Cards are "due"—that is, must be delivered in person—to the host and hostess—one for each, after having enjoyed their hospitality at some formal function, dinner, ball, musicale, etc. If prevented from calling, a note must accompany the cards and be sent by messenger. Such cards are also "due" after a first invitation which you have been obliged to decline. These formal calls must be made within a week after the event.
Cards may be sent "by mail" in acknowledgment of an invitation to a church wedding; or, with the mention "congratulations" written by hand to one whose engagement is announced, or who is the father of a newly born baby. Cards of condolence, with the written words "with deepest sympathy," may be mailed (but, better, left in person) in cases of sorrow or bereavement.
Men rarely exchange cards, nowadays. However, a visitor in your city may be welcomed at his hotel by the cards of acquaintances that may have been half forgotten. Then, if he cares to renew the erstwhile intercourse, he calls or returns the cards. After formal "stag-parties," if a guest is not an intimate friend, it would be good form for him to leave a card at his entertainer's club or residence. In large cities this is done quite generally, as people there are more formal in their social ways. It is well, at all times, for one to remember that "courtesy in little things is a sure sign of good breeding."
Ladies' Cards.—As to color, printing, etc., the rules relating to gentlemen's visiting cards are to be followed. The size of a lady's card is fixed just now by custom at about 3⅛ × 2¼ inches.
If the lady is the oldest married woman in the oldest branch of the family she may omit any Christian name on her card; thus:
Mrs. Stewart,
25 Astor Place.
In any other case her card must contain her husband's full name, thus:
Mrs. James Gold Stewart,
25 Astor Place.