drawing-room. He should take charge of the hats and overcoats of the visitors.

Gentlemen, in making calls on this day, should lay aside the hat and overcoat before entering the parlor. The call should be made in morning dress. It should be brief and as cordial as possible. It should not last over ten or fifteen minutes. Cards are invariably delivered to the servant in charge of the door.

Where refreshments are set out, gentlemen will partake of them only after being invited to do so by the hostess. Where wine is offered, be cautious in the use of it, especially if many calls are to be made. The best bred persons

are discontinuing the use of wine at New Year Receptions. It is a practice. which encourages dissipation among young men, and is to be approved only under exceptional circumstances. As a rule, intoxicating beverages should not be provided on such occasions.

Ladies must wear full dress at New Year Receptions. It adds to the effect of the toilette and the appearance of the drawing-room to partially close the blinds of the windows and light the gas.

It is customary to provide refreshments. They should be spread with taste and liberality upon a table conveniently located in the drawing-room. They may be dispensed with for a sufficient reason.

A gentleman may call at the house of a friend, whether he knows the family are receiving or not. If they are not receiving, leave your card. In some cities families not receiving calls close the front windows of the house, and hang a tasteful basket from the knob of the front door. The visitor simply deposits his card in the basket, without ringing the bell.

New Year's calls should not be made before 10 A. M., nor after 9 P. M. Some persons receive up to a much later hour, but this is bad taste. By nine o'clock the ladies are thoroughly fatigued, and in no humor to entertain visitors.

Where you have many calls to make, it is best to procure a carriage, if you have not one of your own. Write out a list of names and addresses in the order in which you wish to make your calls, and give the list to the driver, who will then know how to direct his movements. In New York, where wine is the custom, this is a very necessary precaution for the "young bloods." Gentlemen may make calls either singly or in parties. should call together.

Not more than four

The second day of January is called "the Ladies' Day." They then make their New Year's calls upon their lady friends. In New York and some other cities, these calls are very ceremonious, and the hostess makes as ample provision for them as for those of the previous day.

Ladies preserve the cards of their New Year's callers. They constitute a pleasant reminiscence of the occasion, and are often useful for reference. By comparing those of one season with another, a lady may see which of her friends remain in society.

C

Etiquette of the Table,

It is of the highest importance that all persons should conduct themselves with the strictest regard to good breeding, even in the privacy of their own homes, when at table. A neglect of such observance will render one stiff and awkward in society.

Mere friendly dinners should be conducted with the strictest regard to etiquette, but more freedom may be observed than at formal dinner-parties; nor need one make such an elaborate display.

Dining ought to rank among the Fine Arts. A knowledge of dinner-table etiquette is all-important in many respects; but chiefly in this: that it is regarded as one of the strong tests of good breeding. Persons new to society may master its simpler forms-such as dropping cards, paying visits, mixing in evening parties, and so on; but dining is the great trial. The rules to be observed at table are so numerous and so minute in respect of detail, that they require the most careful study; and the worst of it is that none of them can be violated without exposing the offender to instant detection, and for this reason, that those accustomed to good society cannot err in particulars in which others are pretty certain to commit themselves. For example, a gentleman could not by any chance pour sherry into a claret glass, or drink anybody's health, or put his knife in his mouth; nor could a lady ask twice for soup, or bite a piece off her bread. These may seem small points, but things are large or small, important or unimportant, by comparison; and, moreover, society judges of character and accomplishments by trifles.

For this latter reason, if for no other, the Etiquette of the Dinner-table, as unfolded in these pages, would repay the closest attention.

The Invitations.

In giving a dinner-party, the great question is, Who to invite?

Upon this point there hinges a second of almost equal importance, namely, How many are to be invited?

Taking the second difficulty first, we may say that a dinner-party may consist of any number with one exception; there are not to be thirteen at table, because some persons entertain a foolish superstition with regard to that number, and we have known those who would decline to sit down rather than make the thirteenth.

Large dinners are a mistake, though, of course, political, business, family, and other reasons, often necessitate their being given.

Six or eight is a comfortable number for a dinner. We prefer an even to an edd number; the gue.ts are then paired, though all present should unite for the general entertainment, instead of breaking up into knots, as is inevitably the case where a dozen or more persons sit down.

Of course, if a dinner is given merely as an opportunity for display, it does not matter how many are invited, so that the resources of the establishment (and of the pastrycook) are equal to the occasion.

In the latter case, too, it does not much matter who is asked; the host has only to group his guests to the best of his ability.

But when the object is that a dinner shall be enjoyed, it is quite as important to ask, "Who?" as to determine how many.

There is nothing which party-giving people fail in so lamentably as the right

selection and assortment of their guests. How often must it be repeated, that it is not enough to make the most perfect arrangements for receiving company if those invited are hopelessly unsuited to one another? The effect of bringing together an incongruous mass of people is certain and inevitable; nothing but failure can attend it. There is, we are aware, the difficulty of the people one must ask; but many dinner-givers seem to have no tact, no sagacity, no perception of the fitness of things, and when they have a power of choice do not exercise it. They think one wealthy man must be glad to meet another wealthy man, one lawyer another lawyer, and so on.

Having decided on the guests to be asked, send out the invitations a reasonable time before the day fixed on for the dinner. In the height of the season

in town, this should be three weeks before; but under ordinary circumstances, a fortnight is sufficient, and, in the country, a week or ten days.

All invitations—even those to the most intimate friends-should be by note. Forms are to be obtained at stationers'; but if the note is written, let it be on the very best paper, small note size.

The invitation is in the name of both the lady and gentleman of the house, and should be written in the third person, and may assume this form:

"Mr. and Mrs. request the pleasure of Mr. and Mrs. -'s company at dinner, on Wednesday, Aug. -th, at o'clock."

Instead of "pleasure," the word "favor" is sometimes used. The answer must agree with the invitation, in being written in the third person, and on

small note-paper. It may run :

"Mr. and Mrs.

have great pleasure in accepting Mr. and Mrs. invitation to dinner on the ―th."

S

If it is necessary to decline the invitation, the note assumes this form: "Mr. and Mrs. regret, that owing to a previous engagement, they cannot have the pleasure of accepting Mr. and Mrs. -'s kind invitation for the-th."

If any other reason besides that of a prior engagement prevents the invitation being accepted, it should be stated.

Whether accepting or declining, a reply to an invitation to dinner should always be returned immediately or at the very earliest convenience.

When practicable, invitations should be sent by the hands of a servant rather than through the post; but this is a remnant of punctiliousness which "railway manners" are rapidly sweeping away.

Dinner Dress.

Dressing for dinner only presents points of difficulty to the ladies; the rule to be followed by gentlemen is simple enough.

Several considerations serve to embarrass the gentler sex. For a "great" dinner, a lady dresses in a style which would be extravagant and out of keeping with a "small" dinner; yet the invitation is in both cases couched in the same terms. Moreover, a dinner is often the prelude to an evening party, or a visit to the opera, or some other form of amusement; and the style of dress must be suited to these contingencies also.

One or two general rules may be laid down.

Full dinner dress means a low dress; the hair arranged with flowers or other ornaments; and a display of jewelry, according to taste. For a grand dinner, a lady dresses as elaborately as for a ball; but there is a great distinction between a ball dress and a dinner dress. Let no misguided young belle who is invited to a great house rush to the conclusion that it will be right for her to appear in a dress she has worn in a ball-room. The style of thing required i wholly different. In the ball-room everything should be light, floating, diaph