Gilded Age Etiquette Queries of 1883

 Of course you must use the “Esq.” when directing your envelope to your gentleman friend. Wish the friend “Happy New-Year,” and thank him, and when your friend asks you to take cream, say “Thanks.” It is better taste for one lady to introduce her gentleman caller to another lady, if there are but few in the room, than not to do so.

Answers to Correspondents 

F. G. M. — There are many gifts suitable for a lady to give a gentleman, such as a book rack, an embroidered fire screen, a rug made of a leopard’s skin, a silver paper knife, an engraving handsomely framed, a scarf pin, a pair of silk socks knitted by the donor, a new book, English crystal bottles for his dressing stand, a foot rest to contain slippers, which may be made of plush and mounted on ebonized wood, a plaque of porcelain to adorn his room, a pair of sleeve-buttons, a quaint thermometer, a stylographic pen, a pair of antlers to use as a hat rack, or a card case, note-books, stationery, etc…

AN IGNORANT GIRL — Of course you must use the “Esq.” when directing your envelope to your gentleman friend. Wish the friend “Happy New-Year,” and thank him, and when your friend asks you to take cream, say “Thanks.” It is better taste for one lady to introduce her gentleman caller to another lady, if there are but few in the room, than not to do so.

H. J. — If the lady of the house is not at home to introduce the young lady, the gentlemen must retire, leaving their cards.

LUCIE — You will find illustrations of braided basques in Bazar Nos. 40, 42, and 43, Vol. XV. Use small bullet-shaped crocheted buttons on a cloth jacket. Get lady’s cloth, and send for woolen plaid in dark Madras colors not in Scotch plaids. Dark green cloth, with felt hat to match, would suit you.

L. A. C. — Ficelle-colored, tan, or écru cloth or cashmere will make a handsome over-dress to use with your garnet velvet skirt; and there is now such a fancy for red and green together that you might have a green polonaise of cloth or of brocade of mixed red and green.

MABEL — We can not advise you or any one else how to dispose of any kind of articles.

ELEANOR R. — It is in very bad taste for a layman to assume clerical costume.

A SUBSCRIBER.— Consult a dealer about the publication of your card designs.

MRS. E. G. B. — We do not issue New Year’s invitations in New York. Ladies sometimes send their cards, but even that fashion is passing away.— Volume XVI, Number 2: Harper's Bazar, 1883

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