The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1896-04-01
80 .EszaEE.#5sas#ssssC 2 Observation-Disclosures 9L #sss=s=aHH

this year in the matter OF that social
event, the tea? Even the woman to
whom money is no object is delighted
with the ne0 found simplicity and better
taste.
This reaction comes to US, of course,
from the Parissans. The hostess in the
gay French capital would no more have
thought of providing the luxurious table
for her tea that the fair sex of this city
have hitherto set forth. than Of attempt
ing to fly. The French afternoon tea
has always meant q purely social afTafr-
The Parisienne drops in. chats a moment
with her hostess Spends an hour
among friends hearing the news ard telling
1t. Sh is there to see people. to gain new
IDEAS. If she eats a sandwich and sips
a cup of chocolate it is a mere incidental
coffee and chocolate. sandwiches. tiny
gateaux and bonbons. That is the most
that the French refreshnlent for this at
fair includes.
Il wish that people wouldn't load their
tables SO at teas. said a young society
belle last year. 1T makes one feel like
those four-footed animals that eat so
much. The royal road to some peoples
hearts may lie through that other thing,
but believe most well-bred women are
sick of seeing such vulgar profusion. We
most of us have quite enough to eat at
home. We go to a tea to see our friends
and not to be fed"
This year her ideal has come to pass.
No LONGER are three kinds of salad. four
kinds of oystersi ten varieties of cake
and twelve flavors of cream. to be found
on the uplto-date table. The room in
which the hostess receives is daintily-
not profusely-decorated in flowers. The
tea table still has its charming centre
piece. Its delicately tinted lamps or can
delabra. its superhne napery. Blu the
board itself is set forth with a much more
desirable menu
There is stil another point. If the
simple afternoon tea was to be "a feast
of fat things" requiring $50 and a ca
terer. the little woman whose purse
could stand no such inroads would have
to go without and let tea-giving strictly
alone. But if the affair is to be given
on the friendly French plan, If 1T is to be
sthe feast of reason and the flow OF
SOUL. perhaps the little woman could
richer neighbor. and the most slender
purse can stand once a year flowers,
coffee and sandwiches.
How about the menu" says another
anxious reader of the Page. VIII
the other halves come to my. affair if
there is only to be a little gossip and
nothing but liquids and cakes to sus-
tain them?v Well. dozens. of women in
this city have been giving this kind of
tea for months and they do not report
any falling off in attendance. A man
distressful bread. as Shakespeare says.
He goes to meet the pretty women there
In fact, those who rave looked into the
matter hint hat the attendance Of
women at the teas Of the new regime
viii be larger than ever. The explanation
lies in the fact thai the man now viii
no longer be obliged to endanger his
clothing and make a wreck of himself
so far as appearance. goes. in that mad
rush to the refreshment table when there
are two walters and 200 people walling
them in.
AS to that little tea drinking which
occurs when your friends drop in upon
you-st is still a great and severe trial
of friendship. In the first place, some
women have lemon on the brain. Your
friend Know that a slice of lemon in
her Russian brew Is the correct. thing.
Perhaps /. you detest the bitter COM
pound, but you compos III features
n get it down in one way or another.
This is but one of the little uncom-
F1.+of~t- 51oNo+;,n- xr-lsat,- NO. ~rro 1fou,
in your round of calls.
Chocolate, raw and unsweetened, is an
other atrocity, and coffee which has been
diligently boiled into syrup. Then those
damp biscuits which have been standing
all week in an open dish on the lower
shelf of your tea table. They would be
quite edible If placed above the range for
a short period.
But the crime of crimes Is to serve
cold liquids which are intended for hot
ones. Man and woman can drink the
quaA lemonade. Even the raw chocolate
is delecfahle when compared with tea of
low temperature. Many things shall be
forgiven her, because she serves her tea
hot.
SO, therefore, social people are welcom-
ing with delight the plan Mrs. Astor re-
Gently made fashionable in New York
That is, to have the white-capped maid
bring to the guest a large silver salver
with thin slices of bread and butter and
jam, or barbecue. with the tea steaming
hot in a pretty old china pot and the
old flagree silver bowl and cream
pitcher