Featured Post

Introduction

Welcome to the Raggedy Cottage and Garden. As an effort to promote home style creativity and genuine old-fashioned character, I have starte...

Friday, December 31, 2010

Etiquette: Invitations, Acceptances and Regrets

Chapter XI.
Invitations, Acceptances and Regrets
 
THE FORMAL INVITATION

AS an inheritance from the days when Mrs. Brown presented her compliments and begged that Mrs. Smith would do her the honor to take a dish of tea with her, we still—notwithstanding the present flagrant disregard of old-fashioned convention—send our formal invitations, acceptances and regrets, in the prescribed punctiliousness of the third person.
   1
  All formal invitations, whether they are to be engraved or to be written by hand (and their acceptances and regrets) are invariably in the third person, and good usage permits of no deviation from this form.   2
  
WEDDING INVITATIONS

  The invitation to the ceremony is engraved on the front sheet of white note-paper. The smartest, at present, is that with a raised margin—or plate mark. At the top of the sheet the crest (if the family of the bride has the right to use one) is embossed without color. Otherwise the invitation bears no device. The engraving may be in script, block, shaded block, or old English. The invitation to the ceremony should always request “the honour” of your “presence,” and never the “pleasure” of your “company.” (Honour is spelled in the old-fashioned way, with a “u” instead of “honor.”)
   3
  
Enclosed in Two Envelopes

  Two envelopes are never used except for wedding invitations or announcements; but wedding invitations and all accompanying cards are always enclosed first in an inner envelope that has no mucilage on the flap, and is superscribed “Mr. and Mrs. Jameson Greatlake,” without address. This is enclosed in an outer envelope which is sealed and addressed:
Mr. and Mrs. Jameson Greatlake,
24 Michigan Avenue,
 Chicago.
  
  
   4
  To those who are only “asked to the church” no house invitation is enclosed.   5
  
THE CHURCH INVITATION

  The proper form for an invitation to a church ceremony is:

(Form No. 1.)



(Form No. 2.)



(The size of invitations is 5 1/8 wide by 7 3/8 deep.)

(When the parents issue the invitations for a wedding at a house other than their own.)

   6
  No variation is permissible in the form of a wedding invitation. Whether fifty guests are to be invited or five thousand, the paper, the engraving and the wording, and the double envelope are precisely the same.   7
  
Church Card of Admittance

  In cities or wherever the general public is not to be admitted, a card of about the size of a small visiting card is enclosed with the church invitation:
   8
  
Cards to Reserved Pews

  To the family and very intimate friends who are to be seated in especially designated pews:
   9
  10
  Engraved pew cards are ordered only for very big weddings where twenty or more pews are to be reserved. The more usual custom—at all small and many big weddings—is for the mother of the bride, and the mother of the bridegroom each to write on her personal visiting card:
  11
  A card for the reserved enclosure but no especial pew is often inscribed “Within the Ribbons.”  12
  
INVITATION TO THE HOUSE

  The invitation to the breakfast or reception following the church ceremony is engraved on a card to match the paper of the church invitation and is the size of the latter after it is folded for the envelope:
  13
  
CEREMONY AND RECEPTION INVITATION IN ONE

  Occasionally, especially for a country wedding, the invitation to the breakfast or the reception is added to the one to the ceremony:
  14
  Or the invitation reads “at twelve o’clock, at St. John’s Church, and afterwards at breakfast at Sunnylawn”; but “afterwards to the reception at Sunnylawn” is wrong.  15
  
THE INVITATION TO A HOUSE WEDDING

  Is precisely the same except that “at Sunnylawn” or “at Four West Thirty-sixth Street” is put in place of “at St. John’s Church,” and an invitation to stay on at a house, to which the guest is already invited, is not necessary.
  16
  
The Train Card

  If the wedding is to be in the country, a train card is enclosed:
            A special train will leave Grand Central
          Station at 12:45 P.M., arriving at Ridgefield at
          2:45. Returning, train will leave Ridgefield at
          5:10 P.M., arriving New York at 7.02 P.M.
                Show this card at the gate.
  17
  
INVITATION TO RECEPTION AND NOT TO CEREMONY

  It sometimes happens that the bride prefers none but her family at the ceremony, and a big reception. This plan is chosen where the mother of the bride or other very near relative is an invalid. The ceremony may take place at a bedside, or it may be that the invalid can go down to the drawing-room with only the immediate families, and is unequal to the presence of many people.
  18
  Under these circumstances the invitations to the breakfast or reception are sent on sheets of note paper like that used for church invitations, but the wording is:
  19
  The “pleasure of your company” is requested in this case instead of the “honour of your presence.”  20
  
THE WRITTEN WEDDING INVITATION

  If a wedding is to be so small that no invitations are engraved, the notes of invitation should be personally written by the bride:

Sally Dear:
  Our wedding is to be on Thursday the tenth at half-past twelve, Christ Church Chantry. Of course we want you and Jack and the children! And we want all of you to come afterward to Aunt Mary’s, for a bite to eat and to wish us luck.
Affectionately,

Helen.      

  or

Dear Mrs. Kindhart:
  Dick and I are to be married at Christ Church Chantry at noon on Thursday the tenth. We both want you and Mr. Kindhart to come to the church and afterward for a very small breakfast to my Aunt’s—Mrs. Slade—at Two Park Avenue.
  With much love from us both,
Affectionately,

Helen.      
  21
  
WEDDING ANNOUNCEMENTS

  If no general invitations were issued to the church, an announcement engraved on note paper like that of the invitation to the ceremony, is sent to the entire visiting list of both the bride’s and the groom’s family:
  22
  
THE SECOND MARRIAGE
INVITATIONS

  Invitations to the marriage of a widow—if she is very young—are sent in the name of her parents exactly as were the invitations to her first wedding, excepting that her name instead of being merely Priscilla is now written Priscilla Barnes Leaming, thus:

Mr. and Mrs. Maynard Barnes
request the honour of your presence
at the marriage of their daughter
Priscilla Barnes Leaming
to
      etc.
  23
  
ANNOUNCEMENTS

  For a young widow’s marriage are also the same as for a first wedding:

Mr. and Mrs. Maynard Barnes
have the honour to announce
the marriage of their daughter
Priscilla Barnes Leaming
to
Mr. Worthington Adams
        etc.
  24
  But the announcement of the marriage of a widow of maturer years is engraved on note paper and reads:

Mrs. Priscilla Barnes Leaming
and
Mr. Worthington Adams
have the honour to announce their marriage
on Monday the second of November
at Saratoga Springs
New York
  25
  
CARDS OF ADDRESS

  If the bride and groom wish to inform their friends of their future address (especially in cities not covered by the Social Register), it is customary to enclose a card with the announcement:


Or merely their visiting card with their new address in the lower right corner:
  26
  
INVITATION TO WEDDING ANNIVERSARY

  For a wedding anniversary celebration, the year of the wedding and the present year are usually stamped across the top of an invitation. Sometimes the couple’s initials are added.
  27
  
ANSWERING A WEDDING INVITATION

  An invitation to the church only requires no answer whatever. An invitation to the reception or breakfast is answered on the first page of a sheet of note paper, and although it is written “by hand” the spacing of the words must be followed as though they were engraved. This is the form of acceptance:

Mr. and Mrs. Robert Gilding, Jr.,
accept with pleasure
Mr. and Mrs. John Huntington Smith’s
kind invitation for
Tuesday the first of June


  The regret reads:

Mr. and Mrs. Richard Brown
regret that they are unable to accept
Mr. and Mrs. John Huntington Smith’s
kind invitation for
Tuesday the first of June
  28
  
OTHER FORMAL INVITATIONS

  All other formal invitations are engraved (never printed) on cards of thin white matte Bristol board, either plain or plate-marked like those for wedding reception cards. Note paper such as that used for wedding invitations is occasionally, but rarely, preferred.
  29
  Monograms, addresses, personal devices are not used on engraved invitations.  30
  The size of the card of invitation varies with personal preference from four and a half to six inches in width, and from three to four and a half inches in height. The most graceful proportion is three units in height to four in width.  31
  The lettering is a matter of personal choice, but the plainer the design, the better. Scrolls and ornate trimmings are bad taste always. Punctuation is used only after each letter of the R.s.v.p. and it is absolutely correct to use small letters for the s.v.p. Capitals R.S.V.P. are permissible; but fastidious people prefer “R.s.v.p.”  32
  
INVITATION TO A BALL

  The word “ball” is never used excepting in an invitation to a public one, or at least a semi-public one, such as may be given by a committee for a charity or a club, or association of some sort.

For example:
The Committee of the Greenwood Club
request the pleasure of your company

at a Ball

to be held in the Greenwood Clubhouse
on the evening of November the seventh
at ten o’clock.
for the benefit of
The Neighborhood Hospital

Tickets five dollars
  33
  
  Invitations to a private ball, no matter whether the ball is to be given in a private house, or whether the hostess has engaged an entire floor of the biggest hotel in the world, announce merely that Mr. and Mrs. Somebody will be “At Home,” and the word “dancing” is added almost as though it were an afterthought in the lower left corner, the words “At Home” being slightly larger than those of the rest of the invitation. When both “At” and “Home” are written with a capital letter, this is the most punctilious and formal invitation that it is possible to send. It is engraved in script usually, on a card of white Bristol board about five and a half inches wide and three and three-quarters of an inch high. Like the wedding invitation it has an embossed crest without color, or nothing.  34
  The precise form is:


or


  (If preferred, the above invitations may be engraved in block or shaded block type.)
  35
  
BALL FOR DÉBUTANTE DAUGHTER

  Very occasionally an invitation is worded

if the daughter is a débutante and the ball is for her, but it is not strictly correct to have any names but those of the host and his wife above the words “At Home.”
  36
  The proper form of invitation when the ball is to be given for a débutante, is as follows:


or
  37
  The form most often used by fashionable hostesses in New York and Newport is:


  Even if given for a débutante daughter, her name does not appear, and it is called a “small dance,” whether it is really small or big. The request for a reply is often omitted, since everyone is supposed to know that an answer is necessary. But if the dance, or dinner, or whatever the entertainment is to be, is given at one address and the hostess lives at another, both addresses are always given:


If the dance is given for a young friend who is not a relative, Mr. and Mrs. Oldname’s invitations should
  38
  
WHEN AND HOW ONE MAY ASK FOR AN INVITATION FOR A STRANGER

  One may never ask for an invitation for oneself anywhere! And one may not ask for an invitation to a luncheon or a dinner for a stranger. But an invitation for any general entertainment may be asked for a stranger—especially for a house-guest.

  Example:
Dear Mrs. Worldly,
  A young cousin of mine, David Blakely from Chicago, is staying with us.
  May Pauline take him to your dance on Friday? If it will be inconvenient for you to include him, please do not hesitate to say so frankly.
        Very sincerely yours,
            Caroline Robinson Town.

  Answer:
Dear Mrs. Town,
  I shall be delighted to have Pauline bring Mr. Blakely on the tenth.
        Sincerely yours,
            Edith Worldly.
  39
  Or
  A man might write for an invitation for a friend. But a very young girl should not ask for an invitation for a man—or anyone—since it is more fitting that her mother ask for her. An older girl might say to Mrs. Worldly, “My cousin is staying with us, may I bring him to your dance?” Or if she knows Mrs. Worldly very well she might send a message by telephone: “Miss Town would like to know whether she may bring her cousin, Mr. Michigan, to Mrs. Worldly’s dance.”
  40
  
CARD OF GENERAL INVITATION

  Invitations to important entertainments are nearly always especially engraved, so that nothing is written except the name of the person invited; but, for the hostess who entertains constantly, a card which is engraved in blank, so that it may serve for dinner, luncheon, dance, garden party, musical, or whatever she may care to give, is indispensable.
  41
  The spacing of the model shown below, the proportion of the words, and the size of the card, are especially good.
  42
  
THE DINNER INVITATION

  The blank which may be used only for dinner:

Mr. and Mrs. Huntington Jones
request the pleasure of

company at dinner
on
at eight o’clock
at Two Thousand Fifth Avenue

(For type and spacing follow model above.)
  43
  
INVITATIONS TO RECEPTIONS AND TEAS

  Invitations to receptions and teas differ from invitations to balls in that the cards on which they are engraved are usually somewhat smaller, the words “At Home” with capital letters are changed to “will be at home” with small letters, and the time is not set at the hour. Also, except on very unusual occasions, a man’s name does not appear. The name of the débutante for whom the tea is given is put under that of her mother, and sometimes under that of her sister or the bride of her brother.

Mrs. James Town
Mrs. James Town, junior
Miss Pauline Town
will be at home
On Tuesday the eighth of December
from four until six o’clock
Two Thousand Fifth Avenue.
  44
  Mr. Town’s name would probably appear with that of his wife if he were an artist, and the reception was given in his studio to view his pictures, or if a reception were given to meet a distinguished guest such as a bishop or a governor, in which case “In honour of the Right Reverend William Powell,” or “To meet His Excellency the Governor,” is at the top of the invitation.  45
  
THE FORMAL INVITATION WHICH IS WRITTEN

  When the formal invitation to dinner or lunch is written instead of engraved, note paper stamped with house or personal device is used. The wording and spacing must follow the engraved models exactly.

  46
  It must not be written:
  47
  The foregoing example has four faults:
  (1) Letters in the third person must follow the prescribed form. This does not. (2) The writing is crowded against the margin. (3) The telephone number should be used only for business and informal notes and letters. (4) The full name John should be used instead of the initial “J.” “Mr. and Mrs.” is better form than “Mr. & Mrs.”
  48
  
RECALLING AN INVITATION

  If for illness or other reason invitations have to be recalled the following forms are correct. They are always printed instead of engraved, there being no time for engraving.

Owing to sudden illness
Mr. and Mrs. John Huntington Smith
are obliged to recall their invitations
for Tuesday the tenth of June.
  49
  The form used when the invitation is postponed:

Mr. and Mrs. John Huntington Smith
regret exceedingly
that owing to the illness of Mrs. Smith
their dance is temporarily postponed.
  50
  When a wedding is broken off after the invitations have been issued:

Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin Nottingham
announce
that the marriage of their daughter
Mary Katharine
and
Mr. Jerrold Atherton
will not take place
  51
  
FORMAL ACCEPTANCE OR REGRET

  Acceptances or regrets are always written. An engraved form to be filled in is vulgar—nothing could be in worse taste than to flaunt your popularity by announcing that it is impossible to answer your numerous invitations without the time-saving device of a printed blank. If you have a dozen or more invitations a day, if you have a hundred, hire a staff of secretaries if need be, but answer “by hand.”
  52
  The formal acceptance to an invitation, whether it is to a dance, wedding breakfast or a ball, is identical:

Mr. and Mrs. Donald Lovejoy
accept with pleasure
Mr. and Mrs. Smith’s
kind invitation for dinner
on Monday the tenth of December
at eight o’clock
  53
  The formula for regret:

Mr. Clubwin Doe
regrets extremely that a previous engagement
prevents his accepting
Mr. and Mrs. Smith’s
kind invitation for dinner
on Monday the tenth of December


  or

Mr. and Mrs. Timothy Kerry
regret that they are unable to accept
Mr. and Mrs. Smith’s
kind invitation for dinner
on Monday the tenth of December
  54
  In accepting an invitation the day and hour must be repeated, so that in case of mistake it may be rectified and prevent one from arriving on a day when one is not expected. But in declining an invitation it is not necessary to repeat the hour.  55
  
VISITING CARD INVITATIONS

  With the exception of invitations to house-parties, dinners and luncheons, the writing of notes is past. For an informal dance, musical, picnic, for a tea to meet a guest, or for bridge, a lady uses her ordinary visiting card:


or
  56
  Answers to invitations written on visiting cards are always formally worded in the third person, precisely as though the invitation had been engraved.  57
  
INVITATIONS IN THE SECOND PERSON

  The informal dinner and luncheon invitation is not spaced according to set words on each line, but is written merely in two paragraphs. Example:

Dear Mrs. Smith:
  Will you and Mr. Smith dine with us on Thursday, the seventh of January, at eight o’clock?
  Hoping so much for the pleasure of seeing you,
Very sincerely,
Caroline Robinson Town.
  58
  
THE INFORMAL NOTE OF ACCEPTANCE OR REGRET

Dear Mrs. Town:
  It will give us much pleasure to dine with you on Thursday the seventh, at eight o’clock.
  Thanking you for your kind thought of us,
Sincerely yours,
  Margaret Smith.

  Wednesday.


  or

Dear Mrs. Town:
  My husband and I will dine with you on Thursday the seventh, at eight o’clock, with greatest pleasure.
  Thanking you so much for thinking of us,
Always sincerely,
  Margaret Smith.


  or

Dear Mrs. Town:
  We are so sorry that we shall be unable to dine with you on the seventh, as we have a previous engagement.
  With many thanks for your kindness in thinking of us,
Very sincerely,
  Ethel Norman.
  59
  
INVITATION TO COUNTRY HOUSE

  To an intimate friend:

Dear Sally:
  Will you and Jack (and the baby and nurse, of course) come out the 28th (Friday), and stay for ten days? Morning and evening trains take only forty minutes, and it won’t hurt Jack to commute for the weekdays between the two Sundays! I am sure the country will do you and the baby good, or at least it will do me good to have you here.
  With much love, affectionately,
Ethel Norman.
  60
  To a friend of one’s daughter:

Dear Mary:
  Will you and Jim come on Friday the first for the Worldly dance, and stay over Sunday? Muriel asks me to tell you that Helen and Dick, and also Jimmy Smith are to be here and she particularly hopes that you will come, too.
  The three-twenty from New York is the best train—much. Though there is a four-twenty and a five-sixteen, in case Jim is not able to take the earlier one.
Very sincerely,
  Alice Jones.
  61
  Confirming a verbal invitation:

Dear Helen:
  This note is merely to remind you that you and Dick are coming here for the Worldly dance on the sixth. Mother is expecting you on the three-twenty train, and will meet you here at the station.
Affectionately,
  Muriel.
  62
  Invitation to a house party at a camp:

Dear Miss Strange:
  Will you come up here on the sixth of September and stay until the sixteenth? It would give us all the greatest pleasure.
  There is a train leaving Broadway Station at 8.03 A. M. which will get you to Dustville Junction at 5 P. M. and here in time for supper.
  It is only fair to warn you that the camp is very primitive; we have no luxuries, but we can make you fairly comfortable if you like an outdoor life and are not too exacting. Please do not bring a maid or any clothes that the woods or weather can ruin. You will need nothing but outdoor things: walking boots (if you care to walk), a bathing suit (if you care to swim in the lake), and something comfortable rather than smart for evening (if you care to dress for supper). But on no account bring evening, or any good clothes!
  Hoping so much that camping appeals to you and that we shall see you on the evening of the sixth,
Very sincerely yours,
  Martha Kindhart.
  63
  
THE INVITATION BY TELEPHONE

  Custom which has altered many ways and manners has taken away all opprobrium from the message by telephone, and with the exception of those of a very small minority of letter-loving hostesses, all informal invitations are sent and answered by telephone. Such messages, however, follow a prescribed form:
  “Is this Lenox 0000? Will you please ask Mr. and Mrs. Smith if they will dine with Mrs. Grantham Jones next Tuesday the tenth at eight o’clock? Mrs. Jones’ telephone number is Plaza, one two ring two.”
  64
  The answer:
  “Mr. and Mrs. Huntington Smith regret that they will be unable to dine with Mrs. Jones on Tuesday the tenth, as they are engaged for that evening.
  65
  Or
  “Will you please tell Mrs. Jones that Mr. and Mrs. Huntington Smith are very sorry that they will be unable to dine with her next Tuesday, and thank her for asking them.”
  66
  Or
  “Please tell Mrs. Jones that Mr. and Mrs. Huntington Smith will dine with her on Tuesday the tenth, with pleasure.”
  67
  The formula is the same, whether the invitation is to dine or lunch, or play bridge or tennis, or golf, or motor, or go on a picnic.
  “Will Mrs. Smith play bridge with Mrs. Grantham Jones this afternoon at the Country Club, at four o’clock?”
  “Hold the wire please  *  *  *  Mrs. Jones will play bride with pleasure at four o’clock.”
  68
  In many houses, especially where there are several grown sons or daughters, a blank form is kept in the pantry:
  69
  These slips are taken to whichever member of the family has been invited, who crosses off “regret” or “accept” and hands the slip back for transmission by the butler, the parlor-maid or whoever is on duty in the pantry.  70
  If Mr. Smith and Mrs. Jones are themselves telephoning there is no long conversation, but merely:
Mrs. Jones:
  “Is that you Mrs. Smith (or Sarah)? This is Mrs. Jones (or Alice). Will you and your husband (or John) dine with us to-morrow at eight o’clock?”
Mrs. Smith:
  “I’m so sorry we can’t. We are dining with Mabel.”

  Or
“We have people coming here.”
  71                        
  Invitations to a house party are often as not telephoned:

  “Hello, Ethel? This is Alice. Will you and Arthur come on the sixteenth for over Sunday?”
  “The sixteenth? That’s Friday. We’d love to!”
  “Will you take the 3:20 train? etc.”


Post, Emily. Etiquette in Society, in Business, in Politics and at Home. New York: Funk & Wagnalls, 1922. Bartleby.com

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Etiquette: Cards and Visits

Chapter X.
Cards and Visits
        
 
USEFULNESS OF CARDS

WHO was it that said—in the Victorian era probably, and a man of course—“The only mechanical tool ever needed by a woman is a hair-pin”? He might have added that with a hair-pin and a visiting card, she is ready to meet most emergencies.
   1                    
  Although the principal use of a visiting card, at least the one for which it was originally invented—to be left as an evidence of one person’s presence at the house of another—is going gradually out of ardent favor in fashionable circles, its usefulness seems to keep a nicely adjusted balance. In New York, for instance, the visiting card has entirely taken the place of the written note of invitation to informal parties of every description. Messages of condolence or congratulation are written on it; it is used as an endorsement in the giving of an order; it is even tacked on the outside of express boxes. The only employment of it which is not as flourishing as formerly is its being left in quantities and with frequency at the doors of acquaintances. This will be explained further on.   2
  
A CARD’S SIZE AND ENGRAVING

  The card of a lady is usually from about 2 3/4 to 3 1/2 inches wide, by 2 to 2 3/4 inches high, but there is no fixed rule. The card of a young girl is smaller and more nearly square in shape. (About 2 inches high by 2 1/2 or 2 5/8 inches long, depending upon the length of the name.) Young girls use smaller cards than older ladies. A gentleman’s card is long and narrow, from 2 7/8 to 3 1/4 inches long, and from 1 1/4 to 1 5/8 inches high. All visiting cards are engraved on white unglazed bristol board, which may be of medium thickness or thin, as one fancies. A few years ago there was a fad for cards as thin as writing paper, but one seldom sees them in America now. The advantage of a thin card is that a greater quantity may be carried easily.
   3
  The engraving most in use to-day is shaded block. Script is seldom seen, but it is always good form and so is plain block, but with the exception of old English all ornate lettering should be avoided. All people who live in cities should have the address in the lower right corner, engraved in smaller letters than the name. In the country, addresses are not important, as every one knows where every one else lives. People who have town and country houses usually have separate cards, though not necessarily a separate plate.   4
  
ECONOMICAL ENGRAVING

  The economically inclined can have several varieties of cards printed from one plate. The cards would vary somewhat in size in order to “center” the wording.
   5
  Example:
  The plate:
   6
may be printed.   7
  Miss Gilding’s name should never appear on a card with both her mother’s and father’s, so her name being out of line under the “Mr. and Mrs.” engraving makes no difference.






   8
  The personal card is in a measure an index of one’s character. A fantastic or garish note in the type effect, in the quality or shape of the card, betrays a lack of taste in the owner of the card.   9
  It is not customary for a married man to have a club address on his card, and it would be serviceable only in giving a card of introduction to a business acquaintance, under social rather than business circumstances, or in paying a formal call upon a political or business associate. Unmarried men often use no other address than that of a club; especially if they live in bachelor’s quarters, but young men who live at home use their home address.  10
  
CORRECT NAMES AND TITLES

  To be impeccably correct, initials should not be engraved on a visiting card. A gentleman’s card should read: Mr. John Hunter Titherington Smith, but since names are sometimes awkwardly long, and it is the American custom to cling to each and every one given in baptism, he asserts his possessions by representing each one with an initial, and engraves his cards Mr. John H. T. Smith, or Mr. J. H. Titherington Smith, as suits his fancy. So, although, according to high authorities, he should drop a name or two and be Mr. Hunter Smith, or Mr. Titherington Smith, it is very likely that to the end of time the American man, and necessarily his wife, who must use the name as he does, will go on cherishing initials.
  11
  And a widow no less than a married woman should always continue to use her husband’s Christian name, or his name and another initial, engraved on her cards. She is Mrs. John Hunter Titherington Smith, or, to compromise, Mrs. J. H. Titherington Smith, but she is never Mrs. Sarah Smith; at least not anywhere in good society. In business and in legal matters a woman is necessarily addressed by her own Christian name, because she uses it in her signature. But no one should ever address an envelope, except from a bank or a lawyer’s office, “Mrs. Sarah Smith.” When a widow’s son, who has the name of his father, marries, the widow has Sr. added to her own name, or if she is the “head” of the family, she very often omits all Christian names, and has her card engraved “Mrs. Smith,” and the son’s wife calls herself Mrs. John Hunter Smith. Smith is not a very good name as an example, since no one could very well claim the distinction of being the Mrs. Smith. It, however, illustrates the point.  12
  For the daughter-in-law to continue to use a card with Jr. on it when her husband no longer uses Jr. on his, is a mistake made by many people. A wife always bears the name of her husband. To have a man and his mother use cards engraved respectively Mr. J. H. Smith and Mrs. J. H. Smith and the son’s wife a card engraved Mrs. J. H. Smith, Jr., would announce to whomever the three cards were left upon, that Mr. and Mrs. Smith and their daughter-in-law had called.  13
  The cards of a young girl after she is sixteen have always “Miss” before her name, which must be her real and never a nick-name: Miss Sarah Smith, not Miss Sally Smith.  14
  The fact that a man’s name has “Jr.” added at the end in no way takes the place of “Mr.” His card should be engraved Mr. John Hunter Smith, Jr., and his wife’s Mrs. John Hunter Smith, Jr. Some people have the “Jr.” written out, “junior.” It is not spelled with a capital J if written in full.  15
  A boy puts Mr. on his cards when he leaves school though many use cards without Mr. on them while in college. A doctor, or a judge, or a minister, or a military officer have their cards engraved with the abbreviation of their title: Dr. Henry Gordon; Judge Horace Rush; The Rev. William Goode; Col. Thomas Doyle.  16
  The double card reads: Dr. and Mrs. Henry Gordon; Hon. and Mrs., etc.  17
  A woman who has divorced her husband retains the legal as well as the social right to use her husband’s full name, in New York State at least. Usually she prefers, if her name was Alice Green, to call herself Mrs. Green Smith; not Mrs. Alice Smith, and on no account Mrs. Alice Green—unless she wishes to give the impression that she was the guilty one in the divorce.  18
  
CHILDREN’S CARDS

  That very little children should have visiting cards is not so “silly” as might at first thought be supposed. To acquire perfect manners, and those graces of deportment that Lord Chesterfield so ardently tried to instil into his son, training can not begin early enough, since it is through lifelong familiarity with the niceties of etiquette that much of the distinction of those to the manner born is acquired.
  19
  Many mothers think it good training for children to have their own cards, which they are taught not so much to leave upon each other after “parties,” as to send with gifts upon various occasions.  20
  At the rehearsal of a wedding, the tiny twin flower girls came carrying their wedding present for the bride between them, to which they had themselves attached their own small visiting cards. One card was bordered and engraved in pink, and the other bordered and engraved in blue, and the address on each read “Chez Maman.”  21
  And in going to see a new baby cousin each brought a small 1830 bouquet, and sent to their aunt their cards, on which, after seeing the baby, one had printed “He is very little,” and the other, “It has a red face.” This shows that if modern society believes in beginning social training in the nursery, it does not believe in hampering a child’s natural expression.  22
  
SPECIAL CARDS AND WHEN TO USE THEM

  The double card, reading Mr. and Mrs., is sent with a wedding present, or with flowers to a funeral, or with flowers to a débutante, and is also used in paying formal visits.
  23
  The card on which a débutante’s name is engraved under that of her mother, is used most frequently when no coming-out entertainment has been given for the daughter. Her name on her mother’s card announces, wherever it is left, that the daughter is “grown” and “eligible” for invitations. In the same way a mother may leave her son’s card with her own upon any of her own friends—especially upon those likely to entertain for young people. This is the custom if a young man has been away at school and college for so long that he has not a large acquaintance of his own. It is, however, correct under any circumstances when formally leaving cards to leave those of all sons and daughters who are grown.  24
  
THE P. P. C. CARD

  This is merely a visiting card, whether of a lady or a gentleman, on which the initials P. P. C. (pour prendre congé—to take leave) are written in ink in the lower left corner. This is usually left at the door, or sent by mail to acquaintances, when one is leaving for the season, or for good. It never takes the place of a farewell visit when one has received especial courtesy, nor is it in any sense a message of thanks for especial kindness. In either of these instances, a visit should be paid or a note of farewell and thanks written.
  25
  
CARDS OF NEW OR TEMPORARY ADDRESS

  In cities where there is no Social Register or other printed society list, one notifies acquaintances of a change of address by mailing a visiting card.
  26
  Cards are also sent, with a temporary address written in ink, when one is in a strange city and wishes to notify friends where one is stopping.  27
  It is also quite correct for a lady to mail her card with her temporary address written on it to any gentleman whom she would care to see, and who she is sure would like to see her.  28
  
WHEN CARDS ARE SENT

  When not intending to go to a tea or a wedding reception (the invitation to which did not have R. s. v. p. on it and require an answer), one should mail cards to the hostess so as to arrive on the morning of the entertainment. To a tea given for a débutante cards are enclosed in one envelope and addressed:
Mrs. Gilding
Miss Gilding
 00 Fifth Avenue
New York
  29
  For a wedding reception, cards are sent to Mr. and Mrs. ———, the mother and father of the bride, and another set of cards sent to Mr. and Mrs. ———, the bride and bridegroom.  30
  
THE VISIT OF EMPTY FORM

  Not so many years ago, a lady or gentleman, young girl or youth, who failed to pay her or his “party call” after having been invited to Mrs. Social-Leader’s ball was left out of her list when she gave her next one. For the old-fashioned hostess kept her visiting list with the precision of a bookkeeper in a bank; everyone’s credit was entered or cancelled according to the presence of her or his cards in the card receiver. Young people who liked to be asked to her house were apt to leave an extra one at the door, on occasion, so that theirs should not be among the missing when the new list for the season was made up—especially as the more important old ladies were very quick to strike a name off, but seldom if ever known to put one back.
  31
  But about twenty years ago the era of informality set in and has been gaining ground ever since. In certain cities old-fashioned hostesses, it is said, exclude delinquents. But New York is too exotic and intractable, and the too exacting hostess is likely to find her tapestried rooms rather empty, while the younger world of fashion flocks to the crystal-fountained ballroom of the new Spendeasy Westerns. And then, too, life holds so many other diversions and interests for the very type of youth which of necessity is the vital essence of all social gaiety. Society can have distinction and dignity without youth—but not gaiety. The country with its outdoor sports, its freedom from exacting conventions, has gradually deflected the interest of the younger fashionables, until at present they care very little whether Mrs. Toplofty and Mrs. Social-Leader ask them to their balls or not. They are glad enough to go, of course, but they don’t care enough for invitations to pay dull visits and to live up to the conventions of “manners” that old-fashioned hostesses demand. And as these “rebels” are invariably the most attractive and the most eligible youths, it has become almost an issue; a hostess must in many cases either invite none but older people and the few young girls and men whose mothers have left cards for them, or ignore convention and invite the rebels.  32
  In trying to find out where the present indifference started, many ascribe it to Bobo Gilding, to whom entering a great drawing-room was more suggestive of the daily afternoon tea ordeal of his early nursery days, than a voluntary act of pleasure. He was long ago one of the first to rebel against old Mrs. Toplofty’s exactions of party calls, by saying he did not care in the least whether his great-aunt Jane Toplofty invited him to her stodgy old ball or not. And then Lucy Wellborn (the present Mrs. Bobo Gilding) did not care much to go either if none of her particular men friends were to be there. Little she cared to dance the cotillion with old Colonel Bluffington or to go to supper with that odious Hector Newman.  33
  And so, beginning first with a few gilded youths, then including young society, the habit has spread until the obligatory paying of visits by young girls and men has almost joined the once universal “day at home” as belonging to a past age. Do not understand by this that visits are never paid on other occasions. Visits to strangers, visits of condolence, and of other courtesies are still paid, quite as punctiliously as ever. But within the walls of society itself, the visit of formality is decreasing. One might almost say that in certain cities society has become a family affair. Its walls are as high as ever, higher perhaps to outsiders, but among its own members, such customs as keeping visiting lists and having days at home, or even knowing who owes a visit to whom, is not only unobserved but is unheard of.  34
  But because punctilious card-leaving, visiting, and “days at home” have gone out of fashion in New York, is no reason why these really important observances should not be, or are not, in the height of fashion elsewhere. Nor, on the other hand, must anyone suppose because the younger fashionables in New York pay few visits and never have days at home, that they are a bit less careful about the things which they happen to consider essential to good-breeding.  35
  The best type of young men pay few, if any, party calls, because they work and they exercise, and whatever time is left over, if any, is spent in their club or at the house of a young woman, not tête-a-tête, but invariably playing bridge. The Sunday afternoon visits that the youth of another generation used always to pay, are unknown in this, because every man who can, spends the week-end in the country.  36
  It is scarcely an exaggeration to say that not alone men, but many young married women of highest social position, except to send with flowers or wedding presents, do not use a dozen visiting cards a year. But there are circumstances when even the most indifferent to social obligations must leave cards.  37
  
WHEN CARDS MUST BE LEFT

  Etiquette absolutely demands that one leave a card within a few days after taking a first meal in a lady’s house; or if one has for the first time been invited to lunch or dine with strangers, it is inexcusably rude not to leave a card upon them, whether one accepted the invitation or not.
  38
  One must also unfailingly return a first call, even if one does not care for the acquaintance. Only a real “cause” can excuse the affront to an innocent stranger that the refusal to return a first call would imply. If one does not care to continue the acquaintance, one need not pay a second visit.  39
  Also a card is always left with a first invitation. Supposing Miss Philadelphia takes a letter of introduction to Mrs. Newport—Mrs. Newport, inviting Miss Philadelphia to her house, would not think of sending her invitation without also leaving her card. Good form demands that a visit be paid before issuing a first invitation. Sometimes a note of explanation is sent asking that the formality be waived, but it is never disregarded, except in the case of an invitation from an older lady to a young girl. Mrs. Worldly, for instance, who has known Jim Smartlington always, might, instead of calling on Mary Smith, to whom his engagement is announced, write her a note, asking her to lunch or dinner. But in inviting Mrs. Greatlake of Chicago she would leave her card with her invitation at Mrs. Greatlake’s hotel.  40
  It seems scarcely necessary to add that anyone not entirely heartless must leave a card on, or send flowers to, an acquaintance who has suffered a recent bereavement. One should also leave cards of inquiry or send flowers to sick people.  41
  
INVITATION IN PLACE OF RETURNED VISIT

  Books on etiquette seem agreed that sending an invitation does not cancel the obligation of paying a visit—which may be technically correct—but fashionable people, who are in the habit of lunching or dining with each other two or three times a season, pay no attention to visits whatever. Mrs. Norman calls on Mrs. Gilding. Mrs. Gilding invites the Normans to dinner. They go. A short time afterward Mrs. Norman invites the Gildings—or the Gildings very likely again invite the Normans. Some evening at all events, the Gildings dine with the Normans. Someday, if Mrs. Gilding happens to be leaving cards, she may leave them at the Normans—or she may not. Some people leave cards almost like the “hares” in a paper chase; others seldom if ever do. Except on the occasions mentioned in the paragraph before this, or unless there is an illness, a death, a birth, or a marriage, people in society invite each other to their houses and don’t leave cards at all. Nor do they ever consider whose “turn” it is to invite whom.
  42
  
“NOT AT HOME”

  When a servant at a door says “Not at home,” this phrase means that the lady of the house is “Not at home to visitors.” This answer neither signifies nor implies—nor is it intended to—that Mrs. Jones is out of the house. Some people say “Not receiving,” which means actually the same thing, but the “not at home” is infinitely more polite; since in the former you know she is in the house but won’t see you, whereas in the latter case you have the pleasant uncertainty that it is quite possible she is out.
  43
  To be told “Mrs. Jones is at home but doesn’t want to see you,” would certainly be unpleasant. And to “beg to be excused”—except in a case of illness or bereavement—has something very suggestive of a cold shoulder. But “not at home” means that she is not sitting in the drawing room behind her tea tray; that and nothing else. She may be out or she may be lying down or otherwise occupied. Nor do people of the world find the slightest objection if a hostess, happening to recognize the visitor as a particular friend, calls out, “Do come in! I am at home to you!” Anyone who talks about this phrase as being a “white lie” either doesn’t understand the meaning of the words, or is going very far afield to look for untruth. To be consistent, these over-literals should also exact that when a guest inadvertently knocks over a tea cup and stains a sofa, the hostess instead of saying “It is nothing at all! Please don’t worry about it,” ought for the sake of truth to say, “See what your clumsiness has done! You have ruined my sofa!” And when someone says “How are you?” instead of answering “Very well, thank you,” the same truthful one should perhaps take an hour by the clock and mention every symptom of indisposition that she can accurately subscribe to.  44
  While “not at home” is merely a phrase of politeness, to say “I am out” after a card has been brought to you is both an untruth and an inexcusable rudeness. Or to have an inquiry answered, “I don’t know, but I’ll see,” and then to have the servant, after taking a card, come back with the message “Mrs. Jones is out” can not fail to make the visitor feel rebuffed. Once a card has been admitted, the visitor must be admitted also, no matter how inconvenient receiving her may be. You may send a message that you are dressing but will be very glad to see her if she can wait ten minutes. The visitor can either wait or say she is pressed for time. But if she does not wait, then she is rather discourteous.  45
  Therefore, it is of the utmost importance always to leave directions at the door such as, “Mrs. Jones is not at home.” “Miss Jones will be home at five o’clock,” “Mrs. Jones will be home at 5.30,” or Mrs. Jones “is at home” in the library to intimate friends, but “not at home” in the drawing-room to acquaintances. It is a nuisance to be obliged to remember either to turn an “in” and “out” card in the hall, or to ring a bell and say, “I am going out,” and again, “I have come in.” But whatever plan or arrangement you choose, no one at your front door should be left in doubt and then repulsed. It is not only bad manners, it is bad housekeeping.  46
  
THE OLD-FASHIONED DAY AT HOME

  It is doubtful if the present generation of New Yorkers knows what a day at home is! But their mothers, at least, remember the time when the fashionable districts were divided into regular sections, wherein on a given day in the week, the whole neighborhood was “at home.” Friday sounds familiar as the day for Washington Square! And was it Monday for lower Fifth Avenue? At all events, each neighborhood on the day of its own, suggested a local fête. Ladies in visiting dresses with trains and bonnets and nose-veils and tight gloves, holding card cases, tripped demurely into this house, out of that, and again into another; and there were always many broughams and victorias slowly “exercising” up and down, and very smart footmen standing with maroon or tan or fur rugs over their arms in front of Mrs. Wellborn’s house or Mrs. Oldname’s, or the big house of Mrs. Toplofty at the corner of Fifth Avenue. It must have been enchanting to be a grown person in those days! Enchanting also were the C-spring victorias, as was life in general that was taken at a slow carriage pace and not at the motor speed of to-day. The “day at home” is still in fashion in Washington, and it is ardently to be hoped that it also flourishes in many cities and towns throughout the country or that it will be revived, for it is a delightful custom—though more in keeping with Europe than America, which does not care for gentle paces once it has tasted swift. A certain young New York hostess announced that she was going to stay home on Saturday afternoons. But the men went to the country and the women to the opera, and she gave it up.
  47
  There are a few old-fashioned ladies, living in old-fashioned houses, and still staying at home in the old-fashioned way to old-fashioned friends who for decades have dropped in for a cup of tea and a chat. And there are two maiden ladies in particular, joint chatelaines of an imposingly beautiful old house where, on a certain afternoon of the week, if you come in for tea, you are sure to meet not alone those prominent in the world of fashion, but a fair admixture of artists, scientists, authors, inventors, distinguished strangers—in a word Best Society in its truest sense. But days at home such as these are not easily duplicated; for few houses possess a “salon” atmosphere, and few hostesses achieve either the social talent or the wide cultivation necessary to attract and interest so varied and brilliant a company.  48
  
MODERN CARD LEAVING: A QUESTIONABLE ACT OF POLITENESS

  The modern New York fashion in card-leaving is to dash as fast as possible from house to house, sending the chauffeur up the steps with cards, without ever asking if anyone is home. Some butlers announce “Not at home” from force of habit even when no question is asked. There are occasions when the visitors must ask to see the hostess (see X54); but cards are left without asking whether a lady is at home under the following circumstances:
  49
  Cards are left on the mother of the bride, after a wedding, also on the mother of the groom.  50
  Cards are also left after any formal invitation. Having been asked to lunch or dine with a lady whom you know but slightly you should leave your card whether you accepted the invitation or not, within three days if possible, or at least within a week, of the date for which you were invited. It is not considered necessary (in New York at least) to ask if she is at home; promptness in leaving your card is, in this instance, better manners than delaying your “party call” and asking if she is at home. This matter of asking at the door is one that depends upon the customs of each State and city, but as it is always wiser to err on the side of politeness, it is the better policy, if in doubt, to ask “Is Mrs. Blank at home?” rather than to run the risk of offending a lady who may like to see visitors.  51
  A card is usually left with a first invitation to a stranger who has brought a letter of introduction, but it is more polite—even though not necessary—to ask to be received. Some ladies make it a habit to leave a card on everyone on their visiting list once a season.  52
  It is correct for the mother of a débutante to leave her card as well as her daughter’s on every lady who has invited the daughter to her house, and a courteous hostess returns all of these pasteboard visits. But neither visit necessitates closer or even further acquaintance.  53
  
VISITS WHICH EVERYONE MUST PAY

  Paying visits differs from leaving cards in that you must ask to be received. A visit of condolence should be paid at once to a friend when a death occurs in her immediate family. A lady does not call on a gentleman, but writes him a note of sympathy.
  54
  In going to inquire for sick people, you should ask to be received, and it is always thoughtful to take them gifts of books or fruit or flowers.  55
  If a relative announces his engagement, you must at once go to see his fiancée. Should she be out, you do not ask to see her mother. You do, however, leave a card upon both ladies and you ask to see her mother if received by the daughter.  56
  A visit of congratulation is also paid to a new mother and a gift invariably presented to the baby.  57
  
MESSAGES WRITTEN ON CARDS

  “With sympathy” or “With deepest sympathy” is written on your visiting card with flowers sent to a funeral. This same message is written on a card and left at the door of a house of mourning, if you do not know the family well enough to ask to be received.
  58
  “To inquire” is often written on a card left at the house of a sick person, but not if you are received.  59
  In going to see a friend who is visiting a lady whom you do not know, whether you should leave a card on the hostess as well as on your friend depends upon the circumstances; if the hostess is one who is socially prominent and you are unknown, it would be better taste not to leave a card on her, since your card afterward found without explanation might be interpreted as an uncalled-for visit made in an attempt for a place on her list. If, on the other hand, she is the unknown person and you are the prominent one, your card is polite, but unwise unless you mean to include her name on your list. But if she is one with whom you have many interests in common, then you may very properly leave a card for her.  60
  In leaving a card on a lady stopping at a hotel or living in an apartment house, you should write her name in pencil across the top of your card, to insure its being given to her, and not to some one else.  61
  At the house of a lady whom you know well and whom you are sorry not to find at home, it is “friendly” to write “Sorry not to see you!” or “So sorry to miss you!”  62
  Turning down a corner of a visiting card is by many intended to convey that the visit is meant for all the ladies in the family. Other people mean merely to show that the card was left at the door in person and not sent in an envelope. Other people turn them down from force of habit and mean nothing whatever. But whichever the reason, more cards are bent or dog-eared than are left flat.  63
  
ENGRAVED CARDS ANNOUNCING ENGAGEMENT, BAD FORM

  Someone somewhere asked whether or not to answer an engraved card announcing an engagement. The answer can have nothing to do with etiquette, since an engraved announcement is unknown to good society. (For the proper announcement of an engagement see XX19.)
  64
  
WHEN PEOPLE SEE THEIR FRIENDS

  Five o’clock is the informal hour when people are “at home” to friends. The correct hour for leaving cards and paying formal visits is between 3.30 and 4.30. One should hesitate to pay a visit at the “tea hour” unless one is sure of one’s welcome among the “intimates” likely to be found around the hostess’s tea-table.
  65
  Many ladies make it their practise to be home if possible at five o’clock, and their friends who know them well come in at that time. (For the afternoon tea-table and its customs, see XIII29.)  66
  
INFORMAL VISITING OFTEN ARRANGED BY TELEPHONE

  For instance, instead of ringing her door-bell, Mrs. Norman calls Mrs. Kindhart on the telephone: “I haven’t seen you for weeks! Won’t you come in to tea, or to lunch—just you.” Mrs. Kindhart answers, “Yes, I’d love to. I can come this afternoon”; and five o’clock finds them together over the tea-table.
  67
  In the same way young Struthers calls up Millicent Gilding, “Are you going to be in this afternoon?” She says, “Yes, but not until a quarter of six.” He says, “Fine, I’ll come then.” Or she says, “I’m so sorry, I’m playing bridge with Pauline—but I’ll be in tomorrow!” He says, “All right, I’ll come to-morrow.”  68
  The younger people rarely ever go to see each other without first telephoning. Or since even young people seldom meet except for bridge, most likely it is Millicent Gilding who telephones the Struthers youth to ask if he can’t possibly get uptown before five o’clock to make a fourth with Mary and Jim and herself.  69
  
HOW A FIRST VISIT IS MADE

  In very large cities, neighbors seldom call on each other. But if strangers move into a neighborhood in a small town or in the country, or at a watering-place, it is not only unfriendly but uncivil for their neighbors not to call on them. The older residents always call on the newer. And the person of greatest social prominence should make the first visit, or at least invite the younger or less prominent one to call on her; which the younger should promptly do.
  70
  Or two ladies of equal age or position may either one say, “I wish you would come to see me.” To which the other replies “I will with pleasure.” More usually the first one offers “I should like to come to see you, if I may.” And the other, of course, answers “I shall be delighted if you will.”  71
  The first one, having suggested going to see the second, is bound in politeness to do so, otherwise she implies that the acquaintance on second thought seems distasteful to her.  72
  Everyone invited to a wedding should call upon the bride on her return from the honeymoon. And when a man marries a girl from a distant place, courtesy absolutely demands that his friends and neighbors call on her as soon as she arrives in her new home.  73
  
ON OPENING THE DOOR TO A VISITOR

  On the hall table in every house, there should be a small silver, or other card tray, a pad and a pencil. The nicest kind of pad is one that when folded, makes its own envelope, so that a message when written need not be left open. There are all varieties and sizes at all stationers.
  74
  When the door-bell rings, the servant on duty, who can easily see the chauffeur or lady approaching, should have the card tray ready to present, on the palm of the left hand. A servant at the door must never take the cards in his or her fingers.  75
  
CORRECT NUMBER OF CARDS TO LEAVE

  When the visitor herself rings the door-bell and the message is “not at home,” the butler or maid proffers the card tray on which the visitor lays a card of her own and her daughter’s for each lady in the house and a card of her husband’s and son’s for each lady and gentleman. But three is the greatest number ever left of any one card. In calling on Mrs. Town, who has three grown daughters and her mother living in the house, and a Mrs. Stranger staying with her whom the visitor was invited to a luncheon to meet, a card on each would need a packet of six. Instead, the visitor should leave three—one for Mrs. Town, one for all the other ladies of the house, and one for Mrs. Stranger. In asking to be received, her query at the door should be “Are any of the ladies at home?” Or in merely leaving her cards she should say “For all of the ladies.”
  76
  
WHEN THE CALLER LEAVES

  The butler or maid must stand with the front door open until a visitor re-enters her motor, or if she is walking, until she has reached the sidewalk. It is bad manners ever to close the door in a visitor’s face.
  77
  When a chauffeur leaves cards, the door may be closed as soon as he turns away.  78
  
WHEN THE LADY OF THE HOUSE IS AT HOME

  When the door is opened by a waitress or a parlor-maid and the mistress of the house is in the drawing-room, the maid says “This way, please,” and leads the way. She goes as quickly as possible to present the card tray. The guest, especially if a stranger, lags in order to give the hostess time to read the name on the card.
  79
  The maid meanwhile moves aside, to make room for the approaching visitor, who goes forward to shake hands with the hostess. If a butler is at the door, he reads the card himself, picking it up from the tray, and opening the door of the drawing-room announces: “Mrs. Soandso,” after which he puts the card on the hall table.  80
  The duration of a formal visit should be in the neighborhood of twenty minutes. But if other visitors are announced, the first one—on a very formal occasion—may cut her visit shorter. Or if conversation becomes especially interesting, the visit may be prolonged five minutes or so. On no account must a visitor stay an hour!  81
  A hostess always rises when a visitor enters, unless the visitor is a very young woman or man and she herself elderly, or unless she is seated behind the tea-table so that rising is difficult. She should, however, always rise and go forward to meet a lady much older than herself; but she never rises from her tea-table to greet a man, unless he is quite old.  82
  If the lady of the house is “at home” but upstairs, the servant at the door leads the visitor into the reception room, saying “Will you take a seat, please?” and then carries the card to the mistress of the house.  83
  On an exceptional occasion, such as paying a visit of condolence or inquiring for a convalescent, when the question as to whether he will be received is necessarily doubtful, a gentleman does not take off his coat or gloves, but waits in the reception room with his hat in his hand. When the servant returning says either “Will you come this way, please?” or “Mrs. Town is not well enough to see any one, but Miss Alice will be down in a moment,” the visitor divests himself of his coat and gloves, which the servant carries, as well as his hat, out to the front hall.  84
  As said before, few men pay visits without first telephoning. But perhaps two or three times during a winter a young man, when he is able to get away from his office in time, will make a tea-time visit upon a hostess who has often invited him to dinner or to her opera box. Under ordinary circumstances, however, some woman member of his family leaves his card for him after a dinner or a dance, or else it is not left at all.  85
  A gentleman paying visits, always asks if the hostess is at home. If she is, he leaves his hat and stick in the hall and also removes and leaves his gloves—and rubbers should he be wearing them. If the hour is between five and half-past, the hostess is inevitably at her tea-table, in the library, to which, if he is at all well known to the servant at the door, he is at once shown without being first asked to wait in the reception room. A gentleman entering a room in which there are several people who are strangers, shakes hands with his hostess and slightly bows to all the others, whether he knows them personally or not. He, of course, shakes hands with any who are friends, and with all men to whom he is introduced, but with a lady only if she offers him her hand.  86
  
HOW TO ENTER A DRAWING-ROOM

  To know how to enter a drawing-room is supposed to be one of the supreme tests of good breeding. But there should be no more difficulty in entering the drawing-room of Mrs. Worldly than in entering the sitting-room at home. Perhaps the best instruction would be like that in learning to swim. “Take plenty of time, don’t struggle and don’t splash about!” Good manners socially are not unlike swimming—not the “crawl” or “overhand,” but smooth, tranquil swimming. (Quite probably where the expression “in the swim” came from anyway!) Before actually entering a room, it is easiest to pause long enough to see where the hostess is. Never start forward and then try to find her as an afterthought. The place to pause is on the threshold—not half-way in the room. The way not to enter a drawing-room is to dart forward and then stand awkwardly bewildered and looking about in every direction. A man of the world stops at the entrance of the room for a scarcely perceptible moment, until he perceives the most unencumbered approach to the hostess, and he thereupon walks over to her. When he greets his hostess he pauses slightly, the hostess smiles and offers her hand; the gentleman smiles and shakes hands, at the same time bowing. A lady shakes hands with the hostess and with every one she knows who is nearby. She bows to acquaintances at a distance and to strangers to whom she is introduced.
  87
  
HOW TO SIT GRACEFULLY

  Having shaken hands with the hostess, the visitor, whether a lady or a gentleman, looks about quietly, without hurry, for a convenient chair to sit down upon, or drop into. To sit gracefully one should not perch stiffly on the edge of a straight chair, nor sprawl at length in an easy one. The perfect position is one that is easy, but dignified. In other days, no lady of dignity ever crossed her knees, held her hands on her hips, or twisted herself sideways, or even leaned back in her chair! To-day all these things are done; and the only etiquette left is on the subject of how not to exaggerate them. No lady should cross her knees so that her skirts go up to or above them; neither should her foot be thrust out so that her toes are at knee level. An arm a-kimbo is not a graceful attitude, nor is a twisted spine! Everyone, of course, leans against a chair back, except in a box at the opera and in a ballroom, but a lady should never throw herself almost at full length in a reclining chair or on a wide sofa when she is out in public. Neither does a gentleman in paying a formal visit sit on the middle of his backbone with one ankle supported on the other knee, and both as high as his head.
  88
  The proper way for a lady to sit is in the center of her chair, or slightly sideways in the corner of a sofa. She may lean back, of course, and easily; her hands relaxed in her lap, her knees together, or if crossed, her foot must not be thrust forward so as to leave a space between the heel and her other ankle. On informal occasions she can lean back in an easy chair with her hands on the arms. In a ball dress a lady of distinction never leans back in a chair; one can not picture a beautiful and high-bred woman, wearing a tiara and other ballroom jewels, leaning against anything. This is, however, not so much a rule of etiquette as a question of beauty and fitness.  89
  A gentleman, also on very formal occasions, should sit in the center of his chair; but unless it is a deep lounging one, he always leans against the back and puts a hand or an elbow on its arms.  90
  
POSTSCRIPTS ON VISITS

  A lady never calls on another under the sponsorship of a gentleman—unless he is her husband or father. A young girl can very properly go with her fiancé to return visits paid to her by members or friends of his family; but she should not pay an initial visit unless to an invalid who has written her a note asking her to do so.
  91
  If, when arriving at a lady’s house, you find her motor at the door, you should leave your card as though she were not at home. If she happens to be in the hall, or coming down the steps, you say “I see you are going out, and I won’t keep you!”  92
  If she insists on your coming in, you should stay only a moment. Do not, however, fidget and talk about leaving. Sit down as though your leaving immediately were not on your mind, but after two or three minutes say “Good-by” and go.  93
  A young man may go to see a young girl as often as he feels inclined and she cares to receive him. If she continually asks to be excused, or shows him scant attention when he is talking to her, or in any other way indicates that he annoys or bores her, his visits should cease.  94
  It is very bad manners to invite one person to your house and leave out another with whom you are also talking. You should wait for an opportunity when the latter is not included in your conversation.  95
  In good society ladies do not kiss each other when they meet either at parties or in public.  96
  It is well to remember that nothing more blatantly stamps an ill-bred person than the habit of patting, nudging or taking hold of people. “Keep your hands to yourself!” might almost be put at the head of the first chapter of every book on etiquette.  97
  Be very chary of making any such remarks as “I am afraid I have stayed too long,” or “I must apologize for hurrying off,” or “I am afraid I have bored you to death talking so much.” All such expressions are self-conscious and stupid. If you really think you are staying too long or leaving too soon or talking too much—don’t!  98
  
AN INVALID’S VISIT BY PROXY

  It is not necessary that an invalid make any attempt to return the visits to her friends who are attentive enough to go often to see her. But if a stranger calls on her—particularly a stranger who may not know that she is always confined to the house, it is correct for a daughter or sister or even a friend to leave the invalid’s card for her and even to pay a visit should she find a hostess “at home.” In this event the visitor by proxy lays her own card as well as that of the invalid on the tray proffered her. Upon being announced to the hostess, she naturally explains that she is appearing in place of her mother (or whatever relation the invalid is to her) and that the invalid herself is unable to make any visits.
  99
  A lady never pays a party call on a gentleman. But if the gentleman who has given a dinner has his mother (or sister) staying with him and if the mother (or sister) chaperoned the party, cards should of course be left upon her. 100
  Having risen to go, go! Don’t stand and keep your hostess standing while you say good-by, and make a last remark last half an hour! 101
  Few Americans are so punctilious as to pay their dinner calls within twenty-four hours; but it is the height of correctness and good manners. 102
  When a gentleman, whose wife is away, accepts some one’s hospitality, it is correct for his wife to pay the party call with (or for) him, since it is taken for granted that she would have been included had she been at home. 103
  In other days a hostess thought it necessary to change quickly into a best dress if important company rang her door-bell. A lady of fashion to-day receives her visitors at once in whatever dress she happens to be wearing, since not to keep them waiting is the greater courtesy.


Post, Emily. Etiquette in Society, in Business, in Politics and at Home. New York: Funk & Wagnalls, 1922. Bartleby.com

Songs of Love and Hope