Birmingham age-herald., 1895-09-15

| liancy of the occasion, but at dinner he is | the important parsonage and once for all | the master of the ceremony. Your we'll | bred friends will therefore immediately l reply, accepting your invitatation in this | form:
 | MT. and Mrs. Francis Hopkins Brooke | Accept with Pleasure
 l MT. and Mrs Edward Blake Gardners
 Polite Cor KinD Invitation to Dinner
 on Tuesday, the 14th, at o'clock, | No. 305 Terrace Row.
 | Invitation Correspondence.
 In accepting or declining an invitation | be sure to repeat the hour and the date. Serious and most unpleasant miSund r. | standings are thus made impossible In | declining an invitation to so imp 7rtant | a function as d ceremonious dinner a | reason and a good reason must be given, | otherwise your hostess may well consider | herself i'll treated. Address your reply | in any case to Mrs. Blake, and, if possi- | ble, plainly state the reasons for de-
 clining with a well-expressed and real | regret. For example, "Mr and Mrs.
 Francis Hopkins Brooke regret extreme | ly that a previous engagement for Mrs. | James Edward Blake's country house | party of September the thirteenth will | prevent their accepting MT. ana Mrs.
 Edward Blake Gardner's kind invitation | for dinner on Tuesday evening, Septem- | Der the fourteenth"
 Importance of Formal Dinners.
 As few people mako engagements ex- | cept for some great ball or fete for more | than three weeks in advance, you are | not apt to receive many regrets fou l must carefully consider in selecting your
 guests that each be agreeable to the oth- | CT and that each be recognized as re- | markable for something-cither talent, | wit beauty, money-then you must be certain that the right man takes the | right woman in or you will put damper | on your company before you are seated
 at your hospitabe board. Last, and not | least. but of the most importance, is the l dinner itself It must be the very best | your means will permit you-as beautl- l fully served and as luxuriously appoint l cd as your purse Will allow. iou ale | doing a chosen few of your friends the | highest honor in your power, for the l compliment inferred by dinner 1nVl- l tation far exceeds any other clVliity | one can bestow, except, or course all iii- | vitation to remain as a guest m one l home. People of modest incomes should not attempt large ceremonlous dinners | for they are expensive, and one is at the | host only entertaining very few frlends.
 To those who can do so, however, ana | who are ambitious for social renowh, 1 the dinner is par excellence the greatest 1 sociaI weight recognized and the house l noted for it's delightful dinners is pow | ar in all civilized countrieS-the woman
 who is known as Mrs. Su and So who | gives such exquisite dinners will nave | legions of followers and champions. | Btfore the Function.
 l Al ton minutes before the dinner hour | Mrs Edward Blake Gardner will descend | from her dressing room gowned In | beautiful and fresh creation-with low
 bodice and one jeweled ornament upon | her breast. Under no circumstances
 must the hostess outdress the simplest | costume worn by her guests.
 | MT. Edward Blake Gardner, in fault
 less evening dress, will join his wife, and | after a last glance at the table, which l
 assure you is poem, the host and host
 ess await the arrival of the chosen few. | It is polite to wait fifteen minutes after | the time set in the invitations before an- nouncing the dinner. During this quar- l ter of an hour for guests, it is under l stood, are to be scrupulously punctual, | acquantances are to be made and the l host tells the men whom they must eS- l cort Late guests are not to be waited 1 for after the quarter of an hours grace. | Guests, upon arriving, are either shown l to the dressing room or their wraps are | taken from them in the hall by the man I and maid servant. The hostess always l receives her guests frst--then the host | welcomes them, and the men of the fam 1 ily if there are sons or brothers or a | friend of the house, attend to them and l make them easy and at home hy the l small talk which we are all SO glad to re-
 sort to for a few minutes after arrival.
 The guests names are nov usually an- l nounced It saves a great deal of con
 fusion. MT. and Mrs. Francis Hopkins 1 Brooke, for example, having arrived | while Mrs. Gardner is talking to Prince l Gheardi, the announcement of their names brings her smilingly towards them I with outstretched hand end pleasant welcome. The host and hostess always l thair pnCStS in fbjS cordial | Good form requires this welcome. At l quarter after eight the butler, or in case l there are only women servants. the par l Tor maid throws open the doors, or if the l dining room is at a distance, appears at 1 the door of the drawing room and simply | says "Dipner is served, sir"
 Seating Ones Guests.
 Immediately MT. Gardner offers his l right arm to the oldest lady in the party, | the only exception being in case of a | bride; the other guests follow arm in arm, Mrs. Gardner being the last lady l to leave the drawing room. It being un- 1 derstood that the host may not choose | the most beautiful and brilliant woman among the guests unless she combines l age with these charms; jt is also an un- written law that the other guests are 1 to be placed with view of making all happy, and that married people and rel atives are never seated next to each oth- CT Of course there is everything in | placing your guests properly-you will see that your two witty men, for ex- ample, are not placed on one side of the | table, withsthe most brilliant woman of the party between them. but you will seat them as far apart as possible, each one being a star. There is usually a | heavy weight at every dinner, and too frequently there is man who has evi- l denty come to eat. I have struggled | with both, times without number; nave l more courage and leave them off the list | of invitees. Now that we have reache d