The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-04-22
ETIQUETTE.
Ono Rule FOrbids Men to Give Women
6eats Between Certain Hours.

Ono Rule FOrbids Men to Give Women
6eatS Between Certain Hours.
A woman who has travelled up and down
between the Bridge and Harlem every
week day since the subway was opened,
using the express trains only, has formu-
lated a code OF subway seat etiquette which
her friends are studying with interest and
amusement.
/. It is not considered good form for a man
to offer a seat to a woman in a subway ex-
press train. The young woman has come
to this conclusion after months Of close
observation. The men on whose acts
she bases her opinion include some more or
less conspicuous in the social, political,
professional and business annals OF the
town, men who are extensively clad, look
well fed and able bodied, men. in short,
who show no indication whatever Of physi-
cal exhaustion.
Repeatedly said the woman. II nave
got in at the Bridge to find almost every
seat occupied by men from the Wall Street
district, each fortified with a newspaper,
and on one occasion I was the only pas
senger standing while fifteen men-I
counted them-seven on one side, eight
on the other, occupied seats on either side
OF that end Of the car.
1T was that circumstance which set me
to keeping tabs on the code Of manners
~praotised by men in the subway trains, and
these are some Of the rules of etiquette
practised by them which I have worked
out:
"Unless a woman is very old and decrepit
OF is carrying a baby. don't bulge.
"No matter II dozens OF men are sitting
and, two women standing, don't bulge. 1t
takes only about Ave minutes TO cover the
distance between the Bridge and Fourteenth
street, and the chances are about even that
the, women who are standing will get out
there or that some OF the seated passengers
will get out and thus create vacant seats.
And the crowd Of women who pour in at
Fourteenth street will be sure TO get seats
at Forty-second street II they don't leave
the cars at that point, and six minutes at
most covers the distance TO the Grand Central
Station .
II actually heard a young mar reasoning
the! matter out after that fashion when
taken to task by a woman, " explained the
formulator Of the subway code OF manners.
Another Of the rules Ia this:
Don't discriminate between a pretty and
a plain woman, and in order TO avoid tempta-
ton keep your eyes fixed on a newspaper.
b dL0 ~ ~ UhN ~ mig oub
4 and S in the afternoon we'll dressed men
are most In evidence in the subway express
traine, and it Is the exception when a man
occupying a seat during thoee hours raises
his eyes from his newspaper when a woman
stands near him. Every man OF them is
likely to scan passengers as they enter the
car. then drop his eyes quickly as the stan
dees approach and keep them dropped.
at e different in the local trains and in
the express trains earisr and later in the
dav, when the cars are iamrhad to the guard
rails with men and women, many Of whom
are we'll acquainted with physical toll
AT such times the subway code ID a little
more liberal in the matter OF giving seats
to women.
.other rules in the code Of subway ETH
quette are:
OCCUPY a whole seat and refuse TO move
alonR 10 make room for one more TO sit.
when entering a car sit down In the first
vacant seat even II a woman lie directly be-
hind you or at your side.
IF you doubt the correctness Of this
code lust travel up. and down town for one
month or less on a subway express train
at the hours | have named and keep your
ewes OPEN" is what the woman tells doubt
ing listeners.