The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1886-09-19
AFTER DINNER IN ENGLAND.
An Agreeable Hour, and How 1t Ii Spent
Various Customs.

An AgreeabIe Hour, ana HOW 1t Il Spenb
Various Customs.
After the ladies leave the room the host
invariably changes his place, and port,
sherry, and clarer are placed before him.
The servants now disappear, the guests
draw up their chairs and pass the
bottle themselves, always to the left, and
many take this opportunity to select
companion for the after dinner talk. It
may be ungallant. but I confess that l
often found this hour the most agreeable
of the day. The English men Of position
are generally very well bred when they
are by themselves; more of them are
highly educated than Is common with
Americans of Importance; they have
passed their lives among works of art and
in the atmosphere of high politics. They
know pictures and china as well as game
and wine They have not only seen the
famous places, but met the famous peo-
pie of other countries, and they make, on
the whole. the most agreeable after-din-
ner company in the world. To a stranger
they are especially amiable. II he is inter
ested in English life, they tell him all he
wishes to know; they invite his criticisms,
and IL they sometimes say something dis
paraging of his own countrymen or of the
institutions under which he was born, it
Is not in an offensive way. AS men of the
may accept or dispute as you choose, and
they are not affrOnted If you censure
mildly in return. They are genial over
their wine, but not quarrelsome nor in
decOrOus
After dinner conversation and cards
form the principal amusement. Some
times there is music, but not often, for
the English are not artists in tempera-
ment or taste; they do not make good
music, nor, as q rule, do they keenly ap-
preciate 1t. They have a higher relish for
painting and sculpture and architecture
something that they can see and handle.
Music Is too imaginable for the burly
British nature to grasp. But whist or
round game is invariably proposed. The
stakes usually small, but no one plays
without some wager. At times the play
ers become very intent, and can recall
instances of gross ill-breading over the
cards; a testy old peer or stingy dowager
was commonly at fault.
In many houses the hostess rises at IL,
and this the ladies' know is their signal
Good nights are exchanged, everybody
shakes hands, seltZer and brandy and
sherry are brought in for those who wish
them, and the gentlemen light the bed
room candles for the ladies. Then the
whole company moves out to the foot OF
the great staircase, and the procession Of
ladies ascends to the upper galleries, the
graceful girls in pink and white and the
sumptuOus matronS in velvet and dia-
mOnds, each Carrying her candle, while
the por traits of vanished ancestors look
down on the scene where they, too, once
played brilliant part
The men lincer for a while, but are soon
invited to tn smoking room. For this
they usually change their dress. When
lirst went to England only a few wore
smoking jackets, but latterly in many
houses the men came down toward mid
night in gorgeous satin suits, with varie-
gated trousers and caps, and the effect is
very Decentralization Badeau's Let