"AT HOME" DAYS
=An "At Home"= day signifies that a lady is at home to her friends and
acquaintances on one particular day in the week. She should intimate
this fact by printing upon her visiting cards the days on which she is
at home. Thus: "Thursdays in March," or "Thursdays in March and April,"
or any day of the week she thinks proper to name. These cards she should
leave in person on those who are not at home when she calls, or they can
be sent by post. Those she finds at home she should inform that her "at
home" day is "Thursday." She should not leave her visiting card in this
case, only two of her husband's cards, and the "at home" day should not
be written upon them.
On the "at home" day, calls should be made from three to six, or from
four to six. The first comers should leave before the afternoon tea hour
and should limit their call according to the degree of intimacy
existing, remaining from a quarter of an hour to an hour, as the
case may be.
* * * * *
=A Hostess or her Daughter should pour out the Tea= on these "at home"
days when tea is not served in the dining-room as at "at homes," which
should be done when the number of visitors is very considerable.
The popularity of a hostess is tested on these "at home" days by the
number of visitors who call during the afternoon, and when "at home"
days are not a success, socially speaking, she should discontinue them
after a certain time, and should substitute an occasional "at home."
It depends not a little on the social standing of the lady who has an
"at home" day and upon the locality in which she lives, as to whether
the "at home" day is a failure or the reverse. In the outlying districts
of town it has its advantages, when to make a call amounts to almost a
journey, and when acquaintances are few in the immediate neighbourhood.
Again, it has its advantages when ladies are much occupied during the
week, and when their time is given up to an engrossing occupation,
charitable or artistic, at home or away from home, literary or
scientific, at studios, museums and public institutions, etc., work
undertaken for their own amusement, profit, or advancement, or for the
benefit of others. To these ladies an "at home" day is a convenience.
One day in the week is all they can allow themselves apart from their
important engagements, and to them quiet privacy and leisure are
indispensable. Fashionable ladies consider an "at home" day to be a
great tax upon their time and inclinations. Their engagements are too
numerous to admit of giving up one whole afternoon in every week on the
chance of people calling. Not only longstanding but impromptu
engagements preclude this sacrifice. It would be a breach of politeness
not to be at home to callers on an "at home" day, and many things might
occur to necessitate absence from home on that particular afternoon. If,
however, absence is unavoidable, a relative might take the place of the
hostess on the "at home" day in question.
The people who thoroughly enjoy "at home" days are those who have more
time on their hands than they know what to do with. The few calls they
have to make are soon made, the few friends they have to see are soon
seen, occupation they have none, and they are grateful for the
opportunity "at home" days offer of meeting their friends and finding a
hostess at home.