Hello All,
Now I am far too young to have been around during the Gilded Age, or even the generation or two that came after. However, the most important influence of my young life was my very proper headmistress, at my very proper school. She was ancient, and a spinster, and firmly believed in bringing up her "Ladies" to Edwardian standards, which she saw no reason to modernise.
Some of her rules for our behaviour.
1. Ladies are never seen to bite into food. A lady cuts a piece of food into "pop it into the mouth" portions. Even and especially toast. One breaks a small piece of toast, butters it, jams it, and then pops it into the mouth to chew. Bread is never cut at the table, always broken.
2. Ladies may smoke, but they are never seen to smoke. Smoking is done in the privacy of a room, alone or with other ladies, or with a husband. Never in company, never at the dinner table. Gentlemen smoke at the table once the ladies have left. This rule is so important, that a friend of mine who was caught smoking, was told she was being punished not for smoking, but for smoking outside like a common workhouse girl!
3. A lady never eats standing up. Eating is never done in the street. If eating is done outside, a lady finds a place to sit to consume her food. Even sweets must be eaten this way. It does not need saying, but a lady would never chew chewing gum. That is vulgar.
If anyone is interested in more of Miss Holmes' gems of upbringing, I'm more than happy to share.
She left such a mark on we "ladies" that I still can't even scoff down hot dogs at a Fair, I need to find a chair to sit in. Aah! the great British brainwashing technique!
Fiona Powell
