Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1875-07-30
French soirees-The simplicity of sO-
ciaI Entcrtainn ents.

Al Paris, that very paradise of cookery,
q Parisenne will bid you TO her house and
leave YOU 10 refresh exhausted nature with
a cup OF tea and sponge cake. In sum-
mer she may vary the entertainment by
offering you a glass of currant sirup and
cold water She would consider herself as
utterly ruined, in a financial point Of view,
did she conceive that an assemblage of
twenty or thirty people would require any
thing more substantial.
At entertain nents :on larger scale, as
soirees musicales, evening receptions, ETC.,
ices, coffee, sandwiches and a variety of
small cakes are usually handed round du-
ring the course of the evening, and that is
all. At the gTandest of grand balls the
supper is almost entirely composed Of cold
dishes-chicken, filet of beef, fish with
mayonnaise sauce, etc., with ices, cakes
and bon-Dons. If extra magniicence in
the m after of viands is aimed at, ii is sought
in the matter of unreasonable and costly
delicacies. Thus, at a ball which was Civ
en- during the month of February last, tue
feature of the supper was strawberries
served in unlimited profusion.
The substantially, the abundance, the
variety of an American ball supper, with
its terrapin, lis croquettes, its oysters
dressed in half dozen styles, its game
and sweet breads and chicken salad, its
ices and Charlotte Russo and meringues,
its fruit and flowers, its oceans of cham
pagne, rivers of hook and lakes of claret
punch, would make Partisan open his
eyes-ay, and his mouth as well.
1t must, however, be confessed that this
simplicity in the matter of food, which is
characteristic of French entertainments, is
a great encouragement TO the givers of
| soirees in general. With us, TO entertain
as other people do, requires not only a
| lengthy purse, but a degree of care and
forethought in the preparation for any fes-
tvity, which is very wearing on body and
mind alike. II Mrs. Quak kercity wishes to
invite fifty people to her house, her soul is
vexed within her, and her body is worn
| 10 a shadow with the magnitude of her
| preparations before the event can take
| place. Not so with Nine. la Marquise.
The purse of Nine. la Marqulse is but
| slender, and her rooms are all small
| Nevertheless, she shrinks not from bid
| ding her friends come 10 see her. Either
| she has, in pleasant sociable fashion, a reg
!
she is ''at home" TO all her friends and ac-
uuaintances, or else she organizes a little
soiree twice or thrice during the season.
| Fifty or sixty people, as many as her rooms
will conveniently hold, are invited.
The mistress Of the house provides some-
thing in the way of some good amateur
music a charade or two, acted in almost
professional style, bit of defamation, or
| POSSIBLY the presence of some literary or
artistic lion. Everybody comes, and every
body tries 10 make himself or herself as
agreeable as possible. Nobody turns up
his or her nose at the cup of tea, the deli
cately.cut sandwiches, the Tiny cakes that
are handed round during the course of the
evening. Nobody goes away groaning
Heavens how hungry / amp
Madame la Marquise cannot afford to
give her friends pate de JOie 9rds and hot
house strawberries, and they neither ex-
pect to have them nor blame her for moi
offering them. III she were obliged TO otte
costly and delicate viands to her friends
whenever she invited them TO her house
she would not be able to invite them at all
They recognize and enjoy the hospitality
which she offers them without expecting
anything more. But l should very muct
like to see a reception at home where tel
and sandwiches formed the sole refresh
menls OF the evening The comments o
the departing guests would be more audi
BILE than fialtering to the hostess, l an
afraid.
The dinner parties which form in Paris
very prominent feature Of social life, arr
exceedingly light in character. They con
sist of few courses which are served rap
idly. The guests are usually invited a
seven O'Clock, and are seldom detained a
table after tea. Music, either privats o.
professional, usually fills up the evening
-LiPpia0Ott's Magazine.