ons and balls are not sent. Wedding
cards and announcements, and cards for large general receptions are sent.
During the year of mourning people thus remembered send cards with a
narrow black border in acknowledgment.

Unless an entertainment is exclusively for women, an invitation to a
married woman should include her husband. That he is personally unknown to
the hostess does not matter.

[MANNERS AND SOCIAL CUSTOMS 695]

INFORMAL INVITATIONS.

Invitations by telephone are permissible for informal affairs, but why a
woman should spend hours at the telephone, calling up various parties and
losing her temper over "Central's" dilatoriness when she could sit
comfortably at her desk and write notes, is difficult to understand.

Whereas the formal luncheon invitation simply substitutes the word
"luncheon" for "dinner," the informal invitation is written in the first
person and requires a reply in the same form. It may be said again that
the response should follow the form of the invitation; this is an
invariable rule. This model is usually employed:

My dear Mrs. Henderson:
Will you and Mr. Henderson dine with us informally on Tuesday
evening, January twenty-seventh, at half-past six o'clock?
Trusting we may have the pleasure of seeing you, I am,
Yours sincerely,
Mary Bronson.

In reply the recipient will write:

My dear Mrs. Bronson:
Mr. Henderson and I accept, with much pleasure your very kind
invitation to dine with you on Tuesday evening, January
twenty-seventh, at half past six o'clock.
Yours sincerely,
Helen Henderson.

If the invitation is for luncheon, that word is substituted; afternoon
written in the place of evening, and Mr. Henderson is left out. In an
acceptance, one should repeat the date and hour, that no mistake may
occur. If the invitation must be declined, it is not correct to explain
the nature of the engagement or whatever reason occurs for refusal. We say
we "are unable to accept," not that we "will not be able;" the refusal
rests in the present.

An invitation sent by mail is enclosed in an envelope addressed to Mr. and
Mrs. A., and then in an outer envelope bearing full name and address.
Informal notes of invitation are written on one's best note-paper and no
outer