This Department is conducted in the interest of Girls and Young Women, and the Editor will be pleased to answer any question on the subject so far as possible. Correspondents should address Editor.
I have talked to you about notes and letters in a previous number of the paper, but some of my Round Table readers ask to have the subject treated again, with special attention to correspondence of a ceremonious character.
A note of invitation should be very cordial, affectionate, and explicit. You should state clearly in such a note the day and train which you would like your friend to take, and the length of time you expect her to stay with you. Formerly it was regarded as inhospitable to limit in any way the duration of a friend's visit, but we understand now that it is more convenient and comfortable for all concerned to have the precise number of days or weeks indicated. This arrangement enables your friends to make other engagements, and leaves you free to invite other friends if, as often happens, you can have the pleasure of entertaining successive guests during a summer. Let me give you some examples.
Mary Hills wishes to ask Abby Lewis to spend a week with her at Dove's Nest in the Catskills, Mary's country home. Her letter of invitation might be written as follows:
Dove's Nest, Tannersville P.O., New York.
Dearest Abby,—It seems very long since I saw you. Mamma and I were talking last night about the delightful visit we had at your home just before the Van Blarcoms went abroad. It is very lovely at Dove's Nest now, and we are anxious to have you see the place while our sweet-pease and nasturtiums are in bloom. Won't you come on Thursday, the twentieth, by the ten-o'clock train (West Shore), and stay with me till Monday, the thirty-first? I will meet you at the station on Thursday afternoon. We have a new golf course, and all sorts of pleasant things are going on.
Hoping soon to see you, I am, dear Abby,
Yours lovingly,
Mary Hills.
July fifteenth, eighteen—
Abby's reply would probably be somewhat like this: