When Tech and Old Etiquette Intersect

Today's invitations arrive through text messages, email, social media, or digital RSVP platforms instead of wax-sealed envelopes. Yet one simple courtesy remains just as important: respond.

Your Digital RSVP Is Older and More Important Than You Think

When was the last time you received a dinner invitation by text or email ? 

Now, when was the last time you actually replied?

Long before text messages, dinner invitations were handwritten and delivered by hand. Hosts expected a response—not because they were trying to be formal, but because they needed to know how many guests to prepare for.

The word etiquette itself comes from the French word for "label" or "ticket." One popular story traces it to the Palace of Versailles, where signs, called étiquettes, helped direct guests and establish expectations. Over time, the word became associated with the rules that helped society function smoothly.

Although our invitations have changed, the purpose behind them hasn't.

Today's invitations arrive through text messages, email, social media, or digital RSVP platforms instead of wax-sealed envelopes. Yet one simple courtesy remains just as important: respond.

A quick "Yes, I'd love to come" or "Thank you, but I can't make it" helps your host plan food, seating, and the overall experience for everyone attending.

A "Maybe" may seem harmless, but it often leaves a host waiting, guessing, and unable to finalize their plans.

Etiquette has never been about being old-fashioned or overly formal. It's about making other people feel respected and considered.

Technology will continue to evolve. Good manners don't.

The next time your phone buzzes with an invitation, remember: an RSVP isn't just a button to click—it's a small act of courtesy that has connected hosts and guests for centuries.

 

Meet our newest contributor, Eileen Copeland. Eileen is the founder of Southern California Etiquette™, a modern etiquette and social refinement platform which explores dining culture, hosting, presentation, and contemporary social behavior. A native Southern Californian, Eileen’s background includes executive and personal 

assisting, real estate, wellness, modeling, beauty, and luxury client services. Married for over 15 years, Eileen is a mother of two and grandmother of two, whose broad experiences, including living internationally for nearly a decade, helped shape her appreciation for culture, hospitality, and refined living. She shares life with her husband, her mini Goldendoodle, Teddy, and Luna, her sphynx cat, while continuing her etiquette studies under mentor Maura Graber of The RSVP Institute of Etiquette. You can reach her at Southern California Etiquette.

🍽️Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J. Graber of The RSVP Institute of Etiquette, is the Site Editor of the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia

Floral Etiquette for the Gilded Age 400

The fashion in flowers varies less with the season than can be said of almost anything else. In the vegetable line, for example, there are certain vegetables obtainable only in certain seasons. Fish and game are also governed by the time of year, but all kinds of flowers can be bought at all seasons, and as those that are offered for sale are nearly always hot-house grown the price of flowers does not vary from winter to summer nearly as much as one would suppose who is not in the habit of buying. Thus a certain code of floral laws, or what may be called a code of floral etiquette exists which is followed all the year round without regard to season. 

What the Leading Florist of the Four Hundred Says–

Roses are the Favorites–

Beautiful Presents for Debutantes, Wives and Girls in Their Teens

A 2nd Debut Article

Correspondence of The Mercury– The most beautiful flowers in the world are grown in New York. California has a greater abundance of blooms, and Paris and London have each their specialties. But New York excels them all in the greatest beauty of the greater number of flowers. In New York, even in the coldest weather, it is not unusual to find violets whose outspread petals would extend over the size of a silver dollar, and American beauty roses are frequently seen as large as a big orange. 

The fashion in flowers varies less with the season than can be said of almost anything else. In the vegetable line, for example, there are certain vegetables obtainable only in certain seasons. Fish and game are also governed by the time of year, but all kinds of flowers can be bought at all seasons, and as those that are offered for sale are nearly always hot-house grown the price of flowers does not vary from winter to summer nearly as much as one would suppose who is not in the habit of buying. Thus a certain code of floral laws, or what may be called a code of floral etiquette exists which is followed all the year round without regard to season. 

For the debutante the favorite bouquet is made all of orchids—white orchids being the preferred ones. The size for a debutante's bouquet is about fourteen inches across and is made in conventional bouquet fashion. The cost is about $12.00. B ut, of course, a beautiful and popular young girl receives many bouquets, so there is always a struggle for something a little novel and sufficiently original that it can not be duplicated. Many varieties of the orchid bouquet, therefore, must be found. A young man who is, as you would say, “rather sweet” upon a young woman, and who wants to send her something which will catch her eye and please her, will say to his florist: “Can you send Miss A. a handsome bouquet, which shall be a little—or —different from er -anything else, don’t you know?” Then his florist will suggest a bouquet all of very rare white orchids, with white lilies on one side. When it is done, the young man drops in to see it, and perhaps he orders finishing touches, which bring the bill up to $50.00 for this one bouquet. 

The matron who sends a bouquet to a debutante, chooses colored orchids. They may be pink or purple or variegated, but the entire bouquet is after the conventional order. The debutante, if she is at all popular, has half a hundred bouquets, but you may be sure that she has her eye upon one which she fancies more than any of the others, and by and by she will pick it up and carry it for the rest of the evening to the exclusion of the others. It is always the bouquet of white orchids and white lilies which is chosen. 

To pass to a more sombre subject and to another use to which these same flowers are devoted, for funerals, the palm is the accepted odering, although a much greater latitude is allowed at funerals than formerly. At Jay Gould's funeral there was a greater variety than at any social gathering of the season. Mrs. August Belmont had, likewise, many exquisite floral pieces. The Rothschilds are in the habit of cabling over orders for floral pieces, and, indeed, it is not unusual to receive half a dozen cable orders for any large New York event, especially a funeral. While the palm is the accepted tribute for a funeral, there is a floral piece known as the “mat,” which is as good form as anything that can be sent. 

This consists of many great bunches of flowers just as they are brought out of the vases of cool room. They are dropped in armfuls and are fastened to the mat foundation wherever they happen to lie, so that the whole is an exquisitely beautiful bit of extravagance, which, when floral beauty is considered, well repays tbe buyer. 

When a man orders a bouquet for his wife or a box of flowers it is considered the prettiest idea for him to select violets, as these have clinging associations of poetry, love, constancy and all the things that ought to belong to married life. A woman in ordering flowers for her husband will ask that something be sent suitable for a buttonniere. This varies a little with the season but is sure to be a chrysanthemum as long as chrysanthemums last. 

Flowers for old people and for young girls are nearly always cut roses. They seem to appeal especially to these two classes. Old people choose them because they are sweet smelling, and because old people do not take as kindly to fashionable floral innovations as young society people do. Girls in their “teens” like cut roses because they are poetical, and because illusions to growing maidenhood are usually couched in terms portraying the opening of the rose. It is rather a new idea with the season, almost a fad in fact, to send pots of growing plants to young men in place of birthday or New Year's gifts. Indeed, the pot ot growing plants forms in itself a gift worthy of being sent to any one. 

Rubber plants and all kinds of hardy foliage plants are selected because they are easier to care for than a majority of plants. For home entertainments, where a very good effect is desired in small space, it is the most fashionable idea to cover one side of the wall entirely with flowers of only one variety, and if possible to introduce light behind them. This has been done repeatedly at Mrs. Whitney’s annual balls, and the result has been good that the idea has become an established one and is a fashion in itself. For the coming out of the debutante or for a wedding or a christening the effect should be bright—particularly bright—as is the case if pink carnations, yellow chrysanthemums or bright roses are used. But for ordinary social gatherings it is prettier to subdue the tone somewhat and trim with ivy, or if it be in winter, with mistletoe and holly. 

A few weeks ago I massed holly on one side ot a ballroom and the effect was so beautiful that all the guests were talking about it. The idea was afterward repeated at the Patriarchs’ Ball, but was done too sparingly and was, therefore, not a success. A great deal of money is necessary for anything of this kind, though it may be said that the people who order such work done are so rich that the $2000. or $3000. necessary for such adornment seems nothing at all. For a christening, lilies are almost always chosen. In the spring, it is lilies ot the valley. In the fall, callas are used and later come the Easter lilies. Just a touch of color is introduced in the way of a gaily colored ribbon or a bright basket, so that it shall be plainly evident that the flowers are intended for a happy occasion and not for a funeral. 

In sending flowers to an invalid it is considered the best form —and best form is sure to be the truest politeness to send something which shall seem to be of special interest to the invalid. Not two dozen roses all exactly alike, nor twenty lilies, nor fifty violets, but dashes of many different kinds of flowers. It is good taste to put in the invalid’s box a very white and very rare orchid, some mignonette, an extraordinary rose and so on, until a really fine collection is obtained. 

In the way of standing orders queer things prevail. A young man who has just become engaged will order two dozen roses sent daily to his betrothed. A young man whose sweetheart is going upon a journey will request that we keep track of her movements and will make us promise to see that she receives a box of carnations or some flower that will keep on a journey, two or three times a week as long as she is upon her tour. Standing orders for actresses are usually for big flowers that can be used with good effect upon the stage. 

In trimming state-rooms for those about to depart on European steamers it is the latest idea to use vases and ornamental pots and jars as far as possible, because those can be preserved during the trip after the flowers are cast overboard. A mass of smilax or ivy drawn across one side of a state-room like a portiere and then “stuffed" out of the porthole, gives a beautifully artistic effect which is the “fad” with outgoing tourists, lots of picturesque roses and bouquets of sentimental forget-me-nots are the flowers suitable for the occasion. With regard to a floral alphabet there is little absolutely set down in rules. The law varies with the woman. 

A young girl will take a fancy for lilies of the valley. She wears them on all occasions, has them painted upon her fan and embroidered upon her gown. To her they mean everything pure and lovely. They constitute her “alphabet of love,” so to speak. And, of course, her admirers know her taste and choose the tiny white flowers to bear their unspoken messages. As a rule, however, the heart of the society maiden is touched by mammon, so that flowers which represent money represent also love. As a pert little maiden remarked in front of one of my windows: “Carnations and love will do for some girls: but I have educated my best boy up to orchids.”

Many orders are left which the etiquette of my business will not permit me to fulfill. For an example, take the case of a man who dropped in here last week and left a ten-dollar bill upon my counter. “You may send Miss B., of No. 1000 Fifth avenue, a box of pansies. And—er —well—never mind the card, you know. Just send them anonymously.” Now Miss H’s mother is one of our patrons and Miss H. herself is a school girl of fifteen. So I delayed fulfilling the order until her father happened in one day, and then I told him about the man who wished me to send his daughter flowers. “Do not send them!” he thundered. “Flowers to my daughter! At her age! Impossible! Preposterous!” I did not send Miss H. the flowers, and when her elderly admirer happens in again he will be the richer by a ten-dollar bill. As a rule, though, floral orders are for the expression of pure, dignified sentiment. And into no other business does so little of the immoral ever creep.” – Charles Thorley, 1893

🍽️Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J. Graber of The RSVP Institute of Etiquette, is the Site Editor of the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia

1920’s Black American Table Manners

Perfect Table Manners—A Formal Dinner: One should sit erect at the table, with feet near his chair. The hands should be in one's lap or on a level with the table. It is extremely bad form to bend forward over our plate to any great distance, or to place the elbows on the table. A man should partially unfold his napkin and place it over the left knee; a woman unfolds her napkin slightly more and places it in her lap, over her gloves if she wears them. 

CORRECT TABLE MANNERS know no color…

Not less important than propriety in dress is a knowledge of what is and is not permissible at the table. It is a remarkable fact that many well-bred people are extremely deficient in their manners at table. This is usually the result of lack of early training or carelessness. Nothing will stamp a man or woman so quickly as “ill-bred” as improper behavior when eating. 

To eat gracefully is an art that few of us ever acquire - to commit as few blunders as possible and to avoid unpardonable actions should be our chief ambition. There is but one safe way to accomplish the desired result and that is to be just as careful when dining at home with one's family as at a dinner or banquet. It is extremely difficult to overcome in a moment habits that have been formed through months of carelessness at home.

One should sit erect at the table, with feet near his chair. The hands should be in one's lap or on a level with the table. It is extremely bad form to bend forward over our plate to any great distance, or to place the elbows on the table. A man should partially unfold his napkin and place it over the left knee; a woman unfolds her napkin slightly more and places it in her lap, over her gloves if she wears them. 

At a public dinner at the close of the meal, the napkin is left beside the plate; it is not necessary to fold it. However, when dining with friends and it is possible that your stay may be continued for several meals, it is a good plan to observe the host and hostess. If they fold their napkin in anticipation of using same at the next meal, it is well to follow suit and imitate their example.

It is scarcely necessary to state that the knife is never, under any circumstances, to be used to convey food to one's mouth. The old days of sword-swallowing feats are over; the knife is to be used for cutting alone. 

When cutting meat, the knife is held firmly in the right hand, the thumb and index finger slightly down on to the blade; the fork is held in a similar manner in the left hand. The fork is then transferred to the right hand and is used to convey the food to the mouth. 

When not in use, the knife and fork should be placed on the plate; they should also be so placed at the conclusion of the meal. 

The fork is the most useful of all table utensils and should be used whenever possible. It is never proper to use a spoon for salads, vegetables, etc… The perfectly-set table will also provide forks for all desserts, even to ice creams and sherbets.

Coffees and tea will be served in cups, accompanied by a spoon. The spoon is used in ascertaining whether or not the beverage is of a temperature which permits immediate drinking and whether it is sufficiently sweetened. Thereafter one should drink direct from the cup. 

If a fork is not provided for a food, you have no other alternative but to use your fingers.

A special salad fork is usually provided with all salads; if not, an ordinary dessert fork may be used.

When arriving at the table one should watch his hostess for the signal to be seated. The same signal will doubtless be given by host or hostess when leaving. 

It is not necessary to push your chair back against the table as you leave. 

You are at liberty to converse with the guest either on your right or left, but it is not good form to converse across table or to any one at some distance away, except in exceptional cases.— From Edward S. Green’s, “The National Capital Code of Etiquette,” 1920

🍽️Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J. Graber of The RSVP Institute of Etiquette, is the Site Editor of the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia

Early Black-American Etiquette

“George wonders who Harry’s charming companion may be. Illustrating correct manners of saluting on the street.” - From “The National Capital Code of Etiquette,” 1920

Before Emily Post

Many etiquette books were written over the centuries, but everyone references Emily Post’s wildly successful early 20th century book, “Etiquette in Society, in Business, in Politics, and at Home.” It was so successful, it became one of the most recognized etiquette books in America. But what fascinated me was discovering the African-American communities were already producing etiquette manuals before Emily Post became nationally known.

Growing up I had never heard about books such as, “The Colored Girl Beautiful” from 1916 and “The National Capital Code of Etiquette” from 1920. They focused on presentation, conduct, dress, conversation, and social mobility within Black society.

 While mainstream etiquette books of the Gilded Age and post-Gilded Age often centered wealthy white society—the Astors, Vanderbilts, debutante culture, and formal entertaining—Black Americans were simultaneously cultivating their own systems of refinement, often under entirely different social conditions.

The difference was not refinement itself, but access and visibility. For white upper-class society, etiquette was often associated with status, leisure, and social ranking. For many African-Americans in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, etiquette and presentation could also function as dignity, protection, education, and advancement in a society still shaped by segregation and exclusion.

By 1900, Black literacy had risen to over 50%, helping fuel the growth of social organizations, etiquette education, churches, debutante traditions, and formal community gatherings (U.S. Census Bureau, 1900).Refinement was not absent from Black communities—it was simply less documented and less centered in mainstream historical narratives.

And honestly? That changes the conversation.

Refinement was never exclusive. It was always there.

📖 Who Said It First?

Before Emily Post’s famous etiquette book was published and she became a household name, African-American communities already had their own etiquette and refinement guides in circulation.

Hackley’s 1916 book and Green’s 1920 etiquette code both predate Emily Post’s first edition, which was first published in July 1922.

African-American Etiquette Texts

“The Colored Girl Beautiful,” from 1916, and “Etiquette in Society, in Business, in Politics” from 1020, focused on presentation, conduct, grooming, and dignity within Black society. The National Capital Code of Etiquette (1920) emphasized manners, Conversation, and the Home. It was in 1922 that Emily Post standardized many of these social expectations, introductions, and social presentation by way of another American book on social etiquette for mainstream society. 

Research and historical references sourced from:

• The National Capital Code of Etiquette (1920) by

Edward S. Green

• The Colored Girl Beautiful (1916) by E. Azalia Hackley

• Emily Post, Etiquette in Society, in Business, in Politics,

and at Home (1922)

• Internet Archive

• Project Gutenberg

• Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture

                                                      

Meet our newest contributor, Eileen Copeland. Eileen is the founder of Southern California Etiquette™, a modern etiquette and social refinement platform which explores dining culture, hosting, presentation, and contemporary social behavior. A native Southern Californian, Eileen’s background includes executive and personal 

assisting, real estate, wellness, modeling, beauty, and luxury client services. Married for over 15 years, Eileen is a mother of two and grandmother of two, whose broad experiences, including living internationally for nearly a decade, helped shape her appreciation for culture, hospitality, and refined living. She shares life with her husband, her mini Goldendoodle, Teddy, and Luna, her sphynx cat, while continuing her etiquette studies under mentor Maura Graber of The RSVP Institute of Etiquette. You can reach her at Southern California Etiquette.

🍽️Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J. Graber of The RSVP Institute of Etiquette, is the Site Editor of the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia

Gilded Age Etiquette of DC Officials

Grover Cleveland was the U.S. President in 1894. It was his second term of the Presidency. Women new to Washington D.C. not only would have looked to elder statesmen for etiquette advice, but to the wife of the President, as well. - Above, public domain image of Drawing of President Grover Cleveland’s and Frances Folsom’s, June 1886 wedding, at the White House, Washington, D.C.

 Addressing the President — 

The Washington Official Etiquette

A certain etiquette is to be observed in addressing the President, either in person or by letter, which many strangers to Washington seem not to know. The proper title is "Mr. President," and all such titles or words as "Your Honor," "Your Excellency," or "President Cleveland," are considered as in extremely bad taste. Massachusetts calls its Governor "Your Excellency," and the Lieutenant Governor "Your Honor," but the President of the United States is simply "the President." In letters to him the address, "The President, Executive Mansion, Washington, D. C.," is all that is necessary, and more is improper. 

As to the members of the cabinets, in private conversation, you address them as "Mr. Secretary of the Treasury," "Mr. Attorney-General," etc. But in writing the proper form is, for instance "Hon. Thomas Bayard, Secretary of State, Washington, D. C." In writing to a senator you say in a formal epistle, "Mr. Senator," and you address the outside of your letter, for instance the "Hon. John A. Logan, Senate Chamber, Washington, D. C." 

Members of Congress are addressed by their last names with Mr. But if one of them has ever had a decent military title I beg you, if you want any favors, to give him the full benefit of the title. By a decent military title I mean anything above the rank of major. In case of doubt always aim higher than you think instead of lower. You may call a Congressman who has been a Colonel a General and flatter him, but if you call him Captain he will scowl at you and never forgive you. No class of people are more easily flattered than those whom the world regards as great men. — The Toledo Blade, 1885

🍽️Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J. Graber of The RSVP Institute of Etiquette, is the Site Editor of the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia

Etiquette and “Presenting Purses”

“Presenting purses” was a philanthropic tradition, particularly popular in the 19th and early 20th centuries with British Royalty. Children or ladies in society handed decorative purses full of money to the Queen or the Princess who was the Patron of the cause or charity. These purses contained donations collected by the public to fund universities, hospitals, churches, and other charity organizations. The custom died out after WWII.— Above, a photograph of a photo in the book, “The Royal Family” showing twin sisters, Alison and Joanna Cook, who have presented purses in aid of the Newnham College Cambridge building fund, to Queen Mary (holding the 2 purses in her hand) on August 8, 1938. Photo credit, “London Press Photos, Fleet St, London”

Shyness is never so much in evidence as when a number of ladies and children file along in front of Royalty, each presenting a purse. 

Very often the undertaking is rendered difficult by an awkward arrangement which places the Royal personages so near the front of the platform that there is only a narrow passage left for the ladies and children to make their reverence, and there is, but too frequently, a disagreeable little flight of steps to be carefully avoided in the midst of all one’s flurry. All these circumstances combine to rob presenters of purses of their ordinary share of self-possession. 

There are few things more contagious than flurry. It becomes quite catching in circumstances like these. Children become dreadfully nervous and approach royalty with shaking limbs and chattering teeth. 

The well-bred woman may feel a little discomposed, but nothing in her manner will be permitted to betray it. Self-command, even in trifles of this kind, is one of the first essentials of good breeding. Any one who feels that she cannot trust her self-control would do well to keep out of any undertaking of the kind. She is pretty sure to make herself ridiculous, and, worse still, she makes those about her very nervous.

I remember, at the wedding of a lady of distinguished parentage, seeing a group of children whom I sincerely pitied. They were in the charge of a lady who was so pitiably nervous that she looked literally affrighted. 

The children, who were to scatter flowers or something of that sort, caught her stage-fright from her, and it was no wonder that they did. Her eyes were almost starting from her head, and she shook like a leaf, while the expression of extreme alarm on her face was in itself enough to upset the children. I shall never forget them. 

They knocked up against her, against each other, against the sides and doors of the pew, and behaved more like badly managed marionettes than real children. They almost rattled, in the convulsive movements of their nervousness, and formed a spectacle that excited the compassion of the congregation and yet was so ludicrous that no one who saw them could help smiling. 

Our Royalties are always extremely kind and considerate and show much tact in putting people at their ease on all such occasions as are apt to prove trying. They make everything as pleasant as possible. I have seen a great number of presentations of purses and have always admired the courtesy which kept Royal faces grave when a ripple of laughter ran through the assembly at some one’s awkwardness or evident terror. 

Of course, there have been times when a Royal lady has laughed outright at some display of shyness on the part of a child; as on one occasion when a small boy in kilts, having been with the greatest difficulty induced to approach Queen Alexandra (then Princess of Wales), threw the purse at her, turned his back on her, and dashed back to his friends, in whose garments he tried hard to bury himself.

On another occasion, when Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll (then Marchioness of Lorne), was receiving purses, a baby girl, looking very much frightened, scurried past her Royal Highness, forgetting to give the purse, and when some one stopped her to get it from her, she set up a loud howl of anguish. Princess Louise laughed merrily with every one else.

It was on the same day that this charming Princess won the hearts of all assembled by kissing one or two of the prettiest of the children who presented purses. She did it very prettily. — From “Etiquette for Every Day” by Eliza Lanvin, 1900

🍽️Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J. Graber of The RSVP Institute of Etiquette, is the Site Editor of the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia

Gilded Age Brides Want No Kiss

Is it possible that many Gilded Age brides and Dollar Princesses were married off into unions they did not actually desire, which left them not wanting to be kissed? Or was there a genuine wish to keep their kisses private due to a Victorian prudishness?— The most well-known of the “Dollar Princesses,” Consuelo Vanderbilt became the Duchess of Marlborough when she married the Duke of Marlborough in 1895. She was said to have cried unhappily throughout the wedding ceremony.

Kissing Not in Fashion for Wedding Ceremonies 

Kissing the bride at a wedding is no longer fashionable, so the clergyman who officiates at society weddings in future will miss the labial perquisite. Indeed, kissing in public is no longer permissible in good society, and a reserved and refined womanhood has been long in rebellion against this usage without having abolished it until quite recently. This public may be her own invited and welcomed guests, but all tho same she objects to being kissed in their presence, and very properly. Indeed, few brides are willing to have their veils raised and thrown backward until they have left the church. This also is in excellent taste. —Social Etiquette in The Banner, 1888

🍽️Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J. Graber of The RSVP Institute of Etiquette, is the Site Editor of the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia

A Variety of Etiquette Across the Globe

The Māori culture is an integral part of New Zealand's identity. – Above, Māori women in traditional dress. — Photo courtesy of Elizabeth Soos, Auersmont Etiquette 

Curiosities of Behavior

It may be said, on general principles, that a person who does unto others as he would be done by, cannot diverge very far from the essentials of true politeness. Unobtrusiveness, self-denial, moderation of voice and cleanliness of habit, in a word, self-respect combined with consideration for others, these are the qualities which constitute politeness. A poor farmer’s boy may possess them, while a man who has rank, wealth and every sort of social pretension may wholly lack them.

But in every country there is an arbitrary code of politeness which is called etiquette, and its rules are often purely formal and meaningless, changing from year to year like the fashions. Even primitive tribes and indigenous people have a system of etiquette, and what is polite in this restricted sense, varies curiously in many different parts of the world.

As everybody knows, kissing is indulged in to a much greater extent among European nations than in our own country or England. The fact of two men kissing each other, which would pass without comment in many places abroad, would cause considerable amusement if practiced in the streets of New York or London. But in St. Petersburg or Paris the case is different.

Some of our readers will recollect Du Maurier's amusing sketch, which appeared in Punch a few years since. It depicted an Englishman awaiting the arrival of a French friend, who has crossed the channel in order to pay him a visit.

The Englishman hears the Frenchman's knock at the hall door, and not desiring to be favored with the osculatory embraces of the excitable foreigner, runs into his dressing-room, from whence he emerges, razor in hand, with his face plentifully covered with lather as M. Alphouse rushes up the stairs, half a dozen steps at a time. But M. Alphouse is not to be done, and seizing his friend round the neck, he, to his entire satisfaction, impresses an ardent kiss upon his bald and undefended pate! 

The custom of kissing in Russia is, however, never in such full swing as during the Fetes Paques, which answer to our Eastertide. Then every man, woman and child, from the highest to the lowest, as he meets his neighbor, utters the sentence “Kristos voskres” (He is risen), and the kiss of peace is given and taken in remembrance of the great event which at that period of the year all Christendom is engaged in celebrating.

The etiquette of more primitive peoples, however, includes stranger customs than kissing. Nose-rubbing is a form of salutation affected by the natives of many indigenous lands, and amongst them New Zealand. In that country it forms, in fact, the preliminary to the tangi, one of the strangest, if not the strangest, of the many strange forms of etiquette to be found scattered over the globe. To welcome with a cheerful countenance seems natural to man, of whatever part of the world he may be a native. Black, white, brown, or yellow, his face lights up into a pleasant smile, or expands into a broad grin, as he greets his friend.

But here, at the other side of the world, the case is different, and when friend meets friend at a tangi — a ceremonial Māori funeral or wake — especially if their absence from each other has been at all of lengthened duration, it is the correct thing for them to plant themselves opposite each other on the ground, cover up their faces with the exception of one eye with their mats, and weep and howl and roar for more than an hour together.

As the tangi goes on, the performers encircle one another’s neck with their arms, and covering their heads beneath one garment, sob to their hearts’ content. The proceedings are only varied when food is served, when the wailing and groaning ceases as if by magic, and they fall-to upon the feast with a will, each striving to outdo tho other in jollity. The moment the viand have disappeared, the performers once more to all appearance wallow in the depths of hopeless agony.

Frequently, as a part of the practice, they each cut their flesh with sharp mussel-shells, until their bodies in every part are streaming with blood. There is morality in politeness, but the etiquette of civilized nations is occasionally as absurd and unaccountable as that of the indigenous people above mentioned. - Placer Herald, 1884

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