be broken
when the guest to be included is some really celebrated character
whose addition to the company would compensate for the extra covers to
be laid and the re-arrangements to be made before the unexpected guest
can be accommodated. No one, however, should feel offense when a
request of this nature is refused. The hostess, in all probability,
had good and sufficient reasons for her course of action. Invitations
for a married couple should never be requested.

Evening Parties, Balls and "At Homes."

Invitations to these entertainments are issued in the name of the
hostess only, and are sent out from ten days to two weeks in advance.
Informal occasions, however, give very short notice, and it is well to
use the word "informal" in the invitation, that guests may not put
themselves to inconvenience as regards dress. It must be remembered
that this term is too often misleading in its nature, and many a
sensitive guest has been seriously annoyed by finding herself, after a
too literal interpretation of the "informal" character of the
entertainment, in a crowd of gay butterflies, a misuse of the word
that should be seriously protested against.

Invitations to evening parties and private balls are less elaborate
than formerly; the word "party" or "ball" is never used unless on the
occasion of some public affair, such as a charity ball, but any
especial feature of the evening may be mentioned in the invitation.

To an evening party where dancing may, or may not, be a feature of the
entertainment, the following, either engraved or written on a small
sheet of note paper, is a very good form:

[Illustration:

_Mrs. Stuyvesant Wentworth_

_Requests the pleasure of the company of_

_Mr. and Mrs. Mark Cowden,_

_On Wednesday evening, July 4th,_

_At nine o' clock._

_Informal._]

All invitations are to be considered as "formal" unless the word
"informal" appears on the card. If the card states that the
entertainment is to be "informal," the invited guest is fully
justified in considering it so, and dressing accordingly. Neither
host, hostess, nor other guests can take any exception if the
invitation is treated just as it reads.

If dancing is the feature of the evening, the same form may be used
with the word "Dancing" added in the lower left hand corner. Or:

[Illustration:

_Mrs. John Burrows,_

_At Home,_

_Thursday evening, October first,_

_At nine o'clock._

_1080 LeFrance Avenue._

_Quadri