Etiquette and Womanly Women

Loud talk and slang words are not for the ladylike girl, and although some people tolerate the loose manner some girls have, they do not admire it. Far more to be appreciated is the girl who openly avows that she likes nice clothes and is given over to many little feminine vanities, than the one who dresses so mannishly, and who imitates the walk of her brother, though she may be able to discuss the most abstruse subjects with an air of confident knowledge that her elders cannot even boast. – Four ladylike college girls in the early 1900’s.

The Womanly Woman

There is nothing more truly lovable than the woman who is genuinely womanly. There is a charm in her femininity that no acquired grace can lend. More especially in this age is the genuinely womanly woman admired, for girls seem to have a desire to be so manly, so loud, not only in mannerism, but in talk and dress, many choosing the sports of men in preference to the pastimes of women. The majority of men, I think, really prefer the quiet, lady-like girl with a soft, sweet voice, an affectionate disposition, and the girl who knows how to be a little lady, not only in her manners, but talk.

Loud talk and slang words are not for the ladylike girl, and although some people tolerate the loose manner some girls have, they do not admire it. Far more to be appreciated is the girl who openly avows that she likes nice clothes and is given over to many little feminine vanities, than the one who dresses so mannishly, and who imitates the walk of her brother, though she may be able to discuss the most abstruse subjects with an air of confident knowledge that her elders cannot even boast.

To be a ladylike woman does not mean that one need adopt fads and follies indiscriminately. The woman who can make her home bright and attractive, who can be the model hostess as well as wife and mother, who is well informed and able to talk intelligently, yet who is wise enough to realize that woman's privileges are preferable to woman’s right’s is the girl or woman we must all admire and the one fit to be taken to any honorable man's heart. - Mc Calls's Magazine, 1914

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