The times., 1899-03-05

last new thing with an avldty which woult
indicate that they never saw anything o
the kind before.
The difficulty in writing works OF this
| KIND IS chiefly that one addresses such q
| widely varied public. There are some peo-
pie who buy such books to be told that
| they should not eat with their knives OF
serve soup for breakfast; and there are
some who have got considerably beyond
| that stage of wisdom.
The author of the present work is writ
ing for people who already know that they
should be punctual at dinners and refrain
from wearing evening dress in the morn
! ing She occupies herself with matters OF
more subtle significance
The book is called Etiquette for Ameri-
| cans" because it is argued that in other
| countries children are trained from child
! hood to understand social usages. while in
| this country they are not. The author also
| considers that some differences exist be-
| tween the social customs of England and
! OF this country, and explains these a some
| length. For small book, this volume is
| quite comprehensive. II deals with forms
| of Introduction. the etiquette of formal
| calls, of invitations, of dinner and lun-
| cheon- giving, of weddings, and of funerals.
| of letter. writing, of the chaperon, and OF
many other subjects. including the proper
| behavior of bachelors and unmarried wo-
men, and the proper way of using tele-
| phone.
In some of her explanations the author
is trife over-careful-at least that will be
| the opinion of most of her readers. Ii is
| hardly necessary, for example, to explain
| that an elderly lady should not use the ex-
preston put up kick because, in the
| first place, the elderly lady who reads this
| book of etiquette would never know what
| the expression meant. 1t should also be
unnecessary to explain that one should not
| use the telephone in inviting guests to a
| formal dinner; because a person sufficient
ly anxious about etiquette to hunt for a
| rule on the subject would Immediately dis
cover that note was the proper thing, and
would never dream of taking any other
course than that which must be right, be-
cause the book said so
An interesting hint as to the exigencies
OF modern society is given in one sentence
of the discourse on chaperons. The author
remarks that there would be less need OF
this institution If men did not drink. The
good American mother of unsocial ante
cedents Will have queer visions when she
reads that sentence; for in the society of
her youthful days man who took a young
girl to theatre, concert or dance and al
lowed himself to become tipsy while in
her company would not have a second op-
portuhity 10 take her anywhere. II Is doubt
ful If the average American mother of the
middle class would know what to do in
such an emergency very much better than
her daughter would, and it is quite possible
that the daughtfr you'd more successful
ly control the situationi
On the whole, this book is as useful as
most of its kind, and considerably more
useful than some which have been inflicted
on bewildered American parvenus. 1t
is safe to say that those who buy it and
follow its directions will not make very
many blunders, or, if they do. the mistakes
will be of kind which nothing in the
shape of book can prevent. Chicago:
Herbert S. Stone & Co. s1.25.)