Page:Side talks with girls (1895).djvu/185

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
The Art of Travelling Easily
173

hotel. She may never have been in such places before, but instinct teaches her that the more quietly she is dressed and the more quiet is her behavior the more certain is she to impress strangers with the fact that she bears the hall mark of gentility.

ABOUT HER ACQUAINTANCES

I mean the acquaintances who, like weeds, spring up by the wayside. Some of my girls tell me about meeting pleasant men in cars, and ask if there is any reason why the acquaintance should not be kept up. Perhaps I am a little positive, but I do not think such acquaintance ought ever to begin. I know that very often courtesies are shown to young women who are travelling alone, courtesies that it is difficult to refuse, but it is usually well to refuse them, inasmuch as all the service required can be gotten from the porter, or is furnished by the car itself. I would suggest most positively that to a service offered, a girl should say a "thank you" that carries in its intonation a quiet hint that no further acquaintance is desired. I do not deny that many times men of good breeding and of honor are desirous of being kind to women who are strangers and alone. But the wolf in sheep's clothing is equally gentle in his manner, and few young women can distinguish