is written and the same style followed in the
answer. For instance: should the invitation be formal, the answer
should preserve the same degree of formality; while a friendly
invitation in note form should meet with an acceptance or regret
couched in the same terms. Another rule to be rigidly observed is,
that the acceptance or refusal must be written in the same person that
characterized the invitation. For instance: if "Mr. and Mrs. Algernon
Smith request the pleasure of the company of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph
Bronson at dinner, etc.," with equal stateliness "Mr. and Mrs. Joseph
Bronson accept with pleasure the kind invitation of Mr. and Mrs.
Algernon Smith." To do otherwise would imply ignorance of the very
rudiments of social or grammatical rules.

A friendly note of invitation, beginning somewhat after this fashion:
"Mr. Smith and I would be pleased to have you and Mr. Brown, etc.,"
would be accepted or declined in the same fashion and person, as: "Mr.
Brown and I accept with pleasure your kind invitation, etc." To answer
such an invitation with a formal acceptance, or regret, written in the
third person, as given above, would display profound ignorance of
social customs.

An acceptance or regret, written in the first person, receives the
signature of the writer, but one written in the third person remains
unsigned. To sign it would produce a confusion of persons and be
ungrammatical to the last degree. Another error to be avoided is that
of beginning in this fashion: "I accept with pleasure the kind
invitation of Mr. and Mrs. John Jones," this also producing a change
of person altogether inadmissible. Neither must one be betrayed into
the mistake of using the words, "will accept," thus throwing the
acceptance into the future tense, when, in reality, you _do_ accept,
in the present tense, at the moment of writing.

Accepting a Dinner Invitation.

Incumbent upon us as it is to answer the majority of our invitations
in either the affirmative or negative, there are degrees of necessity
even here, for, sin as we may in all other particulars, there is an
unwritten code like unto the laws of the Medes and Persians which
declareth that the invitations to a dinner are not to be lightly set
aside. First, an invitation to a dinner is the highest social
compliment that a host and hostess can pay to those invited, and,
second, the guests are limited in number and painstakingly arranged in
congenial couples by the careful hos