Making calls

Saturday 25^th (January)

I arose rather late and did my accustomed work, commenced a pair of baby socks knit on them until dinner time. After dinner I continued knitting until I was obliged to stop for two reasons, 1^st to see Libby get in a buggy to take a ride with Mr. Hunt, 2^nd to prepare to make calls with Eve Marshall. I made several but did not find all on whom I called at home. Returned quite late and again resumed my knitting and before I went to bed finished the socks and washed them.

Contacting a friend is complicated. There are no telephones, cell phones, or email services. People have four options: send a telegraph (between major cities), mail a letter (considered impersonal within the city), have a servant carry a note to the friend’s home, or go in person. If they make a call (go in person), their friend may be away making calls on others. This will be worked out by the time the Cincinnati Society Blue Book is published in 1879. The listing for Serena’s sister Libby will show that she and her daughter Libbie R. are “at home” on Wednesdays. They will stay home that day to entertain any friends that come to call.

Ladies and gentlemen carry small cards, printed with their names, to leave with the servant who opens the friend’s door. According to the Cincinnati Blue Book, they might bend the corner of their card to indicate that their call is a visit (upper right corner), for congratulations (upper left corner), for condolence (lower left corner), or to say adieu (lower right corner). If the friend is at home, the servant carries in the card to announce the visitor. If not, the cards remain in a tray on the entrance hall table. The cards might also be delivered without calling, indicating an inability to call in person. Etiquette will become elaborate. For example: “The custom is for a lady, about to be married, to enclose her card in an unsealed envelope, which the servant should deliver; the lady not leaving the carriage” (Thomson 799).

The 1850 Federal Census shows Eveline Marshall, age nineteen, living in the 9^th Ward of Cincinnati with Heatley Marshall, age fifty-four, Laura Marshall, age sixteen and Charles Marshall, age thirteen. The young people own real estate valued at $4000 each for the girls and $10,000 for Charles. They may have inherited it from their mother or their grandparents. Eve Marshall is not listed as a graduate of Wesleyan Female College in the Commencement Exercise Programs from 1845 through 1859 (The Alumna 1859:46-75).