Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-12-07
HINTS For HOsTEssEs.
What Good Taste and Comfort Require
I'm tho Way Of Table Service.
Theodore chnd IN Harvor,. Rar,r

To her The lute well touci'd or artful voloe
He who Of those dol.shts can iuils. ana spare
10 AteTrnse thoin off, h. uot unw'isc"
-JoHS MILTON
The desirable thing. in tho words OF the poct.
is a meat repast." There is not only an art Of
preparing delicate feast. but an art OF eating
one. and this latter art is not so advanced "a IL
might be. Method in eating il all important
and the only method is the English. for the
English cat with ease and without embarrassing
their neighbors. Dubois, who had long ex-
perience at the court of Berlin, saws, in hi.
Cuisine de tons les Pays. that II seems iifRcut
and emil arrassing 10 eat according 20 any
method except the English; but as he probably
had seen many Germans eating differcntlv.
he proceeds to expouud the English method.
the whole theory and practice OF which con-
sist IN using the fork always with the leit
hand. and the knife and spoon with the right.
The fork is TO be held with the index stretched
out, so rs 90 maintain IL in an almost hori-
zontal position. Nothing seems clumsier
than 20 grip the fork with clinched
list and 20 hold IL perpendicularly,
the Germans often DO. Nothing is less Eng
lish, you know" than 10 convey food 20 the
mouth with the knife. or 90 touch fish with a
knife. When you are not using your knife and
! fork lay them on your plate with the handle OF
! the one turned TO the right and the handle OF
the other turned 10 the left. ready 30 be taken
! up at once. The knife and fork should be laid
| on the plate, the one crossing the other. only
when you have finished eating altogether. A
case when the fork may be used with the right
| hand is IN eating fish, These points seem SO
| simple and elementary that IL would appear
/ useless to put them down in writing. and vet a
| little experience of tables d'hote. particularly
on the European continent. will show that
there are stu many well-dresscd people in this
world who eat Ike sayages and not az all ac-
4 cording 10 the English method At a table
dhote IN Hanover remember once sitting be-
side a German lady, bankers wife. who bor-
rowed my scarf pm to pick her teeth with after
dinner. This WAS not only proof Of bad man.
ners but also of hygienic imprudence, be-
cause metal toothpick spoils the enamel OF
the teeth. For toothpicking purposes a lentisk
stick is best, though aqulll is not harmful, as
Martial says IN one of has epigrams:
| .Lent:scum melius sed 81 tibi frondea cuspis
! Deiuerlt, denies penna- levere potes"
/ THE CHAIRS AND TABLE
In order TO be comfortably seated at table the
chair must be neither too high nor too low. and,
above all, it should not be heavy that il needs
! an effort to move it an inch, nor should il DO
rough with carving that sticks into YOUR Shout
| ders when you lean back, or catches and tears
the dresses OF the women. These details also
may seem unworthy of being written down but
! experience has hitherto revealed TO me very
| few reasonably constructed dining room chairs
A wealthy New York banker recently had made
/ IN Europe some massive bronze dining room
chairs. Hls example is not to be commended.
| The table cloth should be laid not directly
on the table. but over a thick cotton blanket
The cloth itself should be spotlessly clean, and
| If this condition should exist much will be par
doned Ii may be pure white linen or danlask
/ or IL may have q coiored pattern woven or en-
| broidcred along the edges. The use of color in
! the pattern Of table linen is by no means novel
in the miniatures of the fourteenth and If
| teenth centuries the table cloths and the long
narrow dresser cloths are constantly repre-
sented with rose or blue stripes and borders.
/ lnx 4
| only richly embroidered but also adorned with
| inserted bands Of lace, which give You the sem
sation Of dining off petticoat Such excess is
| to be avoided. The starching and stiffening of
| table linen. as practiced in England, is not to
be recommended. The ideal table cloth is
| smooth and fair TO the eve; il has no obtrusve
glaze; II Is soft to the touch and its folds are
| not hard nor rigid
| As regards the nature and shape Of the table
| we have already suggested the adyisableness Of
| rebelling against the tyranny both of tradition
| and of the furniture makers of Grand Rapids.
| Michigan, and elsewhere. There are hints for
! hostesses to be found in Paul leronese's '.Noces
de Cana" and in Lippo Lippi's "Herod's Feast -
! LIppIs fresco in the cathedral of Prato might
be reproduced easily in a Newport villa as a
gastronomic tableau yivant
| THE NAPKIN.
most important article absolutely neces-
sary for happiness at table is the napkin. The
napkin should be soft and ample. and abso-
lutely devoid of glaze or starch. The English
/ have a detestable habit OF stitching table nap
| kins, so that they are utterly indetergent, aud
| therefore useless. In all the details of table
| service the chief consideration is appropriate
ness to the end. Napkins are used 10 wipe the
| lips and the fingers TO cover the lap. and even
! TO protect the bust. They should be fair
pieces of linen, of generous dimensions, say "a
inches by 70 inches. May Comus preserve US
from the paltry 6x9-inch rag which some Anglo
Saxons would fam foist upon US as napkins!
The napkin will of course match the cloth,
but If 1t Is embroidered or ornamented in any
way let this decoration in no way interfere with
| Its usefulness, and, above all things. let there
| be no notices or inscriptions ''charmingiy
worked in all kinds OF odd places-in one cor
| ner, or across the middle, or along one or all
| the Sides" Mrs. Loftie suggests in her little
| book, 1.-The Dining Room" Not only are such
devices pretty and appropriate" continues Mrs.
/ Loftie, but they may sometimes afford a sub
| iect for dinner conversation when the weather
has been extensively discussed" Mrs. Loftie
! has made many excellent suggestions in her
pages about laying the table, but this one is
| too cruel and too ironical. III peoples CONVEX
| sational powers are SO limited that they require
the motto of table napkin TO help them out
| il were better TO prohibit conversation at table
| altogether and have some one read aloud.
| was the custom in the old monasteries and also
| at the court of Frederick di Montefeltro, duke
| of Crbino, who used TO have Plutarch, Neno-
phon and Aristotle read to him while he was at
| table, and thus maintained that serene frame
of mind which is necessary for happiness az
meals.
KNIVES AND FORKS AND GLASSES
The knives and forks used at Anglo-Saxon
tables are generally larger and heavier than
comfort requires. French knives and forks are
smaller and quite strong enough for all food
| that figures on a civilized table. The knife
never exceeds 924 inches in length, the small
| knives ~ inches, and the large forks 81
inches. simple knives and forks seem to me
| TO be desirable, and all heavy and elaborate
| ornamentation should be avoided, especially
ornamentation in high relief, which ID irritat-
/ ing to handle. On the other hand, variety
may be charming. At dainty dinner 1 would
have knives and forks Of a different pattern
with every dish.
The glasses that figure on a table depend on
the wines served; they should be convenient
and elegant in form, and dependent for their
charm simply on the purity of the crystal and
the beauty of their silhouette. Engraved glass,
cut glass and colored glass are used very spar
| ingly by people oftaste Bordeaux, burgundy and
champagne wine should be drunk out of moth
| ing but the purest crystal glass, which conceals
none of their qualities OF color or scintillaton.
/ IL is the custom to drink German wines out Of
colored glasses. Liqueur glasses often
colored also, but il seems absurd TO mask the
purity and delicate tones Of whatever nectar
l. l~s,~ "a