One who can read expression, perceives at a glance the difference between friendliness and polite aloofness.  When a lady is unusually silent, strictly impersonal in conversation, and entirely unapproachable, something is not to her liking.  The question is, what?  Or usually, whom?  The greatest blunder possible would be to ask her what the matter is.  The cause of annoyance is probably that she finds someone distasteful and it should not be hard for one whose faculties are not asleep to discover the offender and if possible separate them, or at least never ask them together again.

CHAPTER X

CARDS AND VISITS

=USEFULNESS OF CARDS=

Who was it that said—­in the Victorian era probably, and a man of course—­“The only mechanical tool ever needed by a woman is a hair-pin”?  He might have added that with a hair-pin and a visiting card, she is ready to meet most emergencies.

Although the principal use of a visiting card, at least the one for which it was originally invented—­to be left as an evidence of one person’s presence at the house of another—­is going gradually out of ardent favor in fashionable circles, its usefulness seems to keep a nicely adjusted balance.  In New York, for instance, the visiting card has entirely taken the place of the written note of invitation to informal parties of every description.  Messages of condolence or congratulation are written on it; it is used as an endorsement in the giving of an order; it is even tacked on the outside of express boxes.  The only employment of it which is not as flourishing as formerly is its being left in quantities and with frequency at the doors of acquaintances.  This will be explained further on.

=A CARD’S SIZE AND ENGRAVING=

The card of a lady is usually from about 2-3/4 to 3-1/2 inches wide, by 2 to 2-3/4 inches high, but there is no fixed rule.  The card of a young girl is smaller and more nearly square in shape. (About 2 inches high by 2-1/2 or 2-5/8 inches long, depending upon the length of the name.) Young girls use smaller cards than older ladies.  A gentleman’s card is long and narrow, from 2-7/8 to 3-1/4 inches long, and from 1-1/4 to 1-5/8 inches high.  All visiting cards are engraved on white unglazed bristol board, which may be of medium thickness or thin, as one fancies.  A few years ago there was a fad for cards as thin as writing paper, but one seldom sees them in America now.  The advantage of a thin card is that a greater quantity may be carried easily.

The engraving most in use to-day is shaded block.  Script is seldom seen, but it is always good form and so is plain block, but with the exception of old English all ornate lettering should be avoided.  All people who live in cities should have the address in the lower right corner, engraved in smaller letters than the name.  In the country, addresses are not important, as every one knows where every one else lives.  People who have town and country houses usually have separate cards, though not necessarily a separate plate.