Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1915-12-29
Tia New Years Card
49,
How 1t Resan and tie Many
Processes Ii Went Through.

What an ordinary. embarrassing item
In our social life is the modern visiting
card! But this was not always so.
though it has barely been in existence
$50 years. 1t owed it's orir.n to the
custom of writing the name or some
times Il message on the back of a play
ing card, says a writer in the WASH
lngton Post. Occasionally one par
iicular card was chosen with intent.
and the duchess of Dorset received an
upt epigram in return for one she sent
TO a we'll 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 yeritable 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 and a half inches
ny 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
1876 to 1890. One belonging to an Eng
.ish society leader of a century ago
rlates from HOLE street. Cavendish
square, a spot associated with Lord
Byron. Her husbands card is smaller
and has a sketch of the family home in
pne corner. which still remains in the
possession Of their collateral descend
ants. The notion is so good it deserves
to be followed, for it would certainly
add to the interest of the cards we
leave to eac other If they bore the
semblance of our friends homes as
we'll as their
Another example shows that history
n, ttrn1f Po~ r~,,-h --,.- 3-
the eighteenth century, h lady was
lat home or Monday" as many mod
ish DANES are now. Visiting en- blanc,
as it was called-viz., by leaving a card
was a novelty then. and on nan
which come from Italy lin persona" is
written, showing that they la 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-
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
roof fell in.
Many OF the tickets" as visiting
cards We're called in those days. were
engraved with architectural buildings
lin Rome, Berlin and elsewhere, and
long in fashion. They were sold in
packets. The names were frequently
written upon them. and even when
they were printed 1T was rare that n
particular pattern was kept for any
special person. The head of a we'll
known W~arwickshire family during a
visit to Rome in 1888 kept, and has
handed down. those left by his ac-
.quaintance. 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 Chin
ney pieces. Some are square, with
supporting columns, scrolls and cur
:tains: some display festoons of flow
,ers and a variety of animals.
The cognomens of naval officers
emerge from the midst of spikes, an
,chors, ropes, flags and other naval in
sigma, while military officers appear
surrounded by helmets, cannon, tents
and soldiers. Artists figure amid pal
cites, brushes and other adjuncts of
their art, mostly accompanied by a
graceful female form, and every kind
of musical instrument has been called
into play-lyres, harps, trumpets and
II AAAA I'D "AOA SAAO - VI
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 on the vis-
iting card.
About 1916 pure white cards with en-
bossed borders n large embossed let
terings were the prevalent mode. His
tory again repeats itself-the daugh-
ter's name appeared then with heI
mothers, as 1t does now. How many
It very often happened that the lady'f
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 q Chinese figure looking over a low
doorway, with an Anglicized pagoda al
the side. On another car bearing 9
engraving OF the sphinx. with the
Egyptian pyramids In the rear
Many q great dame of those days ha6
her name OF her visiting a r sur
rounded by a framework held by Gu
pids. These were far prettier than thu
somber looking cards covered will
close set. engraved, horizontal lines a
q very deep border. MOnograms an
'c0ronets figured on some of them AM
have left to posterity fine specimens o
steel engraving. but the most elaborate
of heraldic cards were generally for
.eign. and some of the foreign embas
sizes employed colored crests occasion
ally introduced in III center.
49,. NH~>~p~1 -->>Af.-. e. 49,