HE genial custom of making New Year's calls has some privileges “more honored in the breach than in the observance;” but there are few persons in society who would wish to abolish the time-honored license of that festive season, however strenuously they may counsel wise reforms.

The formalities enforced in polite circles at other seasons are relaxed with the coming of the New Year, and it is proper to define the privileges of the day. Ladies are able to announce through the press their intention to receive, and those who are silent are exempt from calls, save the polite attentions of friends. Ladies determine whether they will be called upon at their own homes, or in the residence of some one of their set, and great economies of time and energy result from the fashionable innovation.

When no announcement is made as to the intention of a lady to receive elsewhere, her friends may safely wait upon her in her own home on New Year's Day.

The weather being usually severe in this country on the first of January, and festivities being the order of the day, it is necessary that express provision should be made for the comfort of the visitors, whose politeness challenges the hospitality of the household.  When many calls are expected,

two or more experienced servants should be in waiting in the hall to receive guests at the door, invite, and if necessary assist them to remove their wraps, precede them to the door of the drawing-room, and, when convenient, announce the arrival.

Guests on their entrance to the hall are expected to remove overcoats, hats and gloves, so that they can enter the drawing-room free to receive and offer salutations.

The veriest anchorite would prescribe refreshments for callers on New Year's Day, but some most estimable ladies in fashionable society are now favorable to the use of coffee, tea, and other harmless liquids, instead of the dangerous stimulants which a few years ago made it impossible for the caller to speak his mother tongue after he had made his calls.

When a hurried call is intended, the outer wraps may be left in the hall, and in such cases, although refreshments may be offered, they should not be urged.

Gloves should not be retained on their right hands by gentlemen whose business and pleasure for the day will consist mainly in meeting and offering salutations to their friends.

Cards must be presented by callers, and should be sent up to the reception-room while the visitors are preparing to be ushered into the presence of the ladies.

Calls cannot be prolonged by society men on New Year's Day as their round is so extensive, and fifteen minutes is considered quite a visit; but friends of the family are welcomed for a call of any duration that the ladies of the house can obtain. Gentlemen are not likely to remain unless they ascertain that their continued presence will be agreeable.

The reception-room should be warm and beautiful for the festive season, and the ladies will be the chief adornment. They will do the honors in full dress, offering hospitalities to all

comers, without inviting to excess. There are many forms in which refreshments may be presented with but little danger for even the weakest, and the palate is not the chief means for social delight.

Gentlemen making calls will present their cards, neatly written, engraved, or printed in script, to every lady taking part in the reception, as such cards are kept by ladies and treasured, the number received and other particulars being remembered for years.

Calls may be made on New Year's Day as early as ten in the morning, and as late as nine at night, but before that time evidences of fatigue become common.

Carriages may be used when making calls if the round of acquaintance is large, for the purpose of saving time as well as strength, but a gentleman may walk if he wishes, and his calls are few.

Sometimes young gentlemen who have no carriages of their own unite to hire for the occasion, each calling upon the ladies with whom his friends are acquainted, and being introduced by them. The round of civilities so enjoyed does not warrant gentlemen in calling subsequently without invitation.

A gentleman will not call on ladies with whom he has no acquaintance unless accompanied by some person qualified to make the presentation.

Ladies may be assisted in receiving New Year's calls by young friends who come to great cities from considerable distances, for the honor.

Lifelong friendships have sprung from and been cemented by the New Year's call, and there seems to be no reason to believe that the custom will die out. The tendencies of this country are so strongly in favor of business pursuits and money-making that no person need wish to see our few holidays eliminated from the social calendar.

Ladies who are constrained most willingly to remain at home on New Year's Day, signalize the two or three days following by making calls, in a manner of course lady-like and decorous, but genial, and the compliments of the season are varied by conversation on the incidents immediately preceding the call. It is unnecessary to give the rules of etiquette that

govern on that occasion, as they vary but slightly from the modes observed in ordinary calls, and are generally made where ties of friendship warrant freedom.

In Europe the New Year is not made the occasion for any such friendly license as we notice in this country; the chief hospitalities in England, for instance, being confined to Christmas, when families which may have been severed by business engagement all through the year, make great efforts to attend the re-union at home, proper to that time. Santa Claus in that country is unknown, but a strong likeness may be traced between that portly gentleman, with beard adorned by icicles, and old Father Christmas, who is known to be just as apt to fill the stockings of expectant youth. English novelists make strong points in their best works, of reconciliations brought about in family circles, after long and bitter feuds, by the charm of that hospitable season. Dickens has made the phase of old country life familiar in “The Pickwick Papers,” and in his “Christmas Chimes,” and other such annual presentations of the gaiety, common to the twenty-fifth of December; and our readers will remember that there is no system of calls forming part of the round of festivities. A certain exclusiveness is natural to Englishmen of whatever rank, and during Christmas tide while the Yule log sparkles on the hearth, the family, most sacred of institutions, is fortified by custom, so that very few, if any, would choose to ask admission to a strange fireside, unless warranted by introductions from dear and valued friends. Charities are widely dispensed at that season, to enable the poor to celebrate the glorious time, and those who are away from loved ones then, feel that their lot is peculiarly hard. The theaters produce pantomimes, peculiarly adapted to make youth hilarious, and bristling with puns of the most atrocious kind, to delight the elders, who find their highest pleasure in watching the faces of the young, as they dance with joy, when a policeman is overwhelmed with garden stuff, or Pantaloon has disappeared through a trap, after robbing some wayfarer of his dinner. It matters little what day is set apart for holiday-making, so that the heart is not wholly seared by business, and it is well to note the variations among kindred united by the Atlantic.

JEWELRY FOR GENTLEMEN.

Jewels are an ornament to women, but a blemish to men. They usually bespeak either effeminacy or a love of display, although a little concession in this respect may be made and keep within the bounds of good taste. The man of good taste will wear as little jewelry as possible. One handsome signet-ring on the little finger of the left hand, a scarf-pin which is neither large nor showy nor too intricate in its design, and a light, rather thin watch-guard with a cross-bar, are all that he ought to wear. But if he will wear more than this, let everything be real and good. False jewelry is an absolute vulgarity; its use arises from an attempt to appear richer or grander than its wearer is. Let it be simple. Elaborate studs, sleeve-buttons and links are all abominable. Diamonds and brilliants are quite unsuitable to men,

whose jewelry should never be conspicuous. A single diamond of great value may be worn on great occasions as a ring, but no more than one ring should ever be worn by a gentleman. Let it be distinguished rather by its curiosity than its brillance. An antique or bit of old jewelry possesses more interest than the most splendid production of the goldsmith's shop. Let it harmonize with the colors of your dress. Let it have some use. Men should never, like women, wear jewels for mere ornament. The precious stones are reserved for ladies, and even scarf-pins are more suitable without them. The wearing of orders, clasps, and ribbons, except on official or extraordinary occasions, can not be too severely condemned. If these are really given for merit they will add nothing to our fame; if, as in nine cases out of ten, they are bestowed merely because the recipient has done his duty, they may impose on fools, but will, if anything, provoke only awkward inquiries from sensible men.