The times., 1897-12-26
CRYSTAL DINNERS.
Cut, Engraved and Highly Polished
Glass Now Used

Glass Now Used.
New York, &c. 25.-On we'll set L bleS
| this winter an silver and china possible
| is dispensed with In the serving. Glass
with lights and flowers and the glass is
not always Venetian, either. French or
| English fancy glass, and that cut, or en-
| graved, OF carved here In the United states,
| are the species most sought after.
Tie matter of greatest moment at a
| crystnl dinner, where soup is eaten fIom
| small Cut-glass bowl cups, and the salad
| from tail champa gne- shaped vases. rich
| with gliding, is tie great glass centerpece.
! THIS last not only holds the flowers and
| is an ornament in itself, but usually supplies
| sockets for candles. and so il does away
| with the long -iuved silver Candclahra. The
| centefpicce at Il crystal dinner or luncheon
| Il apt to sit on a mirror platea i, = worked
out in glass Cf tintS or rich cOlorS set in q
| frame OF gilt. and it displays some novel
| design. IL may he a most adorable clear
glass temple, standing three four feet
high, with pagOda top in which bangs
a chime OF CT rystaI bells that ring, hy means
| OF miniature clockwork set in Il gilt hall
on the temples top. The temples pillars
are apt to be crowned with flower "a seS
or candles, and inside the circle IF lila RS
stands a crystal urn full Of roses.
Not less quaint and decorative than this
pattern is a lofty green and gilded glass
bicycle for a lady's luncheon, with flower
vases hung at tie hubs and pedals and for
musical dinners. are tall, graceful Tyres
and antique harp-sha pes Of glass, strung
with gilded wires and arranged TO holh
vines and blossoms at every available
| point. Most astonlShinely pretty are the
big glass mill wheels, overgrown with
vinesona mirror lake, OF what is reGa rded as
| a lavish decoration for n dinner table
flight of opa descent glass bubbles. These
come in sets Of four and six, strung on fine
silver yiirS, and though the crystal spheres
| mea sure al! the wa from eight to twoinches
in diameter, their weight is scarcely more
than that OF soap bubbles. The wires
are attached on the base OF cutelass
center bowl, fun OF flowers, over which
the rainbow Coiored balls of glass hover
like fairy balloons.
Beside these striking frivolties In glass
the up to date houseIeeper has got brand
new dirner table, OF which no cloth is
worthy. 1t Is either richly inlaid on It's
| mahogany OF black oak surface with colure6
woods, OF mother OF pearl, In designs of
| antique feasts or the chase, else IL is
more splcncidly still made a repository
for her rarest plates choicest bit s of enamel,
or costly plaques of hmose, Cloisonne and
other wares. These dinner tables, in fact,
all sa We one circular spot in the cen.er.
and a plain border at the edge, have gor-
geous pieces OF Porcelain sunk In the wood
Women Vic have for years been collecting
perfect set of empire or Louis XVI PLACES,
have these sunk IN great circle In their
| dining table, SO that those who eat off
platters worth tTifling $50 a dozen
may vet feast their eyes on plates in willow
pattern, or Sevses or Dresden worth couple
OF thousand dollars per dozen.
Another eccentric table decoration, that
any hostess may follow, is that OF dressing
wine bottles FOR dinner in costumes appro-
pirate to their contents, On ella -et
bottle a red satin petticoat can he gath
cred, onto tie cork dolls head slipped
and out of a hit Of muslin French pe asant
woman's cap oontrived; a tan hook bottle
is prettily costuned as a Pierrot In patti
coats; champagne bottle gowned as
skirt dancer. and beer bottle given the
guise OF German fraulein. A few odds
and ends OF finery and some ine expensive
dolls heads is all the equipment required
to decorate halt dozen bottles gayly and