A public ball begins promptly at the time
mentioned in the announcement.

INVITATIONS. These are issued from ten to
twenty days before the ball, and should be
answered immediately.

For an impromptu dance, they may be
issued within a few days of the affair.

These invitations should be engraved. As
a general rule, it is not now customary to put
on them the letters R. S. V. P.

But when an engraved invitation is posted,
two envelopes are used, the inner one bearing
the person's name only and unsealed, and
the outer bearing both the name and address
and sealed.

If the ball has any peculiar feature, as a
masquerade or costume, the invitation should
have some words to that effect in the lower
left hand corner--as, Costume of the XVIIth
Century, Bal Masque, or Bal Poudre.

INVITATIONS ASKED FOR STRANGERS. If a
hostess receives a request from friends for
invitations for friends of theirs, she can properly