respect is either agreeable or discreet. In the latter case, let your
card speak _for_ you, and at "long range"--the longer the better.

CARD-LEAVING BY PROXY

One of the peculiar permissions of "good form" is that which allows a
man to delegate the distribution of his visiting-cards to a near female
relative, whenever it becomes impracticable for him to attend to the
matter personally. Only the women of his own household, or a relative
with whom he habitually pays visits, can thus represent a man by proxy.

In this country, where most society men--certainly the better
element--are "business men," whose days are filled with earnest work
and crowned with the achievements of industry, it is not to be expected
that men of affairs will always be ready to respond to social
invitations, or to pay all the calls of civility which fashion decrees
shall be paid during the hours usually devoted to business. In theory,
each man and woman in society is supposed to attend to his or her own
social duties. _While it is expected that a man will make all
reasonable effort to do this, and that he will not altogether neglect
it_, still, so long as he occasionally appears personally, with a
genial demeanor that proves the sincerity of his "good intentions," it
will be accepted in good part if, in a large number of instances, his
card, instead of himself, appears, brought by another hand. But let
men remember that the "good excuse" must be obvious. Any suspicion of
indifference robs the proxy card-leaving of all effect as a compliment.

In case a man is legitimately prevented, by business cares, from paying
calls or leaving his cards in person, it is proper for his wife or
mother or sister, or other near relative, to leave or send his card
with her own. When a woman calls upon another woman she leaves her
husband's card. If the hostess is married, a second card is left for
the host. She may leave the cards of a son, a brother, or other
relative, if such responsibility rests upon her. This formality should
be observed when paying the first call of the season.

While every well-informed woman should know that it is her place to
leave her husband's cards for him, it is a fact that many women,
otherwise attentive to social forms, habitually neglect this particular
duty. The result is that the man who has not time to pay visits
becomes a social nonentity, and society, in some circles, is simply a
"world of women." Why does the