The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-01-18
GIVING A TEA AT HARVARD.
Pretty Girls Are, of Course, the Prime
Factors of Success.
.CPnstnr, IInrald


For a college man TO give a o'clock
tea is not quite SO easy an undertake
ing as the mere name implies. This does
not refer to the men in Beck or cav
erly, with valet and a well appointed
tea table always in evidence, but 10 the
average student. who depends upon his
chums TO hep him make and serve the
tea, and whose table is usually his
study table cleared of and spread with
cups and saucers borrowed very gen
orally throughout the building Larry
IN the morning the room is put into
the hands Of the "Goody," who gives
II double cleaning, washing the paint
and the windows, and removing what
she considers all the unnecessary brio
a-brac, with which the host had hoped
to amuse his guests. and which takes
MIN an hour. at least, TO put up again.
No college man can ever have TOO many
cushions, SO the rooms in the building
are all ranSacked to add their shares
TO his. and these are piled on and
around his couch in the most luxurious
way, making it the most inviting COR
ner of the room. One that ! have in
mind particularly was a charming
couch and a delightful bit of color. The
sofa itself was dark red. and was piled
with all sorts and conditions OF cuSh-
ions, from plain red denim-which. by
the way, is a most effective and dur
able stuff for a mans pillow-tO big,
fluffy. crimson affairs, embroidered
with the Harvard shield. The back
ground was the wall, hung with green
drapery, and against this cool. dark
shade the red stood out admirably
When as many cosy corners have
been made of the room as possible, the
light shaded and softened to n dim
religious" glow that throws the best
construction on all things, the hot
water boiling for the tea in the back
room and the stuffed olives and ginger
arranged TO the best advantage, then
the host can sit down with Z contented
mind and send a bodyguard to meet
the girls and the chaperOne at the
square and escort them TO their room.
Usually two or three men are with
the host to receive, but the majority
drop in by pairs after the girls are we'll
settled. and in this way .introductions
are made easier than if they came, like
misfOrtunes, not singly, but by bat
talions."
Then, if the host is a clever man,
with tact, the success of his tea VIII be
assured To put the shy girls in charge
of two or three DatrOnizing and dlgnl-
fed seniors, who viii talk themselves
and look for no conversational return;
to take the freshman over to a girl
W no has been out two or three seasons,
who can talk like a streak on anything
from Kipling TO football, and who also
can keep quiet If the young man him
self shows an inclination TO chatter; to
keep the chaperOne we'll supplied with
company and talk; and, in fact, TO mar
moniZe every element, viii be worthy
tests OF his ability to entertain. When
everything has been set moving well
he GOES into the next room with a
couple CT the cleverer cooks 10 scald
his fingers in private. He has prob
ably asked and been told that. strange
as it may seem, English breakfast
makes the best Russian tea, that it
should be neither too strong nor too
weak, but, like the wee bears pOrridge,
''jUst right" and that one or two cloves
added with the lemon makes delight
full flavor. While the tea-makinS is go
ing on in the other room, the grou3s
of girls walk around and examine his
books, his photographs that he brought
from abroad last year. his foils and
masks. his Gibson proofs, and, if he is
patriotic. the pictures of all the battle
ships indeed, the thousand and one
things that there are to interest a girl
in a students room. When the tea
making is over, the tea poured and the
crackers passed. the guests break no
into groups of their own assortment,
which are usually more successful than
the earlier arrangement of the host.
The old rule for successful entertain
ment certainly holds good here-that if
you invite many pleasant people they
viii amUse each other and take the
burden off your hands. Pretty and at
tractive girls and agreeable men are
the greatest factors in a successful tea.
If all these things are adhered TO, one
need not have dun moment, and the
girls viii be apt to make that most
hattering Of speeches when the chaper-
one rises:
Must we really gO2"