en:

"Be in the lobby of the Comedy Theater at 8.15. Order your motor
to come for you at 010 Fifth Avenue at 1 A.M."

On the evening of the theater party, Mrs. Toplofty herself stands in the
lobby to receive the guests. As soon as any who are to sit next to each
other have arrived, they are sent into the theater; each gives her (or
his) ticket to an usher and sits in the place alloted to her (or him). It
is well for the hostess to have a seat plan for her own use in case
thoughtless young people mix their tickets all up and hand them to an
usher in a bunch! And yet--if they do mix themselves to their own
satisfaction, she would better "leave them" than attempt to disturb a plan
that may have had more method in it than madness.

When the last young girl has arrived, Mrs. Toplofty goes into the theater
herself (she does not bother to wait for any boys), and in this one
instance she very likely sits in a stage box so as to "keep her eye on
them," and with her she has two or three of her own friends.

After the theater, big motor busses drive them all either to the house of
the hostess or to a hotel for supper and to dance. If they go to a hotel,
a small ballroom must be engaged and the dance is a private one; it would
be considered out of place to take a lot of very young people to a public
cabaret.

Carelessly chaperoned young girls are sometimes, it is true, seen in very
questionable places because some of the so-called dancing restaurants are
perfectly fit and proper for them to go to; many other places however, are
not, and for the sake of general appearances it is safer to make it a rule
that no very young girl should go anywhere after the theater except to a
private house or a private dance or ball.

Older people, on the other hand, very often go for a supper to one of the
cabarets for which New York is famous (or infamous?), or perhaps go to
watch a vaudeville performance at midnight, or dance, or do both together.

Others, if they are among the great majority of "quiet" people, go home
after the theater, especially if they have dined with their hostess (or
host) before the play.

=DON'T BE LATE=

When you are dining before going to the opera or theater you must arrive
on the stroke of the hour for which you are asked; it is one occasion when
it is inexcusable to be late.

In accepting an invitation for lunch or dinner after which you are going
to a game, or any sort of performance, you must not