Page:Book of Etiquette, Volume 1, by Lilian Eichler.djvu/206

 graved; and in the opposite corner, his office hours. For his social cards, the physician omits the office hours and uses M.D. after his name rather than "Dr." before it.

"Rev." or "Reverend," is the approved title for a clergyman. Cards are engraved: "Reverend Raymond Falke Fleming" or "Rev. Raymond F. Fleming." A clergyman who is entitled to the degree of doctor may use all his titles on his professional cards, but has his social card engraved merely: "Ralph Kendrick Williams, D.D."

Not infrequently it happens that a man has occasion to write his name on a card with his own hand. In this case he does not omit the conventional "Mr.," or his honorary titles, but writes his name identically as it would appear if engraved.

No card should be crowded with a great deal of information but a busines card may bear whatever is necessary really to represent the person whose name appears upon it. The salesman or other representative of a large firm has the name of the firm on his business card and the man who is in a highly specialized kind of work such as advertising, may have the word "Advertising" engraved on his card. An agent for a particular kind of commodity may have this fact indicated on his business card. Such details have, of course, absolutely no place on the social card.

The tradition of edging a card with black in deference to the dead can be traced back to the ancient Patagonians who used black paint to denote the passing of a spirit. They painted their bodies black, if they were near relatives of the deceased, and painted all the be-