se of visiting cards: The object of leaving cards is to signify
that a call has been made, due civility shown, and a like civility
expected in return.

Leaving cards, or card-leaving, is one of the most important of social
observances, as it is the ground-work or nucleus in general society of
all acquaintanceships. Leaving cards, according to etiquette, is the
first step towards forming, or towards enlarging, a circle of
acquaintances, and the non-fulfilment of the prescribed rules is a sure
step in the opposite direction. The following is the received code of
card-leaving in all its details according to the etiquette observed in
good society by both ladies and gentlemen, and should be faithfully
followed.

* * * * *

=A Lady's Visiting Card= should be printed in small, clear copper-plate
script, and free from any kind of embellishment as regards ornamental
or Old English letters. It should not be a thin card, and should be
three inches and five eighths in width, and slightly under two and a
half in depth.

The name of the lady should be printed in the centre of the card, and
her address in the left-hand corner. If she has a second address, it
should be printed in the opposite corner of the card. If the second
address is but a temporary one, it is usually written and not printed.

A married lady should never use her christian name on a card; but she
should use her husband's christian name before her surname if his father
or elder brother is living.

It is now considered old-fashioned for husbands and wives to have their
names printed on the same card, although at watering-places, the
practice of having the two names on the same card, "Mr. and Mrs. Dash,"
is still occasionally followed; but even when these cards are used, a
lady and gentleman still require separate cards of their own.

A lady having a large acquaintance should keep a visiting book, in which
to enter the names of her acquaintances, and the date when their cards
were left upon her, with the dates of her return cards left upon them,
that she might know whether a card were due to her from them, or whether
it were due to them from her.

A lady having a small acquaintance would find a memorandum book
sufficient for the purpose; a line should be drawn down the centre of
every page, dividing it into two columns, the one column for the names,
and the opposite column for the dates of the calls made and returned.

Leaving c