The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1902-02-08

con or dinner nearly every week in the
season has given up in despair and, TAX
ing suggestion from the advice III re-
gard to Mahomet and the mountain, has
adopted the plan of telephoning to her de-
linquent guests a day or so before the
luncheon to ask if they are coming
II have been forced to follow highway
CUSTOMS she said4 land adopt stand
and deHver' method. 1t is not careless
ness nor ignorance but rudeness and sell
hshness | have given many dinners, but
I have never heard from all of the guests
Tor one OF them before we went to the
table," '-,
The men are not much more courteous
than the women, and at a recent stag din
ner the host had to send second card, to
one guest with an urgent request to ''please
respond at once,'' and a note went by
special delivery to second to ask him if
he would be present or absent. -s~.o..
1T is perfectly useless to ask for a re-
Spouse in French or in English" grumble
the hostesses nothing but personal ap-
peal over the telephone will bring a salts
factory reply
There is not a woman in Minnea polls
who does not know that an invitation to
| luncheon, dinner Or card party should
be answered by return mail. Cards for a
| musicale or afternoon talk should also
receive prompt reply. Houses are not
elastic, and the rooms are always taxed
to their capacity, and it is only polite for
the guest who cannot go to make way for
| one who can.
"All invitations should be acknowledged
but those for a church Wedding is the
creed Of one conservative woman ''The
| preparations for church wedding will
| be the same whether the guests number
| 100 or 500, but if your invitation includes
cards for the reception after the service,
| send reply at once and~save the bride
elect and her mother from nervous pros
! tration.'
| II WILL" promised her friend. s'But ]
! wish you would tell me whether it is nee
i essary to say good-by to your hostess at
an afternoon tea, when you have had a
!! little chat with her when you arrived. In
the east we never thought of hunting her
(! up second time, but I notice that in
/ Minneapolis the women make as much OF
/ point of a farewell as Of a greeting
i When you are in Rome-you know the
| rest Personally, l would rather not know
/ how long or how short a time my guests
| remain, and prefer to have them feel free
! enough to slip out as soon as they have
/ greeted me or stay for an hour, just as
\ they choose I have adopted the following
| plan: When 1 am ready to 60, if fine
| my hostess is standing alone, I murmul
a few words in regard to the success o.
! the afternoon, but if she is surrounded by
/ friends slip away without interrupttnt
her. Continuous farewells do Interrupt
conversation so.
Another thing that bothers me is how
/ many cards to leave when two or three
whom don't know are giving reception
with one I do know. Several times this
winter as many as four women have beer
hostesses at the same affair, and the:
must have been buried under an avalanche
Of pasteboards if every one of the 300 o
i.400 guests left four cards"
n ''That is their affair. 1t is certainl
4 the proper thing to leave card TO
a every one whose name is on the invita-