Ladies: "What you are while you are a girl you will be when you become a woman. 'But would you have a little girl act like a woman? ' Not precisely. But I would have her act like a lady. "

Title: How to be a lady: a book for girls, containing useful hints on the formation of character. Author: Newcomb, Harvey, 1803-1863.

http://www.hti.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=moa;idno=AJF2301

Gentlemen: It is the duty of a gentleman to know how to ride, to shoot, to fence, to box, to swim, to row and to dance. He should be graceful. If attacked by ruffians, a man should be able to defend himself, and also to defend women from their insults" Rules of Etiquette and Home Culture. 1886

Ladies: Pp. 175-176 But, lastly, young women should love domestic life, and the care and society of the young, because it is, without doubt, the intention of Divine Providence that they should do so; and because home, and the concerns of home, afford the best opportunities and means of moral improvement.

The prerogative of woman- the peculiar province which God in nature has assigned her- has been already alluded to with sufficient distinctness. Let every reader, then, follow out the hint, and ask herself whether it is not important that she should love the place and circumstances thus assigned her; and whether she who hates them, is likely to derive from them the great moral lessons they are eminently designed to inculcate.

Is it asked what moral lessons, so mightily important, can be learned in the nursery and in the kitchen? In return, I may ask, what lessons of instruction are there which may not be learned there, and what moral virtues may not there be cultivated? Each family is a world in miniature; and all the necessary trials of the temper and of the character, are usually found within its circle.

William Andrus Alcott. The Young Woman's Guide. Boston: 1840

Gentlemen: "Never scratch your head, pick your teeth, clean your nails, or worse of all, pick your nose in company; all these things are disgusting. Spit as little as possible and never upon the floor. If you are going into the presence of ladies, beware of onions, spirits and tobacco." The Art of Good Behavior. 1845

Ladies: Pp. 14-15 Absence of mind has so long been considered a mark of genius, that few take pains to avoid the pernicious habit. It is one of the infirmities of great minds, and is almost unpardonable, even when associated with the overpowering splendor of superior talents. It is no positive proof of genius; the weakest minds are prone to extreme absence. This is very different from the power of abstraction, which belongs, in a preeminent degree, only to minds of the highest order. It is peculiarly inconvenient for women to be absent-minded. The thousand and one daily cares and employments, which must each receive due attention in a well ordered household, render it necessary for a woman to have her thoughts always about her. Suppose, at the head of her dinnertable, she falls into a fit of absence; - her guests are neglected, the servants are at fault, and make dozens of blunders in consequence of hers, and when at last she comes back again, she resumes the conversation where it had been dropped, ten minutes before, much to the amusement or embarrassment of her guests, and her own and her husband's mortification. An absent-minded woman cannot be uniformly polite. She may be kindly disposed and perfectly well-bred, yet she will pass her most intimate friend in the street without speaking to her; take the most convenient and comfortable seat at a neighbor's fireside, appropriated to an aged and infirm member of the family; fix her eyes in church upon some one until the person is exceedingly annoyed and embarrassed; interrupt conversation by remarks entirely irrelevant, and commit many other peccadilloes while under this temporary alienation of mind, which would shock her, at another time, as offending against the plainest rules of propriety.

Mrs. Louisa C. Tuthill. The Young Lady's Home. Boston:1847

Gentlemen: "Chesterfield says, 'Civility is particularly due to all women; and, remember, that no provocation whatsoever can justify any man in not being civil to every woman; and the greatest man would justly be reckoned a brute if he were not civil to the meanest woman. It is due to their sex, and is the only protection they have against the superior strength of ours; nay, even a little is allowable with women; and a man may, without weakness, tell a woman she is either handsomer or wiser than she is'" Martine's Handbook, 1866

Little Bit Farm

-- Little Bit Farm (littlebit@brightok.net), July 14, 2003

Answers

I guess you could not be reckoned a Brute then. I however, could probably be reckoned a shrew for shamelessly teasing you.

Little Bit Farm

-- Little Bit Farm (littlebit@brightok.net), July 18, 2003.

On that last note - Little Bit, You are fair and beautiful. Like a spring of cool water in the desert. A fair queen among the women of this land, a jewel of unsurpassed wisdom and the answer to one lucky mans prayers.

Suckup mode: off and returned to neutral.

-- John in S. IN (jdoofus@hotmail.com), July 17, 2003.

And John you are the most horrible of rogues in all the land. You embody the very essence of all that I despise. If I looked high and low for the prince of cads I could not do worse than you. Hee Hee! I just thought I'd give you the opportunity to stretch you chivalry to even greater lengths. After all it did say even the meanest of women. You do after all owe me because of your immense strength.

Little Bit Farm

-- Little Bit Farm (littlebit@brighterok.net), July 17, 2003.

From you fair lady, I consider that a compliment! And basically not too far off the mark either!

-- John in S. IN (jdoofus@hotmail.com), July 17, 2003.

LOL......these are great LB.......and you two are a great chuckle.

-- diane (gardiacaprines@yahoo.com), July 19, 2003.