ow. If ever in
doubt what to wear, the best rule is to err on the side of informality.
Thus, if you are not sure whether to put on your dress suit or your
Tuxedo, wear the latter.

=FULL DRESS=

1. At the opera.
2. At an evening wedding.
3. At a dinner to which the invitations are worded in the third person.
4. At a ball, or formal evening entertainment.
5. At certain State functions on the Continent of Europe in broad daylight.

=TUXEDO=

1. At the theater.
2. At most dinners.
3. At informal parties.
4. Dining at home.
5. Dining in a restaurant.

=A CUTAWAY OR FROCK COAT WITH STRIPED TROUSERS=

1. At a noon or afternoon wedding.
2. On Sunday for church (in the city).
3. At any formal daytime function.
4. In England to business.
5. As usher at a wedding.
6. As pall-bearer.

=BUSINESS SUITS=

1. All informal daytime occasions.
2. Traveling.
3. The coat of a blue suit with white flannel or duck trousers for a
lunch, or to church, in the country.
4. A blue or black sack suit will do in place of a cutaway at a wedding,
but not if you are the groom or an usher.

=COUNTRY CLOTHES=

1. _Only_ in the country.

To wear odd tweed coats and flannel trousers in town is not only
inappropriate, but bad taste.

CHAPTER XXXV

THE KINDERGARTEN OF ETIQUETTE

In the houses of the well-to-do where the nursery is in charge of a woman
of refinement who is competent to teach little children proper behavior,
they are never allowed to come to table in the dining-room until they have
learned at least the elements of good manners. But whether in a big house
of this description, or in a small house where perhaps the mother alone
must be the teacher, children can scarcely be too young to be taught the
rudiments of etiquette, nor can the teaching be too patiently or too
conscientiously carried out.

Training a child is exactly like training a puppy; a little heedless
inattention and it is out if hand immediately; the great thing is not to
let it acquire bad habits that must afterward be broken. Any child can be
taught to be beautifully behaved with no effort greater than quiet
patience and perseverance, whereas to break bad habits once they are
acquired is a Herculean task.

=ELEMENTARY TABLE MANNERS=

Since a very little child can not hold a spoon properly, and as neatness
is the first requisite in table-manners, it should be allowed to hold its
spoon as it might take hold of a bar in front of