Page:Side talks with girls (1895).djvu/20

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8
Side Talks with Girls

for not keeping a dinner engagement, and even then a polite man would send the undertaker to apologize for him."

ABOUT YOUR CALLS

I know it to be true that when you came to town you had for a visiting-card a faintly tinted stiff one, on which was written your name, "Elinor Pegram," in a fine Italian hand heavily shaded. Fortunately for you, your hostess saw this and kept you from making a faux pas. In the place of those rose-tinted ones, happily consigned to their proper resting-place, the waste-basket, you now have rather thin white cards, almost square, with, as you are the oldest daughter, and as your middle name is your mother's maiden one, "Miss Cholmondeley Pegram," engraved upon them. Your visiting-card represents you, and consequently it must be in good taste. This form is desirable because, seeing it, old friends who knew your mother as "pretty Elinor Cholmondeley," will recognize you as her daughter, and make an effort to show you some special courtesies. When visiting leave a card for the lady of the house and for each daughter in society. When you cannot go to a reception or a tea your cards represent you. When you do go you leave your card either with a servant who holds