place of public amusement and then stand in line to get seats at the time
of the performance.


=GOING DOWN THE AISLE OF A THEATER=

The host, or whichever gentleman has the tickets, (if there is no host,
the hostess usually hands them to one of the, gentlemen before leaving her
house), goes down the aisle first and gives the checks to the usher, and
the others follow in the order in which they are to sit and which the
hostess must direct. It is necessary that each knows who follows whom,
particularly if a theater party arrives after the curtain has gone up. If
the hostess "forgets," the guests always ask before trooping down the
aisle "How do you want us to sit?" For nothing is more awkward and stupid
than to block the aisle at the row where their seats are, while their
hostess "sorts them"; and worse yet, in her effort to be polite, sends the
ladies to their seats first and then lets the gentlemen stumble across
them to their own places. Going down the aisle is not a question of
precedence, but a question of seating. The one who is to sit eighth from
the aisle, whether a lady or a gentleman, goes first, then the seventh,
then the sixth, and if the gentleman with the checks is fifth, he goes in
his turn and the fourth follows him.

If a gentleman and his wife go to the theater alone, the question as to
who goes down the aisle first depends on where the usher is. If the usher
takes the checks at the head of the aisle, she follows the usher.
Otherwise the gentleman goes first with the checks. When their places are
shown him, he stands aside for his wife to take her place first and then
he takes his. A lady never sits in the aisle seat if she is with a
gentleman.