observer and self addressed stamped envelope

Why do Southern women (of the “leisure class”) rarely become artists or business executives or activists or writers? Too many thank-you notes to write. You’ve heard the joke: Why don’t Southern women like group sex? Too many thank-you notes to write.Įxtend the conceit a little further. None of that cut-to-the-chase Yankee practice of providing invitees with a self-addressed stamped envelope and card, check “yes” or “no.”īeing a Southern female, born not with silver spoon in mouth but with fountain pen in hand, means not only having to say you’re sorry (or happy, or grateful) but having to do so in epistolary form. On the correct paper (heavy vellum, single sheet) with the correct color ink. accept the kind invitation of for the wedding of to ” at place, date, etc. Initiate, reciprocate, visit, call, sustain, heal, advise, entertain, worry, soothe, repair.Īnd the wedding invitations were Southern, hence had to be answered in the traditional, formal style: “Mr. That’s the difference between men and women, I angrily (and, yes, whinily) thought: the damn social thing-we can’t live without it, but we’re the ones who have to do it. Instead, I was making a list of things I had to buy and do: two wedding presents, one baby present, two sympathy notes, a humorous birthday present, a serious birthday present, thank-you notes, a get-well card, an acceptance of a wedding invitation, a refusal of a wedding lunch. Riding the Madison Avenue uptown bus recently, I sat next to a man reading W.G.

Observer and self addressed stamped envelope