uthorise a future bowing acquaintance.

Ladies, as a rule, are not too ready to bow to those whom they have
merely conversed with in a casual way. In the first place, they are not
quite certain of being remembered, and nothing is more disconcerting and
disagreeable than to bow to a person who does not return it through
forgetfulness of the one who has given it, or through shortsightedness,
or through actual intention. Short-sighted people are always offending
in the matter of not bowing, and almost every third person,
comparatively speaking, complains of being more or less short-sighted;
thus it behoves ladies to discover for themselves the strength and
length of sight possessed by their new acquaintances, or the chances are
that their bow may never be returned, or they may continue to labour
under the impression that they have received a cut direct; thus many
pleasant acquaintances are lost through this misapprehension, and many
erroneous impressions created.

* * * * *

=A bowing acquaintance= is a difficult and tiresome one to maintain for
any length of time, when opportunities do not arise for increasing it.
The irksomeness of keeping it up is principally experienced by persons
meeting day after day in the Park or on public promenades, riding,
driving, or walking, more especially when it is tacitly understood that
the acquaintance should not develop into a further acquaintance.

It would be considered discourteous to discontinue a bowing acquaintance
which has once been commenced.

To know a gentleman by sight through having frequently seen him at balls
and parties, does not give a lady the right to bow to him, even though
she may have stood beside him for some twenty minutes or so on a crowded
staircase, and may have received some slight civility from him.

A lady who has received a little service from a stranger would gladly
acknowledge it at any subsequent meeting by a pleasant bow, but as
bowing to a gentleman argues an acquaintance with him, and as in such
cases as these an acquaintance does not exist, etiquette provides no
compromise in the matter. Therefore, if a young lady takes her own line,
and rather than appear ungracious bows to a gentleman who has not been
introduced to her either directly or indirectly, it is a breach of
etiquette on her part; and as to do an unconventional thing is not
desirable, the innumerable little services which ladies receive in
general soci