Etiquette for Strangers on a Train

“I have done nothing unbecoming to a gentleman,” he declared before the court. “In the book of etiquette of 1922, I can prove that a gentleman can approach a lady and speak to her.” – Simply because it is in a book of etiquette, does not make it so. Etiquette books are published all of the time, with misinformation disguised as “the new etiquette.” In reality, too often someone is promoting relaxed standards, as opposed to actual etiquette which has evolved organically over time. – Photo source, Pinterest

YORK, England – Nov. 14. That is is not etiquette for a man to speak to an unknown lady in a train has just been formally declared by the magistrates of this city.

Felix Roberts, of Newcastle, had dinner in the smoking portion of a buffet and afterwards went into a non-smoking carriage, where Miss Monstaglio, of Whitley Bay, was sitting. 

He attempted to open up a conversation with her, but resenting this, she complained to the conductor, who asked Roberts to go back to the smoking section. But later in the journey, Roberts made a second attempt to make the lady's acquaintance and he was arrested.

“I have done nothing unbecoming to a gentleman,” he declared before the court. “In the book of etiquette of 1922, I can prove that a gentleman can approach a lady and speak to her.” But, despite the book of etiquette Roberts was heavily fined. – International News Service, 1922

Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia