The Complete Bachelor
Manners for Men
By the Author of the "As Seen by Him" Papers
With Index
New York D. Appleton and Company
1896
COPYRIGHT, 1896, BY D. APPLETON AND COMPANY.
PREFACE.
I suppose a book of this character needs some excuse. The world is full of volumes written on etiquette, and, in adding another to the number, my plea for filling the want long felt may seem ridiculous. But I have an excellent reason, and that is, that in all treatises of this character I have found the bachelor sadly neglected.
For many years, while conducting the query or "agony department" in Vogue, I received letters from all parts of the United States asking for information on certain details of etiquette which seem to have been overlooked by the compilers or writers of etiquette manuals. My correspondents always wanted these questions answered from the New York standpoint. All this I have endeavored to do in this volume. I have devoted a chapter to sports. In this I have made no attempt to give the rules of the various pastimes therein enumerated. I have simply jotted down some points which I hope may be of use to the outsider.
In the chapter on dancing I have taken the Patriarchs' Ball in New York as my standard of subscription entertainments of this character. I have also written about cotillons as they are conducted in New York. I have endeavored to be plain and lucid. I only desired that this book should be a help to my reader in any dilemma of social import, and if I shall have proved of assistance, I shall feel that my mission has been accomplished, and that I have reached the goal of my ambition.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER PAGE I. THE BACHELOR IN PUBLIC 1 II. HOW A BACHELOR SHOULD DRESS 10 III. THE BACHELOR'S TOILET 17 IV. THE CARE OF A BACHELOR'S CLOTHES 24 V. INTRODUCTIONS, INVITATIONS, AND CALLS 41 VI. CARDS 49 VII. THE DINER-OUT 54 VIII. A CODE OF TABLE MANNERS 62 IX. THE CITY BACHELOR AS HOST 74 X. THE COUNTRY HOUSE 85 XI. A BACHELOR'S SERVANTS 94 XII. THE DANCE 102 XIII. THE COTILLON 112 XIV. A BACHELOR'S LETTERS 119 XV. THE BACHELOR'S CLUB 126 XVI. THE SPORTING BACHELOR 136 XVII. A BACHELOR'S TRAVELS AT HOME AND ABROAD 160 XVIII. THE ENGAGED BACHELOR 169 XIX. THE BACHELOR'S WEDDING 172 XX. FUNERALS 193
THE COMPLETE BACHELOR.