Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1889-06-19
GERMAN ETIQUETTE.
some or the Rules That Americans are
Forever Disregardlng.

| some OF tue Rules That Americans are
Forever Disregarding.
German etiquette is very minute.
| It does not stop with the ordinary
Jules for eating, drinking, calling and
receiving. 1t prescribes mazes of
rival details which would fill so many
at volumes that even the Germans
nave not had the courage to write
| ;hem. 1t directs a man what to say
lust before beginning to drink a glass
II beer and just before finishing it. It
;ells him the exact words he must use
, n insulting stranger. 1t graduates
nicely the depth of the bows that are
lue to the Privy Councillor, the Court
Councillor, the tutor, the Judge, the
;radesman, the barber and the restaur-
tteur. 1t explains why the clergyman
should bow first to the Herr Baron and
| asst to the Herr Banker. It describes
Just how a man must kiss Il woman's
| land in the drawingroom and just why
ae need not give her his seat in u
aorse-car. 1t even prescribes the circle
n which a man may waltz az a ball.
Perhaps the best criterion Of the
! minuteness OF German etiquette is the
title unwritten code on pocket man
| lers. German good form is shocked
| by the helter-sl1elter condition of the
American pocket. A well-bred Ger
nan never allows his keys and his jack
| Knife, his small change, his shoe-but-
:oner and his cigar-cutter to jingle
about loosely in his trousers pocket.
A naked cigar protruding from 4
| waist-coat pocket shocks the modesty
IF German good form much more
| than a dozen Or more Of Rubens'
'trapping Dutch ,goddesses. The
greatest otTensc against German pocket
manners is to carry small silver coins
DOSE in the pocket. A German Lieu
tenant may have only half a dollar to
his name, but he carries as big purse
rs if he owned all the notes OF the I'm
perial Reichsbank. In paying for five
cents worth Of beer he goes down into
ais trousers aui draws out his fabby
pocket-boo1 with dignity, thanking
Heaven he is a mannerly, high-bo
Prussian, and not a vulgar tradesmar
ike the American at his side, who has
Just slapped down on the table Il mess
Of gold silver, keys and manicure ap-
BOY is not even allowed to carry his
car fare without;l purse. The servant
girl, who earns but so a year, woulC
not carry the price OF a loaf Of black
bread through the street in her hand
Every reputable smoker in Germany
has his ''cigar-etuis.: He prepares tc
smoke b; emptying out all his three
cent cigars on the table before him
and laying the case aside. Then h,
draws Il little cigar clipper from an
other case, removes the tip Of the leas
otfensive-loolAing cigar. and drops tn
small bit Of tobacco into a tiny DO:
which he carries in his waistcoa
pocket. At the end Of each smoker
year he sends all these cigar tips to
charitable institution in his province
Two years ago the asylums in the littl
province of Brunswick received fou
hundred marks worth OF tobacco i
this wise. After slowing away tn
''orphan's share" Of the cigar, tn
smoker takes knife from its chamois
skin bag and finishes the Job which tn
clipper began. \ case containing
,igarette-holder and a leather match
safe are the last articles which tn
Hell-bred German about to smoke add
20 the collection Of small bags an
Eases on the table before him.
|. course, all this elaborate preparatio
J 20 smoke one three-cent cigar strike
The American tourist as trihe ride,
!Ous. A German, however, regards
as Indicative of the breeding Of tn
smoker. He looks upon the rough
and-ready manner in which an Anne,
ican carries his cigars, matches an
knife much as an American looks upo
man who travels without a tooth
brush and night-shirt.
The little code Of pocket manners
enforced just as tyrannically by Gel
man public opinion as other branche
Of German etiquette. Americans VIII
consider such minute matters all hos
md say so, are apt to be roughly CO.
rected or altogether abandoned
their more fastidious friends. Lik
the Inspector in The Moonstone,
German etiquette holds that there ar
no tritles, and any foreigner who hold
otherwise can not cut much of a1figur
in German society.-N. Y. Sun.
One Hundred Years Ago.