Gent’s Travel Etiquette of 1901

A gentleman should dress modestly and avoid display. A dark or light-colored wool suit, linen shirt, overcoat, soft felt or Derby hat, gloves and an umbrella are the essentials. His traveling case should contain plenty of clean linen, socks, toilet articles, etc…

Gentlemen’s Dress in Traveling

A gentleman should dress modestly and avoid display. A dark or light-colored wool suit, linen shirt, overcoat, soft felt or Derby hat, gloves and an umbrella are the essentials. His traveling case should contain plenty of clean linen, socks, toilet articles, etc…

The trunk should always be marked plainly with the owner’s initials and address. A gentleman will never quarrel with the employes of the road, no matter how annoying their conduct may be.

Courtesy Upon Leaving a Hotel

Notice should be given at the desk of the hotel a few hours previous to one’s departure for some other point. This will enable the clerk to have bill ready, baggage brought to the door and such other matters attended to as may be necessary. It is quite the polite thing to say a few pleasant words of farewell to the proprietor or clerk as the case may warrant, thus leaving with him a good impression and a desire that you come again.

Miscellaneous Hints in Traveling

He must remember that an ordinary acquaintance ends with the day’s journey.

He can offer his paper to one sitting in the same seat with himself. He will behave at a hotel table in precisely the same quiet fashion that he would at a friend's house, or his own home.

He must be cautious how loudly he talks and not recount his family history in his sleeping berth, or room in a hotel, for the partitions and walls of such places are proverbially thin.– Annie Randall White, 1901

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