In recognizing these rights of others, one must remember that each person’s own room is sacred to himself. It is inexcusably rude for one member of a family to enter the room of any other member without first knocking at the door and receiving permission to “come in.” Each human being should feel that he has one locality that belongs to him, where he can be alone unless he decrees otherwise. To further this end the wife should knock at her husband’s door before she enters his room, and the husband should show her the same consideration, while brothers and sisters should always give the warning tap, which is virtually a request for permission to enter, before opening the door that the occupant of the room has closed.
Americans are much criticized for their fondness for rocking chairs. Certainly there are many of us who should learn to use them less violently. The woman who rocks steadily back and forth while she is talking to her friends is lacking in the repose that is an essential element of charm. Equally bad habits are the snapping and unsnapping of a purse and twisting a handkerchief or a theater program into a roll. To hum below the breath when some one else is talking is extremely rude, and not less so when any two people are together.
For little girls, the courtesy of our grandmothers has been revived. It is certainly a charming mark of respect for them to show to older people.
A courtesy that should never be omitted is the asking of permission to open and read letters received while one is in conversation with others.
Children should be rigidly instructed not to ask for delicacies of food when they are visiting, otherwise they may become a nuisance.
The habit children often acquire at school, of sticking their lead pencils into their mouths to moisten them, is unhygienic and ugly, and should be broken up.
THE subject of this chapter is so large that we almost despair of doing more than touch on a few of the many points it should cover.
Perhaps it would be well to give first a few rules for that most public of places,—the street.
The question as to the etiquette of raising the hat is one that demands attention,—and yet the rules are simple.
A man always uncovers his head completely when he returns a woman’s bow. He does the same when he meets a man he knows walking with a woman, whether she be known to him or not. When a man is walking or driving with a woman and she bows to a man or woman she meets, her escort lifts his hat. On parting with a woman he bares his head. If he stand and talk with her, he should hold his hat in his hand unless she asks him to cover his head, or unless the day be cold,—in which case he says, “Will you pardon me if I put on my hat?” Then, when he leaves her, he again uncovers.