New French Etiquette Manuel of 1906

Women and children walking in Paris, at Tuileries Gardens, 4th June 1906 – Image source, Pinterest

Bits of Paris Etiquette

Manual Has Been Issued in France to Guide Both Men and Women

How one ought to behave in polite society is always an interesting topic, and even if we know all about it it is worth while to hear what the latest mentor has to say on this score. “The Etiquette of Politeness and the Usages of Modern Society in all the Circumstances of Life” is the ponderous title of a bulky volume issued in Paris on this entertaining subject.

As an index to the behavior of French women and French men it is significant to note that young wives are counseled to banish from their dwelling the “dangerous visitor,” giving him to understand that “you can never be anything more to him than a stranger.” Young men who think they look well on horseback should meditate this sage advice: “If you are not an experienced equestrian, do not accompany the ladies to hounds.”

Men who have attained a certain age are told that they may “embrace little girls on the fore-head before their confirmation. Up till that period it is a paternal caress, but after that it is wise to abstain.” Presumably after confirmation the little girls begin to develop a a preference for other than paternal caresses. One would have thought that in a country where men were so proverbially gallant it would not have been necessary to warn them that it is not “correct to stand with their back to the fire, leaning on the mantelpiece.”

But the counsel is there, and it is gravely added: “By so doing you deprive others of the comfort- ing heat which you monopolize.” “The husband,” we learn, “in speaking of his wife says: ‘My wife,’ but he must not say to her: ‘Is it not so, my wife?’ Neither must the wife address her husband in this fashion.” – Adin Argus, 1906

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