What was good enough for them is good enough for me!" And so paterfamilias continues to take his coffee with, instead of at the end of, his dinner, eats his vegetables out of little sauce plates with a spoon, insists that meat, potatoes and salad shall all be placed upon the table at once, and, if the father and mother than whom he does not care to rise higher were, in spite of their excellence, of the lower class, he carries his food to his mouth on the blade of his knife, and noisily sips tea from his saucer.

Evidently he does not believe in shams, those little conventionalities, nearly all of which have some excellent cause for existence, although we do not always pause to examine into their _raison d'etre_.

They may be founded upon hygienic principles, or on the idea of the greatest good to the greatest number.

Many seemingly slight breaches of etiquette, if practiced by everyone, would create a state of affairs which even the most ardent hater of _les convenances_ would deplore.

If, for instance, all men were so entirely a law unto themselves that they despised the rule which commands a man to resign his chair to a lady, what would become of us poor women?
In crowded rooms we would have the pleasure of standing still or walking around the masculine members of the company, who would sit at ease.