Page:Book of Etiquette, Volume 2, by Lilian Eichler.djvu/284

258 friends and relatives of the two families are present. But the ceremony at church is a very important affair and all friends and acquaintances of both families are invited to attend. Those who cannot attend should send cards of regret to the bride's parents.

Very elaborate and gay indeed are the balls of France. There is, for instance, the bals blancs, at which all ladies are gowned in pure white and only maidens and bachelors are expected to be present. Men guests at the bal blanc wear the conventional evening dress.

At a ball in France, a gentleman may request to dance with a lady without having first been introduced to her. Even a total stranger may approach a lady on the ball-room floor and ask for a dance. But it is considered very bad form for a young man and woman to "sit out" a dance together or retire to the veranda or lawn.

If one expects to remain in France any length of time at all, it is important that one know and understand the etiquette of calls and cards in that country.

Calls are paid just as frequently in France as they are in America. Between two and six o'clock in the afternoon is the correct time for calling in the former country. One observes very much the same conventions of calling that one does here in America, except that the gentleman wears both his gloves when entering a drawing-room, and that the hostess does not rise to welcome a masculine caller. (However, the French hostess always does rise to greet