The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1903-10-03
For the Momen.


The autumn bride who is not going to
live in a hotel or boarding house
there are a few such brides. reallv.-
IS almost as much interested in dinner
parties as in the frills and furbelows
of her trOusseau. She is probably plan
ming to begin her career as young
Dmatron hostess by giving a series Of
dinners-for the members Of her own
and her husbands families. for her
bridal party and other friends. lmagl-
nary decorations and original menus
occupy her thoughts quite as much as
the details of the wedding for every
woman loves a home and entertaining
IN a pleasant way is a perfect delight
to her.
One thing the young matron should
pear IN mind is that a bright. cheerful
looking room with dainuly set table
IS distinct Indictment to the appetite,
ana care should be taken with the
preparation and serving of everyday
dinners. for otherwise you cannot eX-
poet to have well-ttained. neat-handed
and reliable servants. 1t is always
easy in dining out to distinguish the
homes where a properly served dinner is
regular feature of the days regime
from those where the haphazard meth
ods do -or every day and the best foot
Is put forward for company. OF course
everyone makes some extra preDara-
tons for a dinner party, but a good
rule for the Young hostess to follow is
TO have her dinner every night served
III such Il StVle that she would not be
ashamed to welcome an unexpected
guest and her conDanv dinners not too
grand in contrast to her home dinners
1t does not follow that the home din
ner should include the expensive items
provided for real festivity but that
the service Of the table should always
be done "decently and in order
Dainty china and delicate glass are
nowadays to be obtained so cheapIy
that it is positive crime to allow any
thing common or coarse on a nicely
served table Moreover the maid ac-
customed to handling thin if not ex-
penslve china for every day is more
trustworthy when the times come to
bring out the Worcester dessert dishes
or Crown Derby tea sets. The differ
ence between the home dinner and the
dinner party should be one of degree
only. the main features being the same
in both and the table is laid the same
whatever be the quality of the plate
ana china. Simplicity is more and more
the rule of the present day. The long,
heavy. elaborate dinner has gone out.
SIX courses is now the usual limit, even
for formal functions. and the decora-
lions and other details are CORRESPOND
ingly simpler
The tablecIoth should be well iroued
and neatly folded. Our grandmothers
all had napkin presses in their linen
closets and the tablecloths and napkins
were taken from the table. neatly fold
ed and put to press until the next time
OF using. This good custom seems to
nave gone out except in the largest
house but it was good one. There is
nothing much more execra BILE than the
habit of leaving the cloth on the table
between meals from day to day to catch
the flying dust which is in even the
most carefully kept house.
Plain white napery is the rule for the
table but individual taste may be con-
suited and if the materials are hand
some the hostess may indulge her fancy
Tor variety by the use of lace-inlaid and
edged cloths. colOred linen instead of
damask or the pretty fashion of a bare
table with doilies and centerpiece. But
10 be successful these fads must be per-
feet of their kind The lace inlays must
be good handmade and suitable for
laundering. A thin machine made lace
IS deteStable and anything that cannot
be laundered has no place on the dinner
table. In the same way eolored table
cloths must be lived up to. They cry
aloud for solid. medieval surroundings
and merely look common in the ordinary
house. As for the bare table surface it
Will only do of course when the table
is of the finest mahogany or other wood
bearing unmistakable evidence of care
full treatment. unebtainable in the usual
middle class households run by I'M
trained and incompetent servants.
Few things look better than a plain
white table service in china with a SIM
pie crest or monogram. Plain glass as
thin as may be is preferred by most
tan or other glass in artistic design and
the best quality. Inferior limitations are
obnoxious
Menu or name cards are best in plain
heavy white, possibly gilt edged with
crest or monogram. For ordinary pur-
poses small white china states, Impress
ed. if you like. do nicely.
It was at one time the fashion to sur
round each guest with an array of
forks, spoons. glasses, etc, but with the
simpler fashions which are coming in
this rule has been greatly modified. The
usual thing is the soup spoon, the fish
fork, one large and one small knife and
fork and ore small dessert spoon and
fork for the sweets. The knives and
the soup spoon are placed on the right
a each cover. the forks on the left and
the spoon and fork for the desserts in
front
The number of glasses has been SINH
larly diminished and even at large par
ties sherry glass. a claret glass or
tumbler and a champagne glass are
sufficient. Other glasses are added as
required. In Topeka where wines are
seldom used this requirement is simpli-
fed. Water carafes of which there
should always be number and syphons
of aerated water should be kept at hand
pm the side board with the tumblers