Twentieth Century Culture and Deportment / Or the Lady and Gentleman at Home and Abroad; Containing Rules of Etiquette for All Occasions, Including Calls; Invitations; Parties; Weddings; Receptions; Dinners and Teas; Etiquette of the Street; Public Places, Etc., Etc. Forming a Complete Guide to Self-Culture; the Art of Dressing Well; Conversation; Courtship; Etiquette for Children; Letter-Writing; Artistic Home and Interior Decorations, Etc.

by Maud C. Cooke

Breakfasts, Luncheons and Suppers.

Breakfast invitations may be engraved or written upon a lady’s visiting card, thus:

A written invitation is usually in the first person, and should read somewhat as follow:

Dear Mrs. Gracie:

I should be pleased to have the company of you and your husband at breakfast with us, Wednesday morning at ten o’clock.

Cordially yours,
Mrs. George Horton.Gertrude Horton.

The invitations should be sent out a week or five days in advance, and should be answered at once.

Luncheons, in this country, are very apt to possess much of the formality of a dinner, and are written or engraved, according to the degree of stateliness that is to mark the occasion. Very formal invitations are sent out ten days or two weeks in advance, and are couched in precisely the same terms as a dinner invitation, save that the word “Luncheon” is substituted for “Dinner.” Written invitations, also, follow the same plan as those written for dinners, and are not usually issued more than a week or five days in advance. Some ladies use their visiting card, thus: Mrs. Frank E. Wentworth. Luncheon, Wednesday, at one o’clock.

A later hour, say two o’clock, is usually adopted for a more formal affair. Replies should be sent at once that the hostess may be enabled to make up her table.