"attentions without intentions" to a young girl—that is, flirt with her. If When and How to Make Calls interested in her especially, he must ask for her father and mother also, in calling the house, or he may be so unlucky as to never find her "at home." If he wishes to take her to the theater or opera, he must include her other in the invitation, or he is likely to be refused. He has the privilege of asking a common acquaintance to introduce him to any lady, but the friend should be careful to ask the lady's permission.
A young man should not make long or late calls on ladies. A mother may properly ask any young man to accompany herself and her daughter to a public place. In that case, she provides the tickets and the carriage. The young man so honored may repay the compliment by sending flowers and taking a box of bonbons to his hostess. He should study graceful ways to pay his social debts, and not be willing to accept dinner, dance and other invitations without making proper return. He can entertain by giving theater parties and suppers; take ladies out in his automobile; pay his calls promptly and often, and make gifts of flowers, bonbons and popular books, to the mothers as well as the daughters. He should not propose to take any lady to a place where he would not wish his own mother or sister to be seen. If a girl to whom he is not engaged should be so foolish as to give him her photograph, or to write him a gushing letter, he will not show these to other men, nor allow them to speak of his women friends in public places. A man who through vanity permits a slur on a woman's name is a "cad" who is rebuked and dropped by other men, and women shrink from him in fear and loathing.
- There is no outward sign of true courtesy that does not rest on a deep moral foundation.
- —Goethe.
- There is no outward sign of true courtesy that does not rest on a deep moral foundation.
