Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-05-25


TISs-PoLITENEss TO LADIES 1s STREET CARS.
The following questions have been selected
for answer this week:
should the gentleman precede or follow the lady in
passing down the aisle to a seat in church:
We have answered this question before, but
Will repeat our answer. Alta theater or concert
the gentleman necessarily precedes the lady,
because be knows, or is supposed to know,
where the seats are situated, and the way
thereto; at church the gentleman precedes the
lady because il used to be his province to open
the pew door. The gentleman in all such cases
Is the conductor, the guide; he leads in order
that he may clear away obstacles. in case of
crowd to obtain passage, to act always as pro-
teetor. To come behind is the duty of
servant.
What is the proper thing children to say in
both male and female.
There is no term that is applicable to both
sexes or that will do for either sex. If two
persons ask a child question at the same
moment breach of manners has occurred.
and one or the other should withdraw his or
her question. But it is not necessary for a
child always to say sir" or ma am:" in fact,
according to the rules of the best circles a
child should be taught to say. yes. uncle;''
no, aunt; yes papa" instead of yes. sir,
''no, ma'am." &C., and often plain yes or
mo may be used if the tone is respectful.
The Americans are accused of using ''sir" TO
excess, Its Over-frequent introduction in con-
yersation being thought vulgar.
THE HIGH HAT QUESTION.
What the rules in regard to wearing the hat, Is
II proper to wear n silk hat with sack coat.
With Americans great license prevails in
wearing the hat In England, on the contrary,
the rules are very strict, and certain modifca-
tiOns of them have been adopted by a few club
men here. According to the English dictum.
silk hat Chat is a high hat) should be worn
with frock coat, but never with a sack coat,
or jacket, as this article is designated by Eng
ishmen. The derby hat, as We call it. must be
worn only with a sack coat; but neither the
sack coat nor the derby hat is admissible
the promenade or in the city" these articles
being limited to the train or country A soft
hat should never be worn except when travel
ing or on sporting occasions 1t would be alb
surd TO follow the English strictly in wearing
the hat, but they are worth needing; and allow
ing for differences of climate. may be advan-
tageously followed in some instances. Let us
ct least not wear a silk hat with a sack coat.
cuffs!
No lady or gentleman should wear ANYTHING
but linen collars or cuffs. Celluloid collars are
about as vulgar as paper collars, which men so
much used a few years ago. Linen is the only
proper wear, and that should be white and i'm
maculately clean
VISITING IN THE COUNTRY,
i am invited in the country for a few days How
TOM GS would be proper to stay under such an nv"
Not more than three or at the utmost four
days. visitor to a country house should al
ways remember that other visitors may be ex-
pected at a definite day, and therefore should
not postpone departure beyond the allotted
time.
Are white spotted linen shirts preferable sum
mer wear in the country
Fancy colored linen shirts have no advantage
over shirts of white linen, inasmuch as they
soil just easily. Colored wooden shirts of
fine texture are appropriate for boating. yacht
ing, pedestrian excursions, picnics, &c. Hence,
for all occasions when white linen is not used
they form suitable substitute. But decorated
linen is neither useful nor tasteful, however
fashionable it may be.
My friend from Baltimore always calls her overshoes
gums" Is this r1ghE
And in other places overshoes are commonly
called rubbers or India rubbers, which is about
as bad Call these articles .'Overshoes"
There Is no necessity of designating the mate
rial OF which an article Of the kind is made.
OUR NATIONAL HABIT.
We have received not few letters comment
ing upon the almost universal masculine habit
of splitting. One correspondent has favored US
with an account of an experience in New
York horse car, which We wish all the tobacco
chewers and spitters in the country would pro,
fit thereby.
There were five Of them, three on the oppo-
site OF the car and two on my side. All were
Puncomfortably near, and each man was indus
triously occupied in decorating the floor of the
vehicle with discharges or saliva. Three were
tobacco chewers, and their copiOus coffee
colored expectorations soon made unsavory
pools at their feet. The other two discharged
white saliva which was only little less
copious and nauseating than the other variety
So persistent and so jealous were these five
men in this occupation that it looked as if they
might have been hired to sit there and spit at
much an hour.
My cheeks tingled at first with Indignation
but presently the whole thing began to impress
me as amusing. Were not these men simply
exercising their natural privilege of expecto-
rating where and much as they pleased?
They paid their fare. and a car is public
vehicle in which everybody is good as any,
body else; and what is the floor anyway but
something to tread upon and spit upon? Their
reply to any protest might have made would
have been advice theoretically expressed to the
effect that If didn't like their doings might
get out and walk or hire coach. To tell them
that they were making the car floor very nasty
and that everybody who came in would have to
tread III the filth; that womens skirts would
fall into it, that the right their fares gave them
was to travel in the car and not to soil il at
their pleasure-to have told them all this would
have excited their Amusement and their ire
The right to spit was to them as natural as the
right to breathe; they had never doubted il
and had never heard it questioned and yet
my "tAO NV pcOpIc VI the low
est class. They were dressed tolerably
well, and considered themselves, no
doubt, respectable citizens. But how did
these respectable citizens abide in their own
housesl Did they cover the floors of the
Passages, the stairways, the dining-room the
parlor with stains that the most insensibie
would scarcely regard as ornamental? Did
they and their wives and their daughters
always sit down with their feet in pool of
tobacco juice2 And then did they spit all day
long persistently and energetically as thew
were doing on this occasion? / darednot think
of their homes, or follow them in their voca-
tons-to see and hear them for a duration of
ten minutes was more than enough.
Il am afraid that the thought Of man "a a
splitter as a chewer of tobacco, as a being cease
lessly ejecting unsayory streams from his
mouth, Is fatal to not few visions Of the race
In apprehension how like a gOd-that is
when he seiZes upon his tobacco pouch. In
action how like an angel-that is when he
squirts his tobacco juice over your newly
polished boots.
I'm truth, vile habits like tobacco chewing
and splitting kill not only virtue in those who
indulge in them, but In those who are COM
PEELED 20 witness them.
This habit is altogether American mot
merely the habit of tobacco chewing but the
habit among men who do not chew tobacco of
eeaselessly splitting. The climate is the cause,
some say. But American women do not spit
more than the women Of other countries and
climate he n: