carried in the inside pocket of a frock coat, or if
small enough more conveniently in the waistcoat pocket. Card cases
should be stamped with initials or have a silver monogram. Visiting
cards should never be carried loose in the pocket. A card is left in
person the day after a dinner, luncheon, or breakfast, or within a week
at latest after a ball. Civility must be returned by civility, and cards
must be left on every occasion on which a call is necessary. Cards
should not be sent by mail, unless when about to leave the country, or
under circumstances where it is impossible to make a personal call. On
leaving the country you should write the initials P. P. C. (_pour
prendre conge_) in the right-hand corner. In New York many men send
cards by mail, offering the excuse that the city is too large to get
about to make personal calls. This is only a flimsy pretext, and should
have no weight.

The question of how many cards to leave is one which seems to bewilder
most people. The general rule is a card to each person. This will have
to be explained. When you call on Mr. and Mrs. Smith you must leave a
card for each--two cards. When you call on Mr. and Mrs. Smith and the
Misses Smith, three cards, the young ladies counting as a unit. For Mr.
and Mrs. Smith, the Misses Smith, and their married daughter Mrs. Jones
staying with them, four cards--Mrs. Jones being entitled to the fourth.
If Mr. Jones is also stopping at the Smiths leave an extra card for him.
For Mrs. Smith (widow) and the Misses Smith, two cards. For Mr. Smith
(widower) and the Misses Smith, two cards.

In mailing cards, address them on the envelope "Mrs. Smith, the Misses
Smith," or "Mr. and Mrs. John Brown-Smith"; "The Misses Brown-Smith,"
the one under the other. Never write on your cards "For Mr. and Mrs.
John Brown-Smith." It is bad form. Never leave cards for people who have
not asked you to call. When friends from another city, who have
entertained you or who have been polite to you, should arrive in your
own city, you should immediately call and leave cards for them. In that
case, should you even not be acquainted with their host and hostess, it
would be civil to leave cards also for them.

After a wedding, if invited to the reception, you must personally leave
cards at the house where the reception has been given for your host and
hostess, and also for the young couple when they return from their
bridal trip. Two cards at each place will be sufficient