Volume I Part 28 (1/2)
_This is to tell you again how very much I enjoyed the week-end at Pine Rock. We got into the city at five and Morgan brought me out home in a taxi. Mother is giving a small bridge this afternoon and so I found everyone busy, for while there is not a great deal to do it is impossible to get anyone to help do it._
_Tell Mr. Bevans that I am arranging for three or four tennis games next week, so that when I come again, if I don't win, I shall at least not be beaten quite so shamefully._
_Let me know when you come to town on your next shopping trip.
Perhaps we can arrange for lunch together somewhere._
_Very sincerely yours,_
_Helen R. Janis._
INVITATIONS TO THE THEATER AND OPERA
The host or hostess planning a theater or opera party should strive to have an equal number of men and women guests. For this reason, the person who receives an invitation should make prompt reply, so that if he or she is unable to attend, someone else can be asked to take the place. It is not necessary to have invitations engraved for these occasions; in fact, a brief note, written with just the correct degree of formality, yet with no sacrifice of cordiality, is much to be preferred. The following form is correct for theater or opera, changed to accord with the names, dates, and circ.u.mstances of the particular party:
_22 South Street, October 13, 19--_
_My dear Miss Johnson:_
_Mr. Roberts and I have planned to have a small group of friends hear ”Faust” at the Central Opera House, and we are hoping that you will be one of us. The time is Friday evening, the seventeenth of October. I have been fortunate enough to obtain a box in the parquet, where the eight of us who will comprise the party will be comfortably seated._
_If you are free to join us on that evening, Mr. Roberts and I will stop for you in the car at half past seven._
_Cordially yours,_
_Evelyn T. Roberts._
The acknowledgment must be made promptly. The host and hostess must not be kept waiting for a definite reply.
INVITATIONS TO MUSICALES AND PRIVATE THEATRICALS
A ceremonious drawing-room concert requires engraved invitations, issued at least two weeks in advance of the date decided upon. The two approved forms follow:
_Mrs. John M. Cook At Home Tuesday evening, October first at nine o'clock Ten, Farnhut Terrace Music_
or
Mr. and Mrs. John M. Cook request the pleasure of .......................'s company at a musicale on Tuesday evening the first of October at nine o'clock Ten, Farnhut Terrace
It is also permissible for the hostess to write in the lower left-hand corner of her visiting-card the following words, when she wishes to invite friends to hear a famous soloist or orchestra: ”Tuesday, October first, half past three o'clock, to hear Mischa Elman.” These cards are then posted to friends and acquaintances, and the recipient either accepts by attending, or sends his or her cards to the hostess' house while the entertainment is in progress, or shortly beforehand.
For private theatricals, invitations follow very much the same form as those used for musicales. The hostess may either add the phrase, ”Theatricals at nine o'clock,” to her invitation, or she may issue engraved cards requesting the pleasure of a friend's company at Private Theatricals. The word ”dancing” may be engraved in the left-hand corner of the card, if dancing is to follow the theatricals. It is courteous to send a reply to these invitations.
CHILDREN'S PARTY INVITATIONS
The invitation to the child's party is the one exception to the rule of simplicity. Children love color and decoration, and so etiquette very graciously permits them to have cards and invitations that boast colorful designs. For instance, in a well-known stationer's shop in New York, there are little sheets of pink note paper, in the upper corner of which is a little girl courtesying and smiling. Beneath the picture the words ”Won't you please come to my party?” are printed in fine italics. It makes most attractive stationery for the youngsters.
On stationery like that described above, mother might write in the following strain, providing the little host (or hostess) is not old enough to do the writing himself: