The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1895-10-18
The Dinner Table.

If it weren't for fads the heart would
break, or people would stop In their mad
career and think. But fuds we have al
ways with us. And the craze of the mo
ment is for illustrated dinner cards.
Not yet in America has this ,,iania
spread appreciably, but Paris, that sets
the fashions, pipes It's this pacc. and our
more alert moi,daines dire about to dance
to it.
TO- send you along lot of picture
MENUS writes from Paris Il youthful
leader i'll our smart set. Paris is daft
about these cards. Can't cat without
them. Everywhere you 20 YOU meet
them. You get to look for them as YOU
do for new faces. | say new, not old.
because the same designs are never used
twice-except | suppose, by such vulgar
people as get their things ready made.
At dinner given by the Countess of
G. the other day each card differed
from the other. and no end of fun came
Ill guessing why such and such designs
were thought appropriate for those who
found them at their plates Nell s.,
whose engagement is off and whose ex-
tiance was present, had menu upon
begging for forgiveness.
Il don't suppose that the Countess
knew of their trouble. but there! that is
just the point. You can touch I'D your
dearest enemies with these cartoons, and
they don't know whether you're fool or
a vixen. Nobody else knows either And
they amuse themselves with wondering
Just the proper sport for dining. eh?
You might as we'll have go at get
ting this craze started at home. You
know l never did mind your getting
ahead of me Il bit. On the other hand
though. I've a few notions of my own
in reserve for the season.
You would have better sense than to
! dream of using some of these, | suppose.
know they will amuse YOU"
The menus which this thoughtful
| friend forwarded We're of white card
board, four by SIX inches or so, and were
decorated with cartoons representing a
variety of human peculiarities.
The figures We're printed, some in COL
ors. And. from THEN, cleverness, the
originals must have been drawn by
skilled artists. The collection represent,
ed samples intended for many STYLES of
meal and mind. They suggested the din,
ner stately, the dinner harmless. the din,
ner lively. the dinner Bohemian. the
luncheon proper, the luncheon improper,
| the brea kfast matrimonial, the feast mas
culine. the supper insipid. Further in,
quiry about this craze has been made of
a Fifth avenue caterer. He is posted
upon its patronage on the other side and
is prepared to meet it when it break ks
upon the city with the advent of the
horse show. He shows but Il few spe(l
mems. as his customers are those who
would order i'll accordance with their in
dividual fancies. 1t might be 81 surprise
to sec his books and know what recos
! niZed artists are in the cause of bread
and butter at the caterers command for
choicest work. If the collection of these
cartoon menus should become a fad, il,
might shock conventional people to find
how nearly their fancies are copied and
exaggerated by hostesses of the half
world.
A bit of Latin. a dab of any foreign
tongue, adds to the interest of the il
lustration
1t would seem that this craze might Of
fer work to clever amateur illustrators
and colorists.-Yhe Press.
The Right Sort of Mother.
1t always hurts us to find fault with
mothers, yet IN these progressive days it
sometimes happens that Il woman's ma
ture sometimes gets perverted, and the
fountain of maternal tenderness and de-
votion grows muddy and inactive while
she is running about procaimng what
she will do and what she won't do Oh
questions that have no vital bearing on
her life, but which she has fused and
fumed herself into believeing are import
ant to her welfare.
Let us give over clubs for awhile and
start a training school for mothers We
| do not need anything so much in the
world as good mothers. AS we'll expect
| the hOusekeeper to turn out Il batch of
good cookies, if she makes them of saw
dust and alum, as to expect the children
to develop into good citizens without the
right sort of mothers. The right sort of
mother knows where her boy is all day
long. She spends her time entertaining
him, rather than entertaining shallow
headed callers from everlasting to ever
lasting. She tells him stories. reads to
him. and picks out tunes with him on the
piano. She is "chummy' with him, too,
| and has his complete confidence. She
doesn't allow her girls TO go to the depot
to see the trains come in, nor does she
permit them to spend nights away from
the guardianship of their own home. She
is watchful ut the same time that she is
kind, loving always, but never languid in
the performance of those duties which
the vast responsibility of motherhood has
laid upon her. Give us better mothers
and the world will soon be full of better
men and women.-Philatlelph Times.
Wherein French Women Excel.
''One of, the chief characteristics of
French women at Trouville," remarked
a recently returned American. lis the ex-
trcme simplicity in which they dress at
these resorts. The more pronounced
their rnSition in tho world IF rank and