Democratic Sentinel, Volume 8, Number 50, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 January 1885 — Making a Bow. [ARTICLE]

Making a Bow.

In public, the bow is the proper mode of salutation, also, under certain circumstances, in private; and, according to circumstances, it should be familiar, cordial, respectful, or formal. An inclination of the head or a gesture with the hand or cane suffices between men, except when one would be specially deferential to age or position; but in saluting a lady, the hat should be removed. A very common mode of doing this in New York, at present, particularly by the younger men, is to jerk the hat off and sling it cm as hastily as possible. As haste is incompatible with grace, and as there is an bld pantomimic law that “every picture must be held” for a longer or shorter time, the jerk-and-sling manner of removing the hat, in salutation, is not to be commended. The empressement a man puts into his salutations is graduated by circumstances, the most deferential manner being to carry the hat down the full length of the arm, keeping it there until the person saluted has passed. If a man stops to speak to a lady in the street he should remain uncovered, unless the conversation should be protracted, which it is sure not to be, if either of the party knows and cares to observe the proprieties. A well-bred man, meeting a lady in a public place, though she is a near relative —wife, mother, or sister—and, though he may have parted from her but half an hour before, will salute her as deferentially as he would salute a mere acquaintance. ' The passers-by are ignorant of the relationship, and to them his deferential manner says: “She is a lady.”— The Mentor, by Alfred Ayres#