ence or
inquiring for a convalescent, when the question as to whether he will be
received is necessarily doubtful, a gentleman does not take off his coat
or gloves, but waits in the reception room with his hat in his hand. When
the servant returning says either "Will you come this way, please?" or
"Mrs. Town is not well enough to see any one, but Miss Alice will be down
in a moment," the visitor divests himself of his coat and gloves, which
the servant carries, as well as his hat, out to the front hall.

As said before, few men pay visits without first telephoning. But perhaps
two or three times during a winter a young man, when he is able to get
away from his office in time, will make a tea-time visit upon a hostess
who has often invited him to dinner or to her opera box. Under ordinary
circumstances, however, some woman member of his family leaves his card
for him after a dinner or a dance, or else it is not left at all.

A gentleman paying visits, always asks if the hostess is at home. If she
is, he leaves his hat and stick in the hall and also removes and leaves
his gloves--and rubbers should he be wearing them. If the hour is between
five and half-past, the hostess is inevitably at her tea-table, in the
library, to which, if he is at all well known to the servant at the door,
he is at once shown without being first asked to wait in the reception
room. A gentleman entering a room in which there are several people who
are strangers, shakes hands with his hostess and slightly bows to all the
others, whether he knows them personally or not. He, of course, shakes
hands with any who are friends, and with all men to whom he is introduced,
but with a lady only if she offers him her hand.

=HOW TO ENTER A DRAWING-ROOM=

To know how to enter a drawing-room is supposed to be one of the supreme
tests of good breeding. But there should be no more difficulty in entering
the drawing-room of Mrs. Worldly than in entering the sitting-room at
home. Perhaps the best instruction would be like that in learning to swim.
"Take plenty of time, don't struggle and don't splash about!" Good manners
socially are not unlike swimming--not the "crawl" or "overhand," but
smooth, tranquil swimming. (Quite probably where the expression "in the
swim" came from anyway!) Before actually entering a room, it is easiest to
pause long enough to see where the hostess is. Never start forward and
then try to find her as an afterthought. The place to paus