Etiquette | Page 7

not
present a young man to "Mary." The young man can easily find out her name afterward.
=OTHER FORMS OF INTRODUCTION=
Other permissible forms of introduction are:
"Mrs. Jones, do you know Mrs. Norman?"
or,
"Mrs. Jones, you know Mrs. Robinson, don't you?" (on no account say "Do you not?"
Best Society always says "don't you?")
or,
"Mrs. Robinson, have you met Mrs. Jones?"
or,
"Mrs. Jones, do you know my mother?"
or,
"This is my daughter Ellen, Mrs. Jones."
These are all good form, whether gentlemen are introduced to ladies, ladies to ladies, or
gentlemen to gentlemen. In introducing a gentleman to a lady, you may ask Mr. Smith if
he has met Mrs. Jones, but you must not ask Mrs. Jones if she has met Mr. Smith!

=FORMS OF INTRODUCTIONS TO AVOID=
Do not say: "Mr. Jones, shake hands with Mr. Smith," or "Mrs. Jones, I want to make you
acquainted with Mrs. Smith." Never say: "make you acquainted with" and do not, in
introducing one person to another, call one of them "my friend." You can say "my aunt,"
or "my sister," or "my cousin"--but to pick out a particular person as "my friend" is not
only bad style but, unless you have only one friend, bad manners--as it implies Mrs.
Smith is "my friend" and you are a stranger.
You may very properly say to Mr. Smith "I want you to meet Mrs. Jones," but this is not
a form of introduction, nor is it to be said in Mrs. Jones' hearing. Upon leading Mr. Smith
up to Mrs. Jones, you say "Mrs. Jones may I present Mr. Smith" or "Mrs. Jones; Mr.
Smith." Under no circumstances whatsoever say "Mr. Smith meet Mrs. Jones," or "Mrs.
Jones meet Mr. Smith." Either wording is equally preposterous.
Do not repeat "Mrs. Jones? Mrs. Smith! Mrs. Smith? Mrs. Jones!" To say each name
once is quite enough.
Most people of good taste very much dislike being asked their names. To say "What is
your name?" is always abrupt and unflattering. If you want to know with whom you have
been talking, you can generally find a third person later and ask "Who was the lady with
the grey feather in her hat?" The next time you see her you can say "How do you do, Mrs.
----" (calling her by name).
=WHEN TO SHAKE HANDS=
When gentlemen are introduced to each other they always shake hands.
When a gentleman is introduced to a lady, she sometimes puts out her hand--especially if
he is some one she has long heard about from friends in common, but to an entire
stranger she generally merely bows her head slightly and says: "How do you do!" Strictly
speaking, it is always her place to offer her hand or not as she chooses, but if he puts out
his hand, it is rude on her part to ignore it. Nothing could be more ill-bred than to treat
curtly any overture made in spontaneous friendliness. No thoroughbred lady would ever
refuse to shake any hand that is honorable, not even the hand of a coal heaver at the risk
of her fresh white glove.
Those who have been drawn into a conversation do not usually shake hands on parting.
But there is no fixed rule. A lady sometimes shakes hands after talking with a casual
stranger; at other times she does not offer her hand on parting from one who has been
punctiliously presented to her. She may find the former sympathetic and the latter very
much the contrary.
Very few rules of etiquette are inelastic and none more so than the acceptance or
rejection of the strangers you meet.
There is a wide distance between rudeness and reserve. You can be courteously polite
and at the same time extremely aloof to a stranger who does not appeal to you, or you can

be welcomingly friendly to another whom you like on sight. Individual temperament has
also to be taken into consideration: one person is naturally austere, another genial. The
latter shakes hands far more often than the former. As already said, it is unforgivably
rude to refuse a proffered hand, but it is rarely necessary to offer your hand if you prefer
not to.
=WHAT TO SAY WHEN INTRODUCED=
Best Society has only one phrase in acknowledgment of an introduction: "How do you
do?" It literally accepts no other. When Mr. Bachelor says, "Mrs. Worldly, may I present
Mr. Struthers?" Mrs. Worldly says, "How do you do?" Struthers bows, and says nothing.
To sweetly echo "Mr. Struthers?" with a rising inflection on "--thers?" is not good form.
Saccharine chirpings should be classed with crooked little fingers, high hand-shaking and
other affectations. All affectations are bad form.
Persons of position do not say: "Charmed," or "Pleased to