in this case.
When invited to the church only, leave or send cards to the bride's
parents and the young couple. As the card to the church only, is rather
an equivocal compliment, mailing cards in this case could be excused.
Leave personally cards for the patroness who has asked you to a
subscription ball, within a week after the invitation. In cases of
death, leave cards within a fortnight. In answer to letters of
condolence, it is best to send your cards with the words "Thank you for
your kind sympathy" written thereon. For mourning, use the same size or
style of card, but with a narrow or deep border as befits the nearness
of degree of relationship with the deceased. The deepest border
permissible is about a quarter of an inch.

It is bad form to bend cards or to turn down the corners thereof. These
signs mean nothing now in good society. In calling--it may be repeated
here--you ask, if there are more than one of the fair sex in the house,
for "the ladies," and hand the servant the number of cards necessary. He
takes them on a silver salver and leaves them in the hall, goes before
you, and announces you. Your card is never taken to the lady of the
house, unless it is a business call.

CHAPTER VII.

THE DINER-OUT.

When I speak of the "diner-out," I include under this title the bachelor
guest not only at dinners, but also at luncheons and at suppers. The
formal breakfast is a festivity of the past, and the first meal in a
household is purely a family affair. However, luncheons on Sunday at one
or two o'clock are in New York frequently called breakfasts, because I
believe many fashionable people do not want the impression to go abroad
that even once a week they dine in the middle of the day. The luncheon
after a day wedding ceremony is also called a breakfast, but this, like
the Sunday meal, is simply a title by courtesy.

_Luncheons_, where men are guests, are popular entertainments at all the
large summer resorts, such as Newport, Long Branch, Bar Harbor, as well
as at the more celebrated of the Western and Pacific watering places
and the winter cities of the South. In New York and other great
centers, where there exists a number of gentlemen of leisure, these
entertainments are greatly in vogue, and in Washington they sometimes
assume the color of diplomatic functions.

The hour for a luncheon is half past one o'clock, and sometimes it is
advanced to two. All guests are expected to be punctual to the