Gilded Age Girls Who Walk Badly

“…New York is filled with girls who walk badly.” – The $3.50 for 20 lessons in 1892 would be worth about $124.00 today. – The 1892 patent above is for a “dress shield or protector.”

Learning to Walk

According to an enthusiast on physical culture New York is filled with girls who walk badly. To get rid of the “plug, plug” of the heels the pupils are taken to the top of Murray Hill and made to toe down. They retrace in the stage and make the descent again and again. Price, $3.50 a term of twenty lessons. —New York World, 1892

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

Gilded Age Romance Advice

“A foreign husband is an expensive luxury, you know, for an American lady.” Ella Wheeler Wilcox 
– Public domain image of Agony Aunt, Ella Wheeler Wilcox 

American Men Good Enough for Her

I have never seen a foreign man who, in my most romantic or susceptible days, could have done more than amuse me. I cannot imagine loving any man but an American. A foreigner does very well to pick up a lady’s fan or kill time for her, like a pet parrot, by repeating his little stereotyped compliments, but the thorough, true, sensible American girl gives her heart to an American lover. Those who give them to foreigners usually live to regret it. A foreign husband is an expensive luxury, you know, for an American lady.—Mrs. Ella Wheeler Wilcox, 1892

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

How a Young Girl Should Behave

Manners and Modes: A young girl has the temerity to bring a chaperone to a dance — From “Punch” or the “London Charivari” Vol. 158, February 25th, 1920 ~ Chaperons were seen less often in society after World War I 

Etiquette for Girls

After a young girl has greeted her hostess, she ean, if accompanied by an escort, stand talking with him for a few moments while he introduces his friends. Her escort must always dance the first dance with her and take her out to supper. 

A girl who comes to a dance accompanied by a chaperon, which is considered the proper thing in very fashionable society, follows her protector to a seat and remains beside her until she is invited to dance. After this she need not return to her chaperon at the end of every dance if her program is happily filled, but may walk about with her escort, accept a glass of lemonade, or sit and talk with him until claimed for the next dance. 

It is the girl's place to stop dancing first, and she can, if she wishes, dance uninterruptedly through the entire number or cease waltzing at any time she pleases, and her partner should at once acquiesce.

No well-bred girl ever refuses a dance to one man and gives it to another. She can, however, plead fatigue and sit out the dance with some one if she prefers to do so. But she must not sit on the stairs or in secluded corners, or dance more than three or four times with the same man, or she will be criticized or gossiped about. 

When a man asks her for a dance she should reply. "With pleasure," or "Yes, I shall be delighted," or something of that sort, or it is permissible to say, "Thank you very mucir, but I am really too tired to dance this number."

It is etiquette for the masculine guest to ask his hostess for at least one dance, if she is a young woman; if not, be must ask her daughter, niece, or what- ever young girl the ball is given for. He must claim each partner immediately the music begins, and conduct her to a seat when the dance is over, and beg to be excused when he leaves her.

For all dances, whether ceremonious balls or the most informal of evening parties, the etiquette for the guests is the same. except that at the smaller affairs the hostess is considered a sufficient chaperon for all her young guests. – By Eleanor B. Clapp, San Francisco Call, 1905

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