Description
ETIQUETTE may be defined as the technique of the art of social life. For various and good reasons certain traditions have been handed down, just as they are in any other art, science, or department of life, and only very thoughtless persons could consider unworthy of notice that set of rules which guides us in our social relations to each other.
Please notice the word guide, for that is the very root of the matter. Books on etiquette are guides, not regulations to be followed blindly without understanding their meaning, and with a grasp only of the letter and not of the spirit.
With the exception of Royal and Ambassadorial Etiquette, which is very clearly defined, and of that code of behaviour which should be observed in our social relations with foreigners, these rules and suggestions should be read with a view to instructing oneself upon the whole subject, and getting such a knowledge of its inner meaning (of which these outward observances are but a reflection) that, as in dancing, the formal steps once learned, the dance can merge them at will into the rhythm of the whole.
ISBN:BOOKOFETIQUTT
