The weekly herald. [volume] (Cleveland, Tenn.) 1876-1888, 1878-02-07
Etiquette Of Knocks and Pronunciation.

Etiquette OF hnOcks and pronunciation.
"By the way, you are aware, / sup
pose, that England, next to Germany,
is the most formal country in Europe!'
"More so than Spain?"
eyes. At least more so than Spain i:
at present. Etiquette pervades every
thing; and it is by the observance OF
otherwise, i'm its smallest details, that
the Englishmen form their opinion OF
strangers. As for instance, in writing
to another, there are various recognized
ways of signing yourself. To super
ior or high official you must say: Il
am very respectfully your obedient
servant In writing on business, you
are Yours truly To even an acquain-
tance you are, Faithfully yours, while
to friend, you are, Sincerely yours.
Again, an Englishman always knows
the rank of any one who knocks or
rings at his street door by the manner
of his doing it. A postman gives a
loud rap, followed by light one, which
means that there is letter In the door
box. If he wishes to speak to anyone,
he adds single pull at the bell. A
tradesman's assistant gives single rap
and pull at the bell. A servant does
not rap, but pulls the left hand or
servants bell. 4 lady gives three or
four light raps, and pulls the right
hand bell. A gentleman does the same,
except that his raps are louder. When
carriage containing some person of
rank calls, the flunky gives series of
laundering raps that may be heard a
mile. And so on"
| assured the doctor that although /
had general idea of front door eti
quette, had no notion that it was re-
duced to so fine point.
eyes, it is. And, moreover, an Eng
lishman will form an unfavOrable esti-
mate of you if you do not understand
these details. There's the same rigidi-
ty in other directions. You must ad-
dress an Archbishop or a Duke as
Your Grace You must know exactly
how to address letter, whether to His
Grace or The Right Honorable, or
The Honorable, or Mr.. So-and-So, or
'SO-ahd-So, Esq Every person of
certain rank requires certain address,
and every person of every other rank
requires different address, as well as a
different manner of subscribing your
self at the close of the letter. You will,
for instance, address a tradesman as
Mr.. JONES' if you have occasion to
write to him, while literary and other
gentlemen, without rank, you will adj
dress with the addition of Esq
In speaking of Ireland, the Doctor
once or twice made use of the word
"Keltic." Later, in referring to the
title of well-knOwn book, he called it
"Ekke Homo"
"That's the English way of doing it,"
said the Doctor, in reply to my applica-
ton for information. "They have
great many peculiarities. Trait is pro-
nounced tray; issue, by Mr.. Gladstone
and many others, is issOo. Derbyis Oar
By, clerk is clark, Berkley, Barkley, and
so on. have a rather good joke on an
Englishman who is a prominent poll
tician, and purist in language. In
conversation in which he was denOunc-
ing the vicious pronunciation of Amer
leans, asked him what is the standard |
dictionary in use in England. He
answered that it is the Imperial l
said that of course it differs entirely
from any American dictionary. He
said that it most certainly does, because
the American pronunciation is vicious
and intolerable. | asked him to bring
a copy of the Imperial He brought
one down from the library; and then |
asked him to be kind enough to read the
title page. He did so, and elected the,
to him, most novel and startling infor-
nation that the Imperial dictionary is
the work of one Noah Webster. In
other words, it is Webster's Dictionary |
worked over in two volumes, and cut
down somewhat from the unabridged
edition."