The Vintage Reader

From Vogue's Book of Etiquette, by Millicent Fenwick, copyright 1948:

WHAT CHILDREN UNDER TEN YEARS OLD SHOULD LEARN

1. To say "How do you do?" and "Good-bye"; and, almost more important, to look at the one they are shaking hands with.


2. To bow (for boys) and to curtsey (for girls), whenever they say, "How do you do?" or, "Good-bye," to adults.


3. To say, "Yes, thank you" and "No, Mummy" and "Yes, Mrs. Smith"; not just "Yes" and "No."


4. To say, "Thank you for a very nice afternoon," or, "Thank you, I had a lovely time," when they say good-bye to their hostess.


5. Not to interrupt older people.


6. To wait at doorways until older people have gone through. Boys should also learn to let girls precede them.


7. To take hats off in the house or when talking to older people; this, of course, for boys.


8. To answer when they are spoken to.


9. To eat neatly, without dawdling, and without argument. (See also "Rules for Children" in the chapter, "Table Manners.") [Eek! There are MORE of them? -- ed.]


10. To be scrupulously polite always to nurses, maids, waiters--to anyone who receives wages in return for service. The kind of rudeness which should never be tolerated is that which refers to the fact that these people are employed.

Labels: etiquette