kes his. Younger women usually shake the hand of the older; or they
both merely clasp hands, give them a dropping movement rather than a
shake, and let go.

=POLITE GREETINGS FROM YOUNGER TO OLDER=

It is the height of rudeness for young people not to go and shake hands
with an older lady of their acquaintance when they meet her away from
home, if she is a hostess to whose house they have often gone. It is not
at all necessary for either young women or young men to linger and enter
into a conversation, unless the older lady detains them, which she should
not do beyond the briefest minute.

Older ladies who are always dragging young men up to unprepossessing
partners, are studiously avoided and with reason; but otherwise it is
inexcusable for any youth to fail in this small exaction of polite
behavior. If a young man is talking with some one when an older lady
enters the room, he bows formally from where he is, as it would be rude to
leave a young girl standing alone while he went up to speak to Mrs.
Worldly or Mrs. Toplofty. But a young girl passing near an older lady can
easily stop for a moment, say "How do you do, Mrs. Jones!" and pass on.

People do not cross a room to speak to any one unless--to show politeness
to an acquaintance who is a stranger there; to speak to an intimate
friend; or to talk to some one about something in particular.

CHAPTER IV

SALUTATIONS OF COURTESY

=WHEN A GENTLEMAN TAKES OFF HIS HAT=

A gentleman takes off his hat and holds it in his hand when a lady enters
the elevator in which he is a passenger, but he puts it on again in the
corridor. A public corridor is like the street, but an elevator is
suggestive of a room, and a gentleman does not keep his hat on in the
presence of ladies in a house.

This is the rule in elevators in hotels, clubs and apartments. In office
buildings and stores the elevator is considered as public a place as the
corridor. What is more, the elevators in such business structures are
usually so crowded that the only room for a man's hat is on his head. But
even under these conditions a gentleman can reveal his innate respect for
women by not permitting himself to be crowded too near to them.

When a gentleman stops to speak to a lady of his acquaintance in the
street, he takes his hat off with his left hand, leaving his right free to
shake hands, or he takes it off with his right and transfers it to his
left. If he has a stick, he puts his stic