The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1889-05-24
old STYLES AND new.
Mrs. Armstrong; Review
of What Constitutes
Good Form"
THE RULES ~FORAH0STESS
What We Used to Do and What We
Do Now at the Dinner Table.
rl.on the london Dnau Necs.

From the London DdHy Ne1cs,
In a little book just published, en-
titled Good Form" by Mrs. Arm,
strong, the etiquette of some few
years ago is amusingly contrasted
with that of today, when everything
is more succinct and eexpditlous than
it used to be. When the ladies of
John Leech's time went to dinner
parties, they were shown into bed
rooms, and allowed some minutes to
adjust their ringlets. Now they hand
their cloak to a servant, and walk
| straight from their carriage or cab to
the presence of their hostess. At
weddings in ''the forties" each brides
maid had a grooms1nan to look after
her, and see that she had what she
liked at the elaborate breakfasts of
the matrimonial function of that day.
Now, there is only a 'sbest man."
though how he comes by the
superlative adjective when he is sole
groomsman, it is difficult to say.
Among other changes of custom is
that concerned with the bridesmaids
dresses, which used to be given by the
bride. And our authoress might have
added that it is no longer fashionable,
as it then was, for the bride to cry.
Crying at weddings has ''gone OUT 1t
was the very height of the fashion in
the year 1897. When Sir Edward Bull
wer Lytton married Miss Rosina
Wheeler an eye witness of the cere-
mony describes both bride and bride
groom as being overcome with sensi-
bility,r pale, tottering and fearful. No
one totters to the altar now. 1t would
not be ''good FORM But the bride
must not, on the other hand, romp up
the aisle, in the exultation of her
heart. The correct pace is, perhaps,
best described as resembling that of a
policeman on his beat. 1t is slow and
stately. There is elaboration ex-
pressed in it, as there ought to be, and
even a slight hint of determination, as
of mutiny against the fearsome word
''obey."
No longer does a hostess ask her
guests to sing or play. This ordeal,
SO dreaded by the girl of a couple of
decades ago, is no longer to be feared.
Il hope you have brought your mu-
sic, Miss Smith" vas frequently the
prelude to a di~stracting performance,
that gave pleasure to no one, least of
all to the player.
Another difference between what
we used to do and what we do now is
to be noted at the dinner table, where
it was considered the duty of the host
and hostess to urge their guests to
eat. The board no longer groans as
once it did, the weight OF viands being
transferred to that chapel of ease, the
sideboard, where, in seclusion, a hire
ling carves the joint and skillfully dis
sects the bird whose anatomy used to
prove such an intricate problem to
the bothered amateur at the end of
the table. Not all of these could dis
play the GOODNESS of the gentleman
who once carved a goose with such
misplaced energy as to send it under
the table. Seeing that the guests
evinced some discontinue and an anx-
iety to know where it had gone, he
said:-"All right, ladies and gentle
men; / have my foot on it," Episodes
of this thrilling kind no longer hap
pen, and skill in carving is not now
one of the polite accomplishments
wherewith 1t is necessary to equip a
youth for his social career.