Waterbury evening Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1887-1895, 1892-10-29
ITALIAN DINNERS.
A New Diversion Among Society
Young Ladiea
How the Pent-Up School Girl Inauguratei
Her Freedom from Tutelary Re-
straint with q Forbidden
Repast.

The New York girl of the period has
found a new diversion for these autumr
afternoons. She is a much misrepre
sented maiden, says the New York Her
aid, and the lurid stories told about hel
cigarette proclivities and penchant fol
alcoholic appetizers before dinner are
allowance of salt.
The young woman who has entered
society is apt to be if anything too i'm
pressively correct in her demeanor anc
conversation. The not-yet-out girli
who are just freed from school thral
dom and yet not amenable to social
duties are the ones who, like "Ravvy,'
are apt to get reckless and squandel
their months allowance in one highly
colored week of bonbons, matinees,
silk stockings and ice cream soda.
1t is among these girls that the new
fad has taken hold and they regard it
as desperately wicked amusement,
and therefore affect an air Of secrecy
about it which is very interesting to an
outside observer. The fact of the mat
is, these soon-to-be debutantes have
tired of 'dove'' luncheons and chaper-
oned matinee parties, and they go of
among themselves in parties of four or
six and have Italian d'hote dinners.
1t is not that there is anything so des-
perately wicked in an Italian dinner,
but the fact that they are able, undis-
covered, to enjoy these oily repasts
gives the afternoon feast the nature OF
boarding school spreads" 80 dear to
the heart of every school girl.
Some of the uptown Italian restau-
, rants are very comforts bly, furnished
and are quieter than the large hotel
dining-rooms, especially between four
and six, the hours which those giddy
girls choose for their banquets. The
long-haired tenor out of an engagement
and the rest of the bohemian diners
who are to be found at the tables later
on are then promenading upon the
rtalto with ndred-dollar-a-week
airs but artistically slim pocketbooks.
So the girls have it all to themselves,
and they giggle a great deal as they are
served, and try to look as though they
understood all the waiter mutters be-
tween courses. Spaghetti is eaten in
large quantities, and some of the more
daring indulge in clarct and ice water,
with sugar therein-a beverage which
to all appearances neither cheers nor
inebriates. When the meal is concluded
usually by few dyspeptic-looking
nuts and a blase orange or two-each
girl solemnly opens her purse and de-
posits one dollar in the mutual fund.
To tip or not to tip the waiter is the
next subject which causes a flutter in
the party, the more advanced advocat-
ing it in smothered whispers, while the
others are opposed to the custom on the
ground that it is decidedly fast. -
Usually the waiter takes in the contro-
versy with a lowering brow and an air
of hopeless resignation, but when the
girls take up another collection and
blushingly deposit an offering upon the
tablecloth his face is like summer sky
after a shower. Then they all file out
with an air of suppressed excitement,
and they take hOrse-cars to their sew
eral homes and tell their folks they've
been Summing.