Page:Advice to young ladies on their duties and conduct in life - Arthur - 1849.djvu/150

142 fact, every thing that is most comfortable, or that can at all be a matter of preference,—is generously yielded by gentlemen to ladies, not as their right, but from feelings of kindness, or from the dictate of that genuine politeness that always prefers another. So habitual is this to gentlemen, that a young lady meeting with deference and attention every where, is apt to fall into the error of supposing that it belongs to her sex as a right, instead of being yielded by good feeling. We can suppose no other to be the reason why so many ladies, instead of waiting for these preferences to be shown, boldly claim them; or, when shown, never seem to imagine that a polite acknowledgment of the kindness is the smallest return they can make. How often do we see a lady at a concert, or other public place, walk deliberately up to a gentleman who has come much earlier than she has, in order to secure a good seat, and stand in front of him, with a look or manner that says, as plain as words, “Come, sir! give place. I wish to have that seat.” The same rudeness and want of respect to the rights of the other sex are daily seen by those who ride in omnibuses. The stage is stopped, and a lady of this class comes to the door for the purpose of entering, and finds every seat taken. Instead of at once retiring,