After the loss of a close relation, a woman pays no calls for six months. After that time, she may visit her intimates, but not on their at-home days. She may also attend concerts and theater matinées and the like, in a very quiet way. After a year, she may appear at small dinners, and at the theater in the evening, and the like. But box parties and all the elaborate functions, such for example as balls, must not be resumed until the period of mourning has expired.
Elderly women are likely to prefer a mourning garb for the remainder of their lifetime, after the death of a husband. In such cases, after perhaps two years, the widow’s bonnet and veil are given up, and nun’s veiling is substituted. While the gown remains black, the crêpe is omitted from it, and the mourning handkerchief is no longer carried. Jewelry is worn, but not of an ostentatious kind.
MUSICALES
THE MUSICALE is merely a formal at home where music is made a special feature of the entertainment. Throughout, the procedure is that of an at home, and the details are to be found in full in the chapter under that heading. The only formal difference is in the wording of the invitation, which makes mention of music as the feature.
The invitations are engraved, and may take either of the two usual forms, according to the choice of the hostess.
Mrs. George H. Baxter
requests the pleasure of
.......................................
company
at a musicale
on Friday evening, May first
at half-past nine o’clock
Twenty-seven Maple Street