The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1889-05-16

The table cloth, says the Chicago
Tribune, is naturally the first question
to be considered in setting a table,
and, to many women, it is the most
important. Silk is no longer con
sidered an elegant substitute for linen.
Nothing is handsomer or more effect
i've than damask of purest white. 1t
makes the best background for floral
decorations; and, strongest recon-
mendation of all to the extravaganza,
it is much more costly than silk or
satin. The newest table cloths are all
hemstitehed by hand. They come in
patterns of delicate designs.
The linen is exquisitely fine in text
ure, and the hemstitching is fire.
quently elaborated with fine drawn
work. The cheapest of these table
cloths, with napkins to match, are
$50, while they vary according to size,
from $50 to $75-good prices for plain
linen? But if these white cloths seem
too simple and unobstrusive in style,
even more costly mes are provided to
meet the demands of the wealthy.
Plain linen embroidered in dainty
silks makes the highest priced table
covering.
Flowers are scattered in artistic pro-
fusion over the whole cloth. The en-
~broidering is done by skillful hands,
as it must be as smooth and exact as if
woven in the linen. Yellow and pink
are the favorite colors for these en-
broideries. The embroidered table
cloths are edged with lace, and cost
from $3.50 up to $500.
FRINGED TABLECLOTHS.
Colored luncheon cloths are no
longer fashionable, although the col
ored borders are more or less used.
Fringed tablecloths are still in high
favor, and to the superficial observer
they seem more elegant than those
with hemstitched borders Pretty
fringed cloths may be bought for
$40 or $15, and even less. Fringe
always appeals to the feminine
eye. Every housekeeper covets at
least one fringed tablecloth, but, alas
from practical considerations, fringe
is not always to be recommended, be-
canse it will knot or tangle, and few
servants can be taught to properly
laundry fringed articles.
Many of the new cloths come in
squares to suit the round tables now
fashionable. All of the most ele-
CANT luncheons and suppers are this
served at round tables,
which are charmingly adapted for
sociability. Unfortunately, the scope
of the round table is limited. 1t
is impossible to use a round
table that will seat more than six
teen or eighteen, while twelve is the
number ordinarily accommodated by
a medium-sized table. Round tables
admit of most artistic decoration.
Round centre pieces of boiling cloth,
embroidered linen, or handsome lace
are used. These centre pieces are often
lined with silk, and they give a touch
of color to the cloth. A low bowl of
flowers, a mound of ferns, a Candida
Drum OF shaded lamp placed in the
centre will make a sufficient decora-
ton for a round table.
PRETTY LITTLE DOYLIES.
Small napkins and doylies are still
universally used, although the decline
of the tinger-bowl apparently reduces
their sphere of usefulness. They are,
however, SO dainty, so decorative and
costly that no woman will dispense
with them. They are used on the
bread plate, in the cake basket and
beneath the butter dish; they are
thrown over the Saratoga potatoes,
they are placed like an individual
table cloth beneath each plate, and
they form little islands Of fringe,
upon which salt and pepper
boxes are placed like minia-
ture silver lighthouses These doylies
are costly trifes. They are in various
and come in sets, with the long
for the centre of quare or OBJ
long tables. Embroidered linen, bolt
ing cloth and pineapple silk are used,
and the doylies cost from $40 to $25 a
dozen. But the industrious woman
need not buy her doylies OF table
Pretty ones may be made at a
expense by embroidering plain
linen with wash silks. Tray covers
are much used beneath the silver tea
service at the foot of the table. The
tray covers are hemstitched or fringed
all around, and they may be orna-
mented in outline patterns.
e.