We may say that cards have changed less in the history of
etiquette and fashion than anything else. They, the shifting
pasteboards, are in style about what they were fifty--nay, a
hundred--years ago.

The plain, unglazed card with fine engraved script cannot be
improved upon. The passing fashion for engraved autographs, for
old English, for German text, all these fashions have had but a
brief hour. Nothing is in worse taste than for an American to put
a coat-of-arms on his card. It only serves to make him ridiculous.

A lady should send up her card by a servant, but not deliver it to
the lady of the house; a card is yourself, therefore if you meet a
lady, she does not want two of you. If you wish to leave your
address, leave a card on the hall table. One does right in leaving
a card on the hall table at a reception, and one need not call
again. An invitation to one's house cancels all indebtedness. If a
card is left on a lady's reception, she should make the next call,
although many busy society women now never make calls, except when
they receive invitations to afternoon teas or receptions.

When a gentleman calls on ladies who are at home, if he knows them
well he does not send up a card; the servant announces his name.
If he does not know them well, he does send up a card. One card is
sufficient, but he can inquire for them all. In leaving cards it
is not necessary to leave seven or eight, but it is customary to
leave two--one for the lady of the house, the other for the rest
of the family or the stranger who is within their gates. If a
gentleman wishes particularly to call on any one member, he says
so to the servant, as "Take my card up to Miss Jones," and he