Rensselaer Republican, Volume 18, Number 35, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 May 1886 — Ungloved Hand-Shaking. [ARTICLE]

Ungloved Hand-Shaking.

The custom of withdrawing the glove in hand-shaking is now a thing of the past. It had its origin in the knight of the olden time taking off his iron gauptlet so as not to, hurt his lady’s hand, and l as gradually become an obsolete fashion,’ though one yet sees a gentleman who considers it only due a lady that he should give her his bare hand. A young lady told me that she incurred the displeasure of a provincial acquaintance because she merely bowed instead of .shaking hands with a group of girls, with some of whom she had but slight acquaintance, when entering a parlor at a country afternoon tea. They called it “putting on airs, ” when, in fact, it was their own ignorance of the social necessities of the occasion that was at fault. But the provincial young ladies evidently be heved in hand-shak-ing as part of the code of manners. Yet at this same gathering my friend said the young people did not seem to see any impoliteness in whispering or giggling in the room, or rudely,staring at any dress that differed from their own style. What a very trying ordeal, too, is the loud-voiced greeting, where your hand is held and inquiry made after your welfare and that of your family so as to be heard all over the room. 4 ’ * A mistake often made in social greetings is that of introducing a lady to a gentleman, which is the reverse of correct When the sex is the same, introduce the one you consider inferior in point of social position, or by reason of youth, to the superior or older. When introduced it is etiquetteTo bow, but not to shake bands, and it is optional with a lady toLrecogni/e the gentleman at the next meeting. 1 think I could easily tell a flirt if 1 saw her shake hands, for the method of that' character is to linger over every hand as if that particular hand came nearest her affections, In fact, there is much to be learned of human ratine in the methods of social gatherings. —Christian World. •” - 7