An Idea of French Etiquette

It is hard to understand here, however, just how the French hostess will be able to insist that “all young people shall join energetically in every dance.”  

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This immigration museum tells the story of families who immigrated to Manhattan.

Here is an idea of French etiquette which will delight every hostess in America: This year, sitting out, never a formally recognized practice at French parties, but occasionally winked at, will not be countenanced at all. Fashion has decreed, and hostesses will insist, that all the young people shall join energetically in every dance.

It is hard to understand here, however, just how the French hostess will be able to insist that “all young people shall join energetically in every dance.” It is a secret our hostesses would be glad to learn. They would have applied the methods, if they had known them, long ago to the young men who will not dance, and who oblige the young women who delight in the art of Terpsichore to remain wall-flowers.

It recalls that story of Frank Stockton, trying to drag Prof. John Fiske home on Storytellers’ Night at the Author’s Club, as told in one of the recent numbers of THE TIME'S SATURDAY REVIEW. “Isn't there some way which I can drag him forcefully away and still be polite?” quoth Mr. Stockton. Is there any way in which any hostess can drag and obdurate young man upon the ballroom floor and still be polite? — The New York Times, 1902

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