Page:Every Woman's Encyclopedia Volume 1.djvu/395

 ^73 LADY OP QUALITY By Mrs. HUMPHRY (" Madge ") The Conventional Card-— How and When to Leave It— The **At'Home" Day— Sending Cards by Post— The Ycung Girl's Card — The Baby's Card — Correct Size of Cards, etc. i ■yHE lady who does anything original in ^ connection with her visiting-card cannot be aware of the extreme conservativeness of the British in this matter. Occasionally one sees such things as ornamental type and moulded borders, even very highly glazed pasteboard, but these only inform the recipient that the lady who left the card is unused to the manners and customs of good society. The Regulation Card The regulation card is absolutely simple, not too highly glazed, and made of pure white pasteboard of medium thickness. The lettering is in copper-plate, the character script. The name occupies the exact centre, and the address is in the left-hand lower corner. The correct size for a lady's card is 3 1 by 2 ^ inches ; for a gentleman's, 3 by 1 1 inches. Sometimes the ad- dress is in the left corner, and the name of the lady's club in the other. Should she possess a country house or week-end cottage, she may pos- sibly feel inclined to put both town and country addresses on her card ; but if she yield to this inclination she stamps herself as hoiirgeoise — in other words, as belonging to our very respectable and estimable middle classes. The great lady has never more than one address on iier card. This seems reason- able, for she cannot possibly be in two places at the same time, and the card is meant to indicate, among other things, exactly where she is. Therefore she has cards printed separately for acU address. When instructing the Three different cards used for announcing a birth, A tiny card with the baby's Christian name is attached to the top left-hand corner stationer as to the letter of one's cards, it is well to bear in mind that the wording should be a guide to correspondents. An exception to this rule is in the case of anyone enjoying the title oi Honourable. This word should never appear on visiting- cards, but is invariably used in addressing letters or sending invitations to the owner of the title. Husband and wife always have separate visiting-cards. A fashion sprang up at one time in the middle class, and was followed by a few, of having both names on one card ; but it was not adopted generally, and soon dis- appeared. The husband's card has sometimes merely the name of his principal club instead of his home address. This is quite sufficient, for his wife leaves his card with hers, so thai any home address on his would be super- fluous. And should he wish to add his home address when giving his card to any of his new acquaint- ances, he can always write it in pencil. &ittttrurU, (S^. The Mistake of being Original All these rules about little bits of pasteboard may seem unimportant and even silly, when compared with the serious things of the world, but the fact remains that a newcomer in any class of society is appraised by these trifles. To form an agreeable circle of acquaintance is a reasonable wish, especially when young sons and daughters are growing up; and to neglect the ordi- nary usages may result in making it difficult to enter the society of one'? choice.