The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1900-07-20
DON'T BE TOO SWELL.

AAoAy pCOpAC are u1uOI Tue lupE6SSlOu
conventional lines in which dinner parties
are given it would be q social mistake
to enter the lists. This it is that deters
a large number from entertaining in the
modest manner that their incomes and
households admit of, and which would be
quite agreeable to their more wealthy &C.
to offer. no return of a like nature ap-
pears churlish when it is known that
small dinners, in accordance with the
means at command, might readily be Civ
en-.
Some people refuse dinner invitations
cations which they cannot repay; others
accept at the risk of being considered
If living in the countrywide neighbors,"
or, if in town, Of being voted somewhat
mean or somewhat Indifferent.
The conventional or stereotyped form
of dinner, from which so many shrink
through fear of not being able to carry
it creditably through. is a dinner Of eight
courses. and good, plain cook" can
hardly be expected to rise to the occasion;
her mistress cannot venture to reduce the
number of courses, fearing to transgress
the etiquette of dinnergiving. The hors
doeuvres for instance, she thinks her
men guests could not dispense with: soup
she knows to be an imperative necessi-
y
without one or two entrees? She knows
she must have roast; it is, in fact and
in word, the piece de resistance. The So
called second course" she has always
understood, must follow the joint as a
matter of course. A choice of sweets is
inevitable, and the savory is even more
important to the taste of her men guests.
Ices before dessert she has an idea
mig hit give way; but the dessert must be
up to the mark as a show of fruit, even
if but little eaten by her guests.
The wines, again, she knows consider
ably increase the total of expenses if Civ
en- according to the received style of lib
eral hospitality.
Against following helplessly in the
wake of this established dinner code,
many ladies have struck out manfuily,
and give small dinners in accordancc
with their possibilities. with the capabili
ties Of their small households, and with
in the limits of their restricted incomes.
They reduce the regulation menu to one
blush of false shame. They do not hest
tate to dispense with expensive wines,
and their guests are not the less pleased
that they have been invited to a small
and unpretending meal. Every one is
more or less aware of the strength of
their friends households and in the mat
ter of dinner giving it is this fact, name
way. and that prevents smart dinners
being given, rather than the actual cost
Of the food required.
The service throughout dinner, the
cooking, the serving and the waiting at
table are the rocks ahead, and thus it
behooves hostess to minimize the
chance of failure by making the strain
in each direction as little felt as possi-
pie. The shorter the menu the easier is
this effected.
Thus a small dinner for six or eight
guests might consist of soup, fish, one
entree, roast, no game or poultry in
second course, one sweet, one savory, In
some cases an entree is dispensed with.
and the Joint follows the fish, and the
savory shares the same fate as the en-
tree, second sweet sometimes taking
its place.
One word concerning the wines given.
Many 90 not attempt to give champagne
at small dinners, but give hook, claret
and sherry We may add that mineral
waters are one and all largely drunk at
dinner parties in preference to cham
payne, and therefore they are always
forthcoming to meet the very general de-
mand for the same.-Philadelphia Times.