only be a trifler. Others, on the contrary, seem to forget in what respects the education of a lady differs from that of a gentleman, and commit the opposite error of conversing on topics with which ladies are seldom acquainted. A woman of sense has as much right to be annoyed by the one, as a lady of ordinary education by the other. You...