Part 31 (1/2)
When driving in an open or close carriage or motor-car it is quite immaterial whether the owner occupies the right-hand or the left-hand seat. The seat she occupies depends upon which side she enters, as the lady driving with her should enter before her and should seat herself on the furthest seat.
A visitor should always enter the motor-car or carriage before the hostess.
When three ladies enter a motor-car or carriage the young unmarried lady should take the back seat and the two married ladies should occupy the front seat; this is a matter of courtesy on the part of a young lady due to married ladies and not strictly demanded by etiquette.
A husband should sit with his back to the horses, or by the side of the chauffeur in the case of a motor-car, when a lady is driving with his wife.
A gentleman should be the first to get out of a motor-car or carriage, with a view to a.s.sisting the ladies to do so.
As a rule the hostess should leave the carriage or car after her guest and not before her, unless it is more convenient to do otherwise.
When a lady is merely calling for an acquaintance to take her for a drive, she should not descend from her car or carriage for the purpose of allowing her to enter it before her.
In the afternoon young ladies may drive alone in the public thoroughfares, unaccompanied by married ladies. It is permissible for a young lady to drive alone in the Park or in the streets. A married lady can, as a matter of course, drive unaccompanied.
It would be unconventional were a lady to drive alone with a gentleman in his motor-car, unless he were nearly related to her, or unless she were engaged to be married to him.
It is usual for the owner of a carriage to sit with her face to the horses; when a married lady is driving with her she should sit beside her. When young ladies are driving with her in addition to the married lady they should sit with their backs to the horses.
When a lady is driving with her husband, and a young lady accompanies her, she should not offer the front seat to the young lady, but should retain it herself, and even should the offer be made, a young lady should not avail herself of it.
=Riding.=--As regards riding in town, the hours for practice in the Row are from 8 to 10 a.m. in summer and 9 to 11 a.m. in winter, for inexperienced riders and beginners; young ladies ride with a riding-master or with a riding-mistress, or with a relative, as the case may be.
The hours for riding in the Park range from 9.30 to 10.30 a.m.
It is thoroughly understood that a lady may ride in the Park alone--that is, unaccompanied or unattended--for the purpose of joining her friends.
It is argued, in these days of woman's emanc.i.p.ation, that no possible harm or annoyance can arise from the fact of a lady riding unattended, beyond the always possible chance of an accident.
Although great lat.i.tude is now allowed to young ladies with regard to riding alone, many parents still prefer that their daughters should be attended by their grooms.
Two ladies frequently ride together, unaccompanied by a gentleman and unattended by a groom.
CHAPTER x.x.xIII
BOWING
As regards the recognition of friends or acquaintances, it is the privilege of a lady to take the initiative, by being the first to bow. A gentleman should not raise his hat to a lady until she has accorded him this mark of recognition, although the act of bowing is a simultaneous action on the part of both lady and gentleman, as a lady would hardly bestow a bow upon a gentleman not prepared to return it.
The bow between intimate acquaintances takes the character, when given by a lady, of a familiar nod in place of a stiff bow.
=When a gentleman returns the bow= of a lady he should do so by distinctly taking his hat off and as quickly replacing it, not merely raising it slightly, as formerly, and if he is an intimate acquaintance or friend, he should act in a similar manner.
In France and on the Continent generally, the rule of bowing is reversed, and the gentleman is the first to bow to the lady, instead of the lady to the gentleman.