as would seem to indicate that your friend
cannot afford to make the present. On the other hand, never make a
present which you cannot afford to make. In that case the recipient, if
he or she knows anything of your circumstances, will think that you had
better kept it yourself.

GOVERNING OUR MOODS.

We should subdue our gloomy moods before we enter society. To look
pleasantly and to speak kindly is a duty we owe to others. Neither
should we afflict them with any dismal account of our health, state of
mind or outward circumstances. Nevertheless, if another makes us the
confidant of his woes, we should strive to appear sympathetic, and if
possible help him to be stronger under them. A lady who shows by act, or
expresses in plain, curt words, that the visit of another is unwelcome,
may perhaps pride herself upon being no hypocrite. But she is, in
reality, worse. She is grossly selfish. Courtesy requires her, for the
time being, to forget her own feelings, and remember those of her
visitor, and thus it is her duty to make that visitor happy while she
remains.

A LADY DRIVING WITH A GENTLEMAN.

When a lady offers to drive a gentleman in her phaeton, he should walk
to her house, if he accepts the invitation, unless, the distance being
great, she should propose to call for him. In that case he will be on
the watch, so as not to keep her waiting, and, if possible, meet her on
the way.

AN INVITATION CANNOT BE RECALLED.

An invitation, once given, cannot be recalled, even from the best
motives, without subjecting the one who recalls it to the charge of
being either ignorant or regardless of all conventional rules of
politeness. There is but one exception to this rule, and that is when
the invitation has been delivered to the wrong person.

AVOID TALKING OF PERSONALITIES.

Avoid speaking of your birth, your travels and of all personal matters,
to those who may misunderstand you, and consider it boasting. When
induced to speak of them, do not dwell too long upon them, and do not
speak boastfully.

ABOUT PERSONS' NAMES.

Do not speak of absent persons, who are not relatives or intimate
friends, by their Christian names or surnames, but always as Mr. ----,
or Mrs. ----, or Miss ----. Never name anyone by the first letter of his
name, as "Mr. C." Give a foreigner his name in full when speaking of
him.

SHUN GOSSIP AND TALE-BEARING.

Gossip and tale-bearing are always a personal confession either of
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