The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1904-01-08
The New Years Gard
How 1t Began and tine Many
Processes Ii Went Through.


What an ordinary, undressing item
in our social life is the modern visiting
card! Blu this was not always SO,
though it has barely been in existence
$50 years. 1t owed Its ORR n to the
custom of writing the name or some-
times a message IN the back of a play
ing card, says a writer in the Wash
ington Post. Occasionally one par
ticular card was chosen with intent,
and the duchess Of Dorset received an
apt epigram in return for one she sent
to a well known clergyman. The
verses end as follows: you sent me
ten hearts, the tithes only mine. So
give me one heart and burn t'other
nine"
Toward the end of the last century
the visiting cards of the upper classes
were veritable works Of art, and by
their means many most interesting
types Of engraving survive. They were
of varying size, but the majority not
larger than about two n a half inches
by two inches, while today those used
by gentlemen are two inches by one
and a half inches and by ladies four
inches by two and a half inches. There
were many square ones used about
1880 to 1890. One belonging to an Eng
fish society leader Of a century ago
dates from Hole street, Cavendish
square, a spot associated with Lord
Byron, Her husbands card is smaller
n has q sketch Of the family home in
one corner, which still remains in the
possession of their collateral descend
ants. The notion is SO good it deserves
to be followed, for 1t would certainly
add to the interest Of the cards we
leave to each other If they bore the
semblance of our friends homes as
we'll as their names.
Another example shows that history
repeats itself. for, although issued in
the eighteenth century, the lady was
at home on Monday" as many mod
ish danes are now. Visiting en- blanc,
as it was called-viz., by leaving a caro-
was a novelty then, and on many
which come from Italy 'in persona" is
written, showing that they had been
left and not sent by a servant.
These are the simpler class Of cards.
A vast number of others in use at this
time show the ruling powers in deco
ration. Hundreds of the decorative
designs bear the names Of contem-
porary duchess, or, rather, according
to the ancient spelling, "dutchesse'-
st. Adams, Bolton and Grafton among
the number. The latter, according to
Horace Walpole, saved her life by
playing loo when in Rome, instead of
going to a party at a palace where the
roo fell in.
Many of the tickets" as visiting
cards We're called in those days. were
engraved with architectural buildings
in Rome, Berlin and elsewhere, and
long in fashion, They were sold in
written upon them, and even when
they were printed 1t was rare that one
particular pattern was kept for any
special person. The head of a well
known Warwickshire family during a
visit to Rome in 1888 kept, and has
handed down, those left by his ac-
q~uaintance. On these figure the arch
Of Titus, ST. Peters, the castle Of St.
Angelo and many other lions of Rome.
Not a few of the visiting cards Of
this period recall nothing so much as
the funeral monuments Of those days.
Sometimes the names appear on well
engraved vases, sometimes on. CHM
ney pieces. Some are square, with
supporting columns, scrolls and cur-
tains; some display festoons Of flow
e.s and q variety Of animals.
The cognomens of naval officers
emerge from the midst Of spikes, an
chors, ropes, flags n other naval in
sigma, while military officers appear
surrounded by helmets, cannon, tents
and soldiers. Artists figure amid pail
cites, brushes and other adjuncts of
! their art, mostly accompanied by a
graceful female form. n every kind
. Of musical instrument has been called
, into play-lyres, harps, trumpets and
harpsichords-for musicians. Birds of
many kinds hold scrolls bearing the
names in their books, ar they are
written on their breasts or outstretched
wings. Animals often play a double
part. The name of Hare, for example,
is represented as a rebus by that little
animal running at full speed, while a
| goat figured on the fashionable designs
of 1885. Archery, agriculture and sport
generally left their impress O \ the Wis
iting. card.
About 1916 pure white cards with en-
bossed borders and large embossed let
terings were the prevalent mode. His
! tory again repeats itself-the daugh-
ter's name appeared then with her
| mothers, as it does now How many
of the titles then extant nave died out!
! 1t very often happened that the lady's
cards and the gentleman's were of the
same size, but not always.
For her ticket" the Duchess Of Leeds
! in 1854 favored a very pretty engraving
of a Chinese figure looking over a low
doorway, with an Anglicized pagoda at
the side. On another card bearing a
famous lords name figures a powerful
engraving of the sphinx, with the
Egyptian pyramids in the rear.
Many a great dame Of those days had
her lame on her visiting card sur
rounded by a framework held by Gu
pids. These were far prettier than the
somber looking cards covered with
close set. engraved, horizontal lines and
a very deep border. Monograms and
%coronets figured on some of them and
have left to posterity fine specimens OF
steel engraving, but the most elaborate
OF heraldic cards were generally for: