Etiquette of “Inviting Him In”

It is rather late, but the folks are still up. Should she invite him into the house or say good night to him at the door? Should he ask permission to go Into the house with her? Should she ask him to call at some other time?

An Easy Problem

"May She Invite Him Into the House?" asks an advertisement for the Book of Etiquette; and explains the illustration thus: "They have just returned from a dance. It is rather late, but the folks are still up. Should she invite him into the house or say good night to him at the door? Should he ask permission to go Into the house with her? Should she ask him to call at some other time?" One answer crowds upon another's heels, so fast they follow. 

First, we shouldn't take seriously the laws of etiquette laid down by anybody who, speaking of the not-yet-retired parents, says "the folks are still up." What sort of girl has "folks"? Dear, dear! Not to say, Fie, fie! Second, if it's the kind of dance now current the folks wouldn't be still up; they'd be up already. And as to what she should do, no book ever published can help her.

The questions are all local Issues, depending on her and him. Our solution is that she should ask him in to breakfast.— New York World, 1922

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