Rule 32 - George Washington's Rules

George Washington's Rules #32 states:

32nd

To one that is your equal, or not much inferior you are to give the chief Place in your Lodging and he to who 'is offered ought at the first to refuse it but at the Second to accept though not without acknowledging his own unworthiness.

This rule would have been more applicable in the 1700s. In those days, when a group stopped at a place to get lodging, it would usually be a facility with a number of rooms, but nothing like a motel or hotel nowadays. Within the lodging there would be one room that was the best.

Rule 32 states that you should defer, and offer your companion (of equal or slightly lessor station) the choicest room in the facility. Your companion would, out of courtesy, refuse the offer, but he should only refuse once, and when refusing he should acknowledge his unworthiness. Then you would insist, and he would take the room.

Courtesy and ettiquite were certainly different then, weren't they?