ABOUT SMOKING.

The old rule of good manners:  “A gentleman does not smoke in the presence of ladies,” is many times violated in these modern times.  There is a story of an elderly woman who, being asked if smoke was offensive to her, replied:  “I do not know.  No gentleman has ever smoked in my presence.”  The woman of today is more likely to answer “Oh, dear no!  I love the odor of a good cigar.”  The truth is the cigar has become such a constant and apparently necessary adjunct to a man that to banish it is in effect to banish the man.  And women prefer to endure the smoke rather than have the man absent himself.  There are very few cafes and restaurants where men do not conclude their repast with a good cigar, even when entertaining ladies.

[764 Mothers’ remedies]

Where Not to Smoke.—­Nevertheless, there are times and places when and where a man should not smoke.  When he is about to meet a lady he knows he removes his cigar before removing his hat and bowing.  If he wishes to join the lady, walking a short distance with her, he throws away his cigar before doing so.  He does not smoke, when driving with a lady, unless possibly in the country.  He should not smoke when walking with her—­but he often does, with her full consent and permission.  In fact, women, as has been said, are responsible for men’s lapses in the way of smoking.

A guest does not smoke in his host’s house unless especially invited to do so, by his host, not some younger member of the family or another visitor.

At a dinner party at which ladies are present, men do not smoke until the ladies have left the dining-room.

It is a bad form to smoke when anyone is singing, unless in those free-and-easy places of amusement where “everything goes.”

About Expectoration.—­No man should smoke, anywhere or at any time, who cannot smoke without using a cuspidor.  It is a practice so much worse than smoking, so thoroughly abominable in itself, that no man with any claim to good breeding or good manners permits himself to indulge in it.

In most homes, nowadays, men are permitted to smoke “all over the house.”  It is better, wherever possible, to let the man have a “den” where he may smoke with his friends.  The practice of smoking in bedrooms is reprehensible; the air one will breathe through the night should not be vitiated.

BACHELOR HOSPITALITY.

“A bachelor’s life is a splendid breakfast; a tolerably flat dinner; and a most miserable supper.”

Being a bachelor does not excuse a man from certain forms of hospitality.  Many “society men” live in apartments, at the present time, and may entertain the ladies who have favored them with invitations; in fact, it is expected that a man who has often been entertained will reciprocate in some fashion.