Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1879-04-17
ENGLISH TABLE DECORATIONS,
Flowers and Table. Cloths,


Boston Transcript
The New York florists have an
agreeable fashion of sending their Gus
toners names to the newspapers, and
informing the United States and the
rest Of the universe that Mr.. So-and-
Sos table was decorated with this,
that or the other, and that at each
guests plate was set a glass contain
ing a choice blossom or an expensive
bouquet. In England this work is
mere deliberately done, although with
no public parade, and especially in
those great houses which have large
gardens and lighthouses and a gardener
with a large staff of assistants. Each
of these men works upon a plan of his
own, and the result, although less ex-
pensive, is often more beautiful than
that produced by town florists, and is
almost always original. Sometimes
the shape of the garden beds is repro
duced in shape upon the table, the
flowers and foliage plants springing
from a foundation Of lycopOdium, a
method Of decoration involving an
immense amount of work, and oceu-
pying all the time between luncheon
and dinner. Very large plants are
sometimes used, some which are en-
ployed being so tall that it is neces-
sary to place the pot containing them
on the floor and allow their stem and
leaves to pass through a hole in the
center of the temporary table leaf
which is used when a fountain forms
part of the decoration. 1t is thought
that these tall plants should always
be feathery, so as not to Obstruct the
view, for the decorators do not follow
the plan that they did in the days of
Thackeray. when a man was compelled
to peer at his opposite neighbor
through a forest as thick as those of
the Amazon, Foliage plants in bright
cOlors are in greater favor than bios
SONS, both because they retain their
beauty longer and because they are
seldom SO fragrant as to be disagree
able to sensitive persons.
Blocks Of ice placed on looking
glass stands are preferred to those
lying on lycopodium, and, when these
are lacking, the ice is placed in a basin
covered with Turkey red and sur
rounded by standing ferns, through
which the bright color shows to advan-
tage. As a rule. white and green is
the fayOrite combination of colors for
the center of a table, but sometimes
many brilliant hues are employed.
One device particularly characteristic
of English bad taste and patriotic
feeling is to transform the center of
the table into a Union Jack in scarlet
geraniums and lobelia, with the cloth
showing where the white stripes
were necessary. Sometimes the ma
tional colOrs Of a distinguished guest
appear in the flowers upon the table.
and his national emblem is Scent the
devices used. Tins Of every magma
Bile shape can be obtained at the
American kitchen furnishing shops,
and a very easy style of decorating is
to place each guests initial at his
plate, using either flowers or leaves set
in a shallow tin. In England, deeora-
tons typical of the current season are
sometimes used, and some ladies have
placed models of houses covered with
frosted cotton wool and surrounded
with a simulated wintry landscape on
their Christmas tables, but Americans
are hardly likely to adopt this fashion.
The white cloth is nearly covered
by many of the decorations used, aud
some women dispense with it entirely.
and fill its place with a covering of a
bright color, upon which white ware
may be used without looking too cold.
Pink. gray and buff, damasks and
white damasks, with eOlored borders.
or trimmed with colored fringe and
%laces, are used. Wooden materials.
copied from old models, silk damasks
and embroidered linen have also been
employed, and even black satin. An.
other style is to have the center and
the outer edge of the cloth of plain
damask, and to place the dinner in the
former and the plates Of the diners
l upon the latter, and between them to
lay a band Of eolored satin, bordered
l with leaves, berries, flowers, ferns OF
' MOSES. Turkey red can be used fol
this border, and is better than any.
= thing else with those flowers that re.
{ tain dampness.
E A very odd table-cloth, which coulC
only be tolerable in a house in which
r an airy daintiness pervadcd everything
! has threads drawn so as to defn,
y squares, in each Of which a flower i
worked, and each flower appears in tn
4 decorations Of the square and in tn
y flowers. Strips of embroidered line
r are laid on some dinner tables, and tn,
E fruit Is placed upon them in basket
trimmed with bright ribbon.
e The newest glasses for single flower
are Of the Etruscan shape, wit
double handles. and are richly en-
graved. An English table is alway
f lighted with candles, each provide
e with its small, rose-colored shade,
Il plan much better adapted forthc pres
IS ervation Of the flowers than the Gus
e tom of Illuminating a dining-room a
if it we're a lecture hall. The i'm
d mepse candelebra of other days hay
all disappeared, aud their place
taken by others, much more mode,
in size, bgt artistic in shape and elat
is crate IN decoration,
'e Bruce, the colored Mississippi sens
l. tor, had as clerk of hig committe