It is courteous of a governor or habitual member, on noticing a new member or a visitor, especially one who seems to be rather at a loss—­to go up and speak to him, but the latter must on no account be the one to speak first.  Certain New York and Boston clubs, as well as those of London, have earned a reputation for snobbishness because the members never speak to those they do not know.  Through no intent to be disagreeable, but just because it is not customary, New York people do not speak to those they do not know, and it does not occur to them that strangers feel slighted until they themselves are given the same medicine in London; or going elsewhere in America, they appreciate the courtesy and kindness of the South and West.

The fundamental rule for behavior in a club is the same as in the drawing-room of a private house.  In other words, heels have no place on furniture, ashes belong in ash-receivers, books should not be abused, and all evidence of exercising should be confined to the courts or courses and the locker room.  Many people who wouldn’t think of lolling around the house in unfit attire, come trooping into country clubs with their steaming faces, clammy shirts, and rumpled hair, giving too awful evidence of recent exertion, and present fitness for the bathtub.

=THE PERFECT CLUBMAN=

The perfect clubman is another word for the perfect gentleman.  He never allows himself to show irritability to any one, he makes it a point to be courteous to a new member or an old member’s guest.  He scrupulously observes the rules of the club, he discharges his card debts at the table, he pays his share always, with an instinctive horror of sponging, and lastly, he treats everyone with the same consideration which he expects—­and demands—­from them.

=THE INFORMAL CLUB=

The informal club is often more suggestive of a fraternity than a club, in that every member speaks to every other—­always.  In one of the best known of this type, the members are artists, authors, scientists, sportsmen and other thinkers and doers.  There is a long table set every day for lunch at which the members gather and talk, every one to every one else.  There is another dining-room where solitary members may sit by themselves or bring in outsiders if they care to.  None but members sit at the “round” table which isn’t “round” in the least!

The informal club is always a comparatively small one, but the method of electing members varies.  In some, it is customary to take the vote of the whole club, in others members are elected by the governors first, and then asked to join.  In this case no man may ask to have his name put up.  In others the conventional methods are followed.

=THE VISITORS IN A CLUB=

In every club in the United States a member is allowed to “introduce” a stranger (living at least fifty miles away) for a length of time varying with the by-laws of the club.  In some clubs guests may be put up for a day only, in others the privilege extends for two weeks or more.