. If the time is afternoon, very likely she pours tea and when
everyone has been helped, she goes into another room. She does not stay
with them ever, but she is never very far away.

The chaperon (or a parent) should never go to bed until the last young
man has left the house. It is an unforgivable breach of decorum to allow a
young girl to sit up late at night with a young man--or a number of them.
On returning home from a party, she must not invite or allow a man to
"come in for a while." Even her fiance must bid her good night at the door
if the hour is late, and some one ought always to sit up, or get up, to
let her in. No young girl ought to let herself in with a latch-key.

In old-fashioned days no lady had a latch-key. And it is still fitting and
proper for a servant to open the door for her.

A young girl may not, even with her fiance, lunch in a road house without
a chaperon, or go on a journey that can by any possibility last over
night. To go out with him in a small sail-boat sounds harmless enough, but
might result in a questionable situation if they are becalmed, or if they
are left helpless in a sudden fog. The Maine coast, for example, is
particularly subject to fogs that often shut down without warning and no
one going out on the water can tell whether he will be able to get back
within a reasonable time or not. A man and a girl went out from Bar Harbor
and did not get back until next day. Everyone knew the fog had come in as
thick as pea-soup and that it was impossible to get home; but to the end
of time her reputation will suffer for the experience.

=A FEW PRECEPTS OF CONVENTION=

At a dinner party given for young people in a private house, a somewhat
older sister would be a sufficient chaperon. Or the young hostess' mother
after receiving the guests may, if she chooses, dine with her husband
elsewhere than in the dining-room, the parents' roof being supposedly
chaperonage enough.

In going to tea in a college man's room, or in a bachelor's apartment, the
proper chaperon should be a lady of fairly mature years. To see two or
three apparently young people going into a bachelor's quarters would be
open to criticism. There are many places which are unsuitable for young
girls to go to whether they are chaperoned or not. No well brought up
young girl should be allowed to go to supper at a cabaret until she is
married, or has passed the age when "very young" can be applied to her.

=CONVENTIONS T