The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1905-02-11
ETIQUETTE OF STATIONERY.

All visiting cards, from ihe nursery
to Bishops palace, are of plain
white board, absolutely without orna-
mentation. No crest, motto or gilt
edge may appear.
Hand written cards have not been
in vogue since the Empress Eugene
set the vogue for engraving, which
had only appeared tentatively up to
her reign as fashion authority.
A mans card is never so large as a
woman's. He is of less social i'm
portance.
The correct mans card this season
measures 3 inches by I ID inches. It
carries the name written out in full
and the club name in the lower left
hand corner.
The cards of matrons and spinsters
are at last of one size, which the
spinster regards as triumph of per-
sistence over vanity. The former
little maidenly card looked as though
she were compelled to admit her
matrimonial failure in life. To-day,
with her card 81 by 2A inches, she
is announced with the same ceremony
as her mother or younger married
sister.
Her name is written out in full un-
less she is the eldest daughter. Then
only miss" precedes the surname.
If the name is Jones, as sometimes
happens in the best regulated families,
her mothers name would be in full,
as Mrs. Mortimer Stuyvesant Jones !;
her grandmother, the dowager, mere
ly Mrs. Jones the eldest sister, plain
Miss Jones, without one redeeming
smart preface, and her own, Miss
Margaret Stuyvesant Webb Jones.
Cards are third larger than they
were four years ago, when initials
were permissible to accommodate this
embarrassment of riches in family
middle names.
Nearly all cards for metropolitan
duty carry the address in the lower
right hand corner, and at home days
in the lower left hand corner. The
address of a country house gives the
name of place and railway station or
the street and. station, though the
name of place is much more swagger.
For formal affairs the debutante has
no individual card. Her name in full
is engraved on her mothers card d.
rectly under the mothers name. 1t
is only for her personal use in sending
gifts, occasional calls and small
courtesies that she appears unchape-
roned.
Where mother with family of
daughters is receiving, all the names
are engraved in order of age on an
oblong invitation card, or after the
mothers name is merely ''the Misses
Jones'" IF there is debutante
daughter with two older sisters still
without the ring they appear as "the
Misses" in one line and the younger
girl on a separate line.
Visiting cards are used only in
sending invitations of the most gener-
al or informal nature. For musicales,
dinner of dozen or so, smart
formal afternoon reception for a de-
butante tea or a dinner dance, oblong
cards are used with the names in the
centre, the address in the lower right
hand corner and the announcement
and hour in the lower left.
For ultra formal elaborate dancing
reception evening musicale or very
large dinners the folded note invita-
ton is used, with some expression ol
pleasure at the thought of meeting the
guest.
The question of titles on cards is ol
little embarrassment to women in this
country. There isjust one rule they
do not use their husbands titles on
their visiting cards, unless it is dual
card. A husband must go with the
title. Bishop and Mrs. Sloane" OF
merely "Mrs. Initial Sloane" "Col
and Mrs. Jones'" or no title"
These twin cards are useful fol
sending regrets or paying formal calls
when there are men in the family, OF
in sending gifts.
Church dignitaries or military mer
may use their titles before theil
names or the full name without pre-
FIX and the title in full under or in the
lower right hand corner. Most met
over 21 prefer a simple card, unles.
there are wives to be grati6ed.
Cards for nurseryland are so largely
in vogue that they may not be ignored
Tiny scrap of cardboard with baby''
name and address and date of birtf
are sent with invitations to christen
ing parties, or accompany large cards
of announcements.
A notion new and useful is the cards
of appreciation to be used during th'
first stages Of mourning and cards o
congratulalion for births, engage
meuts, &c. There is blank space
for the name and one sentiment fol
many occasions.
The newest model for engraving
cards here is the French script. Th'
Partisan prefers a shaded Roman
script, but neither is so artistic as th'
shaded Old English which is still il
vogue. The French script is thil
and cheaD looking and very expen
sive. !.
In stationery, paper six inches b,
seven fits the fashionable oblong en-
velope exactly when folded once. 4
delicate water gray called spray, tha
is just off the actual white, is bette
far than white or cream.
Note paper is possibly a hftl
smaller.
But with this extreme of practica
sense in stationery are mixed up al