Frost's Laws and By-Laws of American Society: A condensed but thorough treatise on etiquette and its usages in America, containing plain and reliable directions for deportment in every situation in life.Frost, S. Annie (Sarah Annie)
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Frost's Laws and By-Laws of American Society: A condensed but thorough treatise on etiquette and its usages in America, containing plain and reliable directions for deportment in every situation in life.
Frost, S. Annie (Sarah Annie)
Etiquette -- United States
At a dinner party, an evening company, a ball, or like occasions,
it is customary, on coming away, to give a trifle, the gentleman
to the waiter who hands him his hat, etc., the lady to the
attendant in the dressing-room; but you are not called upon to
remember every servant in attendance. There is a story told of an
old English gentleman, rich enough to be above the suggestion of
poverty, and notoriously liberal enough to be above the imputation
of meanness, who, being at a dinner party, was presented by one
servant with his hat. To this man he gave a shilling. Another
advanced, and helped him into his coat, and to him the old
gentleman also gave a shilling. A third gave him his cane, and
received in exchange a shilling; but when a fourth approached,
bearing his gloves, the old gentleman gazed upon him for a moment,
and then said, quietly: "You may keep them, my good man; it'll be
cheaper for me than to receive them," and then walked out. This
was, however, an abuse of advantage on the part of the servants,
which, if repeated, others would do well to rebuke in a similar
manner.
An English writer on this subject gives some hints that would be
equally conducive to regularity and comfort if adopted in this
country, saying:
"There is no question but that we should seek to perform all our
duties without hope of recompense; and yet, as regards our
treatment of servants, we should be especially careful that, in
endeavoring to make their bodily comfort and mental improvement an
object of consideration, we do not allow ourselves to dwell upon
the hope of gratitude or affection from them in return. Many have
done so, and having, with that view, been tempted to accord unwise
indulgences and to overlook serious faults, they have found that,
far from gaining the love of their servants, they have incurred
their contempt; and when they have perceived that their favors,
unappreciated, have led but to new encroachments, they have
hardened their hearts, and rushed into an opposite extreme. Then
they have considered their servants as mere machines, from which
labor must be extorted by all available means.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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