The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1893-01-08
THE CATERERS ART.
He Can Furnish Anything You
Wish if You Pay for 1t.
SOME COSTLY ENTERTAINMENTS
How q Mansion Was Hired for Twenty.
four Hours and Furnished for
Wedding Reception.

-, j
ing to pay for it,"
That is the rule that governs nearly
every fashionable catering establishment.
You can have cake and ices, or YOU can
have terrapin and canvasbacks. You can
have full brass band, or string orches-
ira. or only a harpist. You can have
some one to play the castanets or you can
have Emma Eames or Paderewski. You
can have anything and everything you
want-if you are willing topay for it.
With this grand choice in the selection
OF entertainments it is no wonder that
the fashionable woman hesitates when she
attempts TO decide how she will entertain
her guests. And so it happens that in
nine cases out of ten the caterer is told to
plan the entertainment, provide the
music, look after the floral decorations
and even inform the hostess about the
number of guests that can be nicely ac-
commodated at the entertainment which
has been planned. The caterer thus has
full sway. and full responsibility also. If
all things go right he is Landed to the
skies and his bill is generally prom ounced
far too small If things go wrong or if
there is hitch anywhere, the caterer is
blamed. His bill is grudgingly paid and
patronage is Withdrawn.
He must even SO plan things that the
guests neither weary at the length of a
dinner nor chafe because the entertain
ment is the same as was provided else
where. For the time being he must be
ali things to all people. And woe to him
and to his business if as much as one
flower be withered or a strain of music
strike into discord.
To accord with the peculiar tastes of the
season, the fashionable caterer has cut
down the fashionable dinner until it Is
only nine courses long. 1t lasts only an
hour and a half. Many dinners are by
special request only seven courses long,
and just an hour is occupied in serv-
ing them. The correct hour is o'clock
neither earlier nor later. Following the
custom of some English houses q
few New York hostesses have made
the ceremony of entering the dining room q
very simple one, instead of being stately
and ceremonious. The hostess herself
leads the way, followed by the ladies of the
party. Then come the gentlemen, fol.
lowed by the host. who comes last. The
hostess herself indicates the places at the
table, and all is done in q delightfully."-
simple and unassuming way.
Very large dinners are as much liked this
season as they were disiiked half dozen
seasons ago. 1t is not unusual now to
serve dinner for sixty or seventy people
and to remove the tables afterward SO that
there can be dancing. These dinner
dances are very popular, and last year |
served series OF four of them at the
homes of some of the most elegantly fash
ionabIe women in New York.
The cost of such dinner varies greatly.
For as low as $40 or $l2 a cover a very
acceptable dinner. with wine and pretty
of dinners of which | speak cost $75 a
cover. This sum included music, flowers,
and decorations of all kinds.
Usually the question is not How much
will it cost?" but "How nice can you make
itp" | must constantly devise something
which shall be entirely new and pretty
enough to excite even the blase admira-
ton OF those who dine and wine on the
cOstliest and handsomest tables in the
world.
Color dinners are very popular. The How
ers which are used in the decoration Of the
table must cores pond to the color which
Is chosen as the prevailing hue of the dim
ner, and thus the caterer is obliged to con.
form in color To the flowers of the season.
NJ Wis lIiut III TIC year NiOitt ulUlieTS,
mauve dinners, yellow dinners. pink din
ners and red dinners are all popular. Per.
haps more popular than any of them is
the green dinner, because at this season
the green OF the holly and the mistletoe
gives an especially beautiful effect to the
dining table.
At these color dinners everything is
made 20 correspond. The favors match
the flowers. The dishes IN ltch the favors.
The napery, so far rs practicable, matches
the dishes, and all unite to make one
harmonious whole.
II pink dinner is called for this time OF
the year, pink roses are chosen to decor
ate the table. If violet or mauve dinners
are wanted, viole;s are used. For yellow
dinners, yellow chrysanthemums and
yellow roses are selected, and for red
dinners red roses and red berries Of the
holly and hIttersweet are obtained
thldreu's parties are very elegant little
affairs. They are from TO ~ in the after
noon. and are in every way conducted like
the parties OF grown-up people. For the
supper, however, very simple things are
served. Tiny patties. simple salads, plain
cakes. coaxed into prettiness with coiored
icing. ice creams and plenty Of bon bons
comprise the entire menu.
1t often happens that people who desire
10 give an entertainment At home are un-
able 10 do so tor lack of proper space. And
then point il reached where the rea! art
o! the caterer comes in. BY some means
and IN some way he must make II possible
for the would-be hostess to give lust such
an entertainment as she desires without
hiring a pub.lc hall or in any way going
against her wishes regarding publicity
case OF this kind was brought 10 me
last summer. woman who was keeping
house IN dainty little apartment house
desired 10 entertain large company OF
people At the wedding reception OF her
daughter. who was To he married the fol-
lowing week. To invite more than thirty
people into the blj ~ apartment was pre-
posterous, for the litt.e parior vas scarcelv
bigger than a tete-a-tete reception room.
Tne dining room was a tiny vision in blue
china and gold. 80 small that walters and
guests would toe mixed up with each other
IN hopeless confusion. Ana after looking
over the ground carefully saw that othe ?
quarters would nave 10 be provided for
the entertainment. The lady was greatl V
opposed 10 giving reception III a public
hall. Suddenly an idea occurred 10 ME.
and SAID:
Madam. would you not like 20 have the
use OF that large and elegant mansion
which stands vacant next door 10 you for
this occasion? / can furnish L com
pletey, ana will so arrange everything
that II viii seem on the evening OF the
reception just "a II you really lived there "
The idea pleased her immensely, and
accordingly set 10 WORK upon my prepare.
tons | found that | could hire the man
sion for one day; and after consulting
upholsterers and furniture dealers
learned that between sunrise and sunset
OF the eventiuI day the mansion, immense