The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1892-03-13

we nave no such inviolable virtue that
We can as yet rate Dives and Lazarus be-
iore they are dead. Very rich people are
apt 10 be very good people. and in the
realms of the highest fashion we find the
Siinplest' best and purest of characters.
~ - theFeiore OF no consequence as to the
shade OF fashion and the amount of the
rent TON. IL must not be supposed be-
cause some leaders of fashion are insolent
.nat an are. young hostess must try
W nha tne good, true, honorable, gener-
gus, Wel-ored, well-edueated members of
society, no matter in what conditions of
ne. Read character first, and hesitate
before drawing general deductions.
ana as hostess is the slave of her
guests, after she has invited them, she
must De all attention and all suavity. If
she has nothing to offer them but the hos
pitaiity OF a small house, cup of tea and
smile, she IS just as much hostess as if
she were queen. If she offers them every
luxury and is not polite she is snob and
vuigarian. There is no such detestable
use OF ones privileges as to be rude on
anes own ground. 1.-The man who eats
tronlze" Is great necessity in some ma
lures. There is little opportunity for it IN
iree, brave America, but some mistaken
hostesses have gone that way. Every one
reels pleasantly toward the woman who
invites him or her to her house; there is
something gracious in the act. But, if af-
ter opening her doors, the hostess refuses
the welcome or treats her guest with a
doubtful degree of cordially. why did she
ask you at all? Every young American
can become a model hostess. she can mas
ter etiquette, create for herself a po-
lite and cordial manner. She
should be as serene as a summers day; she
should keep all her domestic troubles out
OF sight. If she entertains, let her do it
III her own individual way, small way if
necessary. There was much in Touch
stones philosophy-"a poor thing, but
mine own" She must have the instinct
of hospitality, which is to give pleasure to
all ones guests. And it seems unneces-
sary to say to any young American host
ess, "noblesse oblige" She should be
more polite to the shy, addressed visitor
from the country (if indeed there is such
thing left in America, where, Bret Harte
says, 1.-THE fashions travel by telegraph")
than to the sweeping city dame that can
take care of herself A kindly greeting TO
q gawky youth will never be forgotten.
and If some one has entered her precincts
who is less fashionable than another
tHeaven save the mark! who can graduate
American fashionD
Like the snow flake on the river,
moment here, then gone forever
then it is 10 the humblest that hostess
should address her kindest attention.
hostess can also be made, in which she
has he advantage of the poets, and to the
very wealthy hostess we should quote this
inc stimable advice: Isl tibi defciant me-
dici, niedici tibi fiant. Haec tria mems hi
larl requies moderate dieta. Horace.
Do not overfeed people. Who is it that
says ''if simplicity is admirable in man
ners and in literary style, in the matter of
dinners it becomes exalted into one of the
cardinal virtues?" The ambitious house
wife would do well to remember this when
she GU mDers herself and thinks too much
about her forthcoming banquet. If she
ignores his principle of simplicity and
falls into the opposite extremes of osten-
tation and pretentiousness, she may bore
her..guests rather than entertain them.
1t is an incon testable fact that dinners
are made elaborate only at a considerable
risk. As they increase in size and i'm
portance their character is likely to de-
teriorate. This is true not only with
regard to the number of guests, but with
reference to the number of dishes that go
to make up bill of fare.
In fact, We. as Americans, generally err
on the side of having too much rather
than too little. The terror of running
short" is agony to the mind of the con-
scientious housewife. How much will be
enough? and no more. Then to consult
the proper graduation.
Brlllat Savarin recOuntS rather cruel
joke perpetrated on a man who was we'll
known gourmand. The idea was that he
should be induced to satisfy himself with
the more ordinary viands, and that then
the choicest dishes should be presented in
vain before his jaded appetite. This
treacherous feast began with sirloin of
beef, fricandean of veal and stewed
carp with stuffing. Then came a magnifi-
cent turkey, pike, six entrements and an
ample dish of maccaroni and Parmesan
cheese. Nor was this all. Another course
appeared composed of sweetbread, sur
rounded with shrlmps in jelly, soft roes
and partridge wings, with thick sauce or
PURGE of mushrooms. Last of all came the
delicacies, snipes by the dozen, a roast
pheasant in perfect order and with them
slice of funny iish, quite fresh. Naturally
the gourmand was hors du combat. As
joke it was successful, as an act of hospi-
tally ut was cruelty. As pointing
moral and adding a tale it may be useful.
1t stands to reason that the fewer the
dishes the more the cook can concentrate
her attention upon tn EN-, and here is rea-
son for reducing the menu to its lowest
terms.
This anecdote has its historical value as
showing US that the present procession of
soup, fish, roast, entree, game and dessert
was not observed; 100 years ago fish was
served after beef and turkey.
DIR. Johnson describes 4 dinner at Mrs.
Thrales', which shows US what was con-
sidered luxurious 100 years ago:
THE dinner was excellent. First course,
soups at head and foot, removed by fish
and saddle of mutton; second course
fowl they call galena at head, a capon
larger than our Irish turkeys at foot; third
course, four different ices, pineapple,
grape. raspberry and fourth. In each
remove four dishes, the first two courses
served on massive plate"
These gentlemen OF England who live at
home at ease, these dukes, earls by the
kings grace viceroys of India, mobiles and
rich commoners would laugh at this dim
ner today. So would our cluhmen, our
good diners at Delmonico's and our mil
honaires.
Imagine the feelings of that chef who re-
ceived $4,000 year, with absolute power
of life or death, with wine cellar, which
is fortress. of which he alone knows the
weakest spot, what would he say to such
Ginuer2
Butthere are dinners where the gradua-
ton is perfect, where luxury stimulates
the brain. as Chateau Nynem bathes the
throat. 1t would seem as if the golden age,
the age of Leo the Tenth, had come back to
our nineteenth century. All the virtues
of the "art of entertaining since the days
of Lucullus, purified of the enormities
Gncluding dining at Ii in the morning) of
the intermediate ages.
NJ. Z. W. SHERWOOD.