nd the letter, which is
usually a form, will also notify him that his admission fee and yearly
dues are payable. The admission or entrance fee to a club is from one
hundred to two hundred dollars in the well-known New York organizations,
and the yearly dues are from seventy-five to one hundred dollars. These
must be paid at once by check. The rules of most clubs allow a
thirty-day limit. If you are so fortunate as to be admitted after the
date of the yearly meeting, you will only be liable for one half the
current yearly dues; otherwise you pay the entire amount.
It is now the duty of the sponsors to introduce their newly elected
candidate to the club. This is an easy matter. One of them will go with
you, sit in the general smoking or lounging room, and make you
acquainted with one or two of his friends. The responsibility is then
over.
Club etiquette is very simple. It is only the application of the usual
rules of courtesy observed in private life. The club is your home. You
should behave there as you would in your own house as host, and
consequently your conduct toward your fellow-members should be
characterized by the utmost consideration.
The average clubhouse has a large room on the ground or first floor
which is used for smoking, reading, the newspapers, and "living"
generally. On the floors above there are the dining rooms, the library,
and reading and card rooms. The billiard room occupies a special
quarter, according to the plan of the house.
A clever man said that there was but one rule of clubhouse etiquette
different from the general laws of manners, and that was to keep your
hat on. This is true, but then there are many others. Men do not take
off their hats on entering a club, and do not remove them in any room
except that in which they dine. All social clubs are more or less
"closed." Visitors are only allowed under certain restrictions. The
general rule is that a member may invite to the use of the club for a
period of ten consecutive days any one not a resident of the city, but
can have no more than one guest at a time. No stranger shall be
introduced a second time unless he shall have been absent from the city
three months. In some clubs a member may introduce as a visitor a
resident of the city, but he can have no more than one such guest at a
time. No person shall be introduced more than once in twelve months.
Other clubs are open to the admission of visitors at certain periods,
and others a
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