ANSWERING INVITATIONS.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 770, 19 March 1910, Page 11

ANSWERING INVITATIONS.

(By.;"An Fait,"' in the "Queen.")

-. Invitations are issued, as everyone is aware, in the third person to all large tatherings, : afternoon or evening, to Baren party or evening party, to- wedding or dance, and also to dinner partiee when they are .outside of. small dinners. It would be almost an infliction to do other-

wise than send'printed cards bearing the invitations ■ versus notes; but what is necessary as regards inviting hundreds of guests fails to be so;when it applies to units,, and merely ainounts to one "note of acceptance in each case. Having accounted for. £he. reason the third- person is invariably employed by givers of.'ihvitatibns,. it'should be "said tbat if "the slightest, friendship exists • between the giver and the receiver of an invitation, the third pteion should not lie eriiployed by: the 1 latter-in ;'oitk'er a' note-of, "acceptance '01 , "refusal,-" ifwoul'd . appear"'cold and '< unfriendly ' and over-formal. :■''; 3etween' slight acquaintances it is altogether different, and they write short note's in the third person as a- matter, of course. Anyone who has a large acquaintance in town makes nso of printed cards of acceptance r or refusal to invitations to dinners, receptions, wedding^'etc; l In:the official world this is imperative l -a forec&nclusiqn, as'it'were-^and'ilso with those member's of-society whose acqnaint- ! arices. are numbered by many hundreds. I With :those'who , .'have recourse; to notes —and. they-.are .the large-majority in daily life—the ■ substance of the note ia the point to be considered. It must of necessity be a brief one, and merely ombody the reply, apart from other subjects of interest." Between slight -acquaintances the teuali form of acceptance runs thus:."Mr. and Mrs. A. have much .'pleasure in accepting Mr. and Mrs. B.'s invitation to be present at their, daughter's wedding on Tuesday, February 21," or "Mr. and Mrs A." have .'much pleasure in acceptirig'-Mr/and .Mrs. .B'.'s invitation to'be present • at,the marriage -, of, their daughter ~.Eva .with' Mr.'.'Edwari'C., on Monday, Tebruary 21."- ' . '. , Notes of refusal, also written in the ■third person, 'arc- slightly less brief, as the reason for the refusal, if possible; is given. The plea, of "a previous engagement" is now-seldom advanced, and the actual: cause of refusal.'is frankly stated, which generally. amounts to absence from home or indisposition, ,nnd notes of refusal run in : this wise: "Mr. and Mrs. A. very much yegret they ; will not abe to accept Mr", arid Mrs. B.'s invitation to be present at the marriage of their daughter Eva with Mr. Edward C. on Tuesday, Pebrnary 21, as they are leaving town in a few days,-and will be absent some little.tamo." Notes : written in the first person are no.less concise. 'To give a reason for refusal is considered frank and friendly," 'and therefore it forms part of notes of refusal as a general rule. All notes, it ] may be said, concerning acceptances and" refusals ■ to invitations given to society functions run very much in the'groove above.described. Some .are more original and less commonplace, it : is true; but the majority br writers keep; to the beaten track, and confine themseslves. to the matter in hand without complimentary circumlocution. There. are many occasions on which notes have fo be written in the third person—notes of congratulation! condolence, excuses, and so on, all of which re-quii-e a little. care ,in their- construction. For instance, when a call cannot be made owing to distance upon the ; mother of a bride or upon the bride herself ■by a comparative stranger, a note of excuse i has. to : be written and neatly expressed, [ and the actual reason for not acknowledging by a subsequent .call.the hospitality received, of for' not mating' a bridal call upon a newly-married pair is stated in each instance. ,■ ■ . . - -v -. .

Notes of acceptance and refusal of dinner invitations are also subject to the same variations—that is to say, between slight acquaintances:the third person is employed,; and between Wends the .first person.,: On ■ these occasions "a previous engagement" has to, be'.pleaded, as.it is a freguent bar. to acceptance.; The ; notes in the third : person are brevity itself.

■■'..■•', ■ ~". I-V-: . : ..■ ■■■:'. ■'■' '.; ,'-.. ; Crusty'Father- ; -"What was going on in the dining-room last night when yonng Softleigh called?"-: Daughter—"This ring, pa, dearr Isn't it, lovely?" / ;