The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1891-10-18


profuse
The paper shades used for candles are
dangerous and annoying. Scarcely din
ner without its confiagration. 1t is to be
hoped that modern science will invent
some remedy for this. But if a candle
screen takes lire it is much better to let it
Durn itself out without touching it. when
1t becomes entirely innocuous.
The excessive heat which finds its wav
rom the furnace aud the gas into most
modern dlnlng-rooms is to be deprecated.
as 1t lowers the tone of the takers, willis
the flowers, is injurious to the health and
entirely subvers:ve of pleasure.
dinner should be a good basis for a
mutual understanding They say that few
great enterprises have been conducted
without It. People are sure to like each
other much better after dining together.
1t is better to go home from a dinner re-
memoerlng how clever everybody was.
than to go home merely to wonder at the
opuience that could compass such a
pageant.
dinner should put every one into his
best talking condition. The quips and
qulrks of excited fancy should come grace
fully, for society well arranged brings
about the attrition of wits. If one is COM
PORTABLE and well fed-not gorged-he is in
his best condition
The more civilized the world gets the
more difficult it is to amuse it. 1t is the
common complaint of the children of lux
ury that dinners are dull and society STUPID.
How can the reformer make society more
amusing and less tiresome?
:. The danger and trials and difficulties of
dinner giving are manifold.
First, whom shall we ask? Will they
come? 1t is often the fate of hostess in
the busy season to invite forty people be-
lore she gets twelve. Having got the
Twelve she then has perhaps few days be-
lore the dinner to receive the unwelcome
news that Jones has a cold, Mrs. Brown
mas lost relative and Miss Malcontent
mas gone to Washington City. Tie dinner
mas to be reconstructed; deprived of it's
original intention 1T becomes balloon
Which has lost ballast. 1t goes drifting
about and there is no health in it, and no
purpose. This is especially true also of
those dinners which are conducted on
debt-paylng principles.
How many hard-worked rich men in
America are bored to death by the giided
and overburdened splendor of their wives
dinners and those to which they are to go.
They sit looking at their hands during two
or three courses, poor dyspeptics who can
not eat. To relieve them, to bring them
into communion with their next neighbor
with whom they have nothing in common,
what shall one do?
Oh! that depressing cloud which settles
over the jaded senses of even the consci-
entious diner as ne fails to make his neigh
Dor On either side say anything but Eyes"
or mop
We must, perhaps, before we give the
perfect dinner, give up the idea that din
ner should be on commercial basis. OF
course our social debts must be paid. 1t
is large subject (like the lighting of a
city. the cleaning of the streets) and must
be approached carefully, so that the lesser
evil may not swamp the greater good. Do
not invite twelve people to bore them
The dinner hour differs in different
cities. From to half-past Z, to s and 8 30
All these have their adherents. In Lon
don many party does not sit down until
8. Hence the necessity of hearty meal
at 5 o'clock tea. The royalties" all
blessed with good appetites, eat eggs on
toast, hot scenes and other good things at
o'clock. And, indeed, if dinner is not
until 9, they take something at 8.
In our country 1880 is generally the
most convenient hour unless one is going
to the play afterwards. when seven is bet
ter. A dinner should not last more than
an hour and half, but it does last some
times three hours.
Ladies dress for large dinner often
times in low neck and short sleeves, wear
their jewels and altogether their finest
gowns-smart gowns, as the English say.
For small dinner the pompadour half
els, is In better taste.
Men should always be in full dress
black coat, vest and trousers, and white
cravat. There is no alternative for the
dinner, large or small.
But for ladies in delicate health, who
cannot expose throat or arms, there Is
always the largest liberty allowed; but the
dinner dress must be handsome.
In leaving the house and ordering the
carriage, name the shortest time rather
than the longest. 1t is better to keep ones
coachman waiting than to weary ones
hostess. 1t is quite impossible to say when
one will leave, as there may be music, reci-
tations and so on after the dinner. 1t is
now quite the fashion, as in London, to
ask people in after the dinner.
And everybody should go to dinner in
tending to be agreeable.
sE'en at dinner, some will be unblessed,
However good the viands, and well dressed;
They always come to table with scowl,
Squint with face of verjuice, DER each dish,
Fault the poor flesh, and quarrel with the fish,
Curse cook, and wife, and, loathing, eat and
growl."
Such men should never be asked twice,
vet such were DR.. Johnson, and later on
Abraham Hayward, invited out every
night of their lives. 1t Is poor requital
for hospitality to allow any personal ILL
temper to interfere with the pleasure of
the feast. Some hostesses send around the
champagne early to unloosen the tongues,
and this has generally good effect if the
party be dull Excessive heat in q room is
the most benumbing of all overweights.
Let the hostess have plenty of oxygen to
begin with.
Now. for a little informal dinner of
eight. we might suggest that the hostess
write:
Dear Mrs. Sullivan. Will you and Mr. Sullivan
dine with us on Thursday at half-past to meet
Mr. and Mrs. Evarts quite informally? Ever
yours truly, MARY MONTGOMERY.
This accepted, which it should be in the
first person cordially, as it is written, let
us see what we would have for dinner:
Sherry, Soup-Sorrel IA Tessence de veau),
HOLSTERS, saute a la Bonneyfoy, Chablis,
Veal Outlets, a la Zingara.
Fried potatoes, Champagne,
Roast Red Head Ducks, Current Jelly,
Claret, Curled Celery in glasses, Olives,
Cheese, Salad,
Frozen Pudding,
Grapes,
Coffee. Liquors,
or. il You please, brown soup, whitefsh or
bass, boiled, saddle of mutton, pair OF prairie
A plate OF broiled Mushrooms,
A sorbet of Marasehino,
Cheese, Ice Cream, Fruit.
1t is not bad lookout, is it?
NJ Z. w. SHERWOOD.
THE ROBIN.
The robin Is the one
That interrupts the morn
With hurried. few, express reports
When March is scarcely on.
The robin is the one
That oyertiows the noon
With her cherubic quantity,
An April but begun.
The robin is the one
That, speeches. from her nest,
Submits that home ana certainty
And sanctity are best.