The Wolf Point herald. (Wolf Point, Mont.) 1913-1940, 1925-11-12

a GOOD many people, when they re
a ceive a formal announcement, ar,
at a loss to know exactly what to d,
about it. They do net like to confes.
ignorance, and ask some one wht
might, perhaps, be able to throw som
light on the subject, . they do moth
ing, and make no acknowledgment O
the announcement.
Formal notes or announcements OF
all sorts use the third person through.
out. They may be written in long
hand with perfect propriety, they may
also be engraved, but it is not thought
good taste to have them printed. The
formality of the note requires a formal
dress, just as n going to a formal
party would hardly be justified in
wearing tan shoes or q sweater. Print
ing is cheap and it can be done more
quickly than engraving, and it is quite
satisfactory in its place, but it is not
the thing for a formal note.
Being written in the third person,
the formal announcement is not signed,
all proper names are written in full,
and the date is placed, without abbre-
viations, in the lower left-hand corner
of the note. In some cases an even
greater formality is maintained, and
no figures are used, ever the date and
street numbers being spelled out.
In the formal announcement, it is in
better taste to omit from your name
whatever titles you may have, though
physicians and military officers, and
judges seldom adhere to this rule. A
physician usually holds rigidly to his
title of Doctor" and a military man
expects everyone to call him Colonel"
If he rates that title, and II one is a
judge, he does not care to have you
forget 1t. All other people are more
properly addressed as "Mr." or Mrs,
and these titles may be abbreviated
in the body of the announcement.
Certain announcements should al
ways be formal-marriages, births, the
dissolution or the formation of a firm,
n In many places, even formal an
nouncements of deaths are sent out.
The uncertainties Of birth, and the
eagerness to get to their friends the
news Of the arrival Of the first born,
sometimes causes young parents to
send out printed birth notices. These
can usually be found at any stationer's,
and require only that the nam of
the newly arrived be written, and the
parents card enclosed. They are not
In such good taste, however, as the
engraved card, and 1t Is better II a
formal announcement Of the arrival OF
the young stranger Is to be made, that
the parents wait a few days, and do 1t
correctly.
One can use as little originality in
a formal announcement as In formal
dress. Convention decides the form
we are to use, almost the exact choice
and order Of words, and If we depart
far from this order, We show ourselves
socially inexperienced, or green
and what could be more humiliating?
In the matter Of materials used, we
are also almost as fully restricted in
sending out a formal announcement
az we are in the form and order of
words we employ. We may never use
any color but white, the stock must
be heavy, and in general a double
sheet is required, though in the an
nouncement of a birth, or the forma-
ton or dissolution of a firm, a heavy
card is proper. If the announcement
is to include various members of a
family, two envelopes are frequently
used. The inside envelope bears the
names of all the persons to whom the
annOnnpamnO iS tO on nc.
"Mr. and Mrs. Cohen
Mr.. Julius Cohen
Miss Cohen"
The outside envelope may bear the
address of the head Of the house only,
and il desired, his title, if he possesses
one. may be used.
| find three formal announcements
upon my desk this morning. Glldden
Jones has a new baby. Gorden Nc
.innis has been married, and Georee
Curtis has formed a law partnership
with Everett buckley. What should
DO in each case if I wish to be polite,
and to observe the courtesies of the oc-
Most people who receive such
announcements will do nothing.
L may, IL L NISly WIltC q lOl MAI
acknowledgment. l may, for instance,
the notes formally, and
write to Glidden Jones:
mr.. Thomas Ankle Clark is pleased
o receive the announcement of the
of Miss Margaret Hallett Jones,
md wishes to offer his congratulations
0 her parents" |
This is all too stiff and formal, how /;
yer. The formal announcement should
eldom have a formal reply, and it is
bout the only sort of formal note that :
hould not be so answered. 1t will l
e quite sufficient, and in good taste,
c l simply write an informal note to c
he Jones congratulating them upon {
he arrival of their daughter, that l
1ish Curtis well in his new business T
relationship, and that | write to Nc 7
iinnis whatever pleasant advice oc- T
urs to an old married man of wide :
experience. but / really should do q
o,anr1fnO lil-a fhfc