Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-04-07

that food could be eaten more con-
veniently with forks than with the fin
gers? Not many centuries, certainly, but
within that brief period we have been very
busy evolving away from the eminently
simple and perfectly efficacious methods
of the days Of Queen Elizabeth.
If you want to realize how far We have
progressed toward complicated elegance
within the past 400 years there is one
place that will give you just the right i'm
preston, and that is behind the scenes in
a big hotel.
We speak casually Of "a lot of silver
and what care it is and so forth when
the number Of knives and forks and
spoons in a house runs to a dozen Of each
to see what ''Iot of silver really is
you must go to the silver room that sup
plies some fashionable public restaurant.
Half million dollars Is good deal of
capital, to the idea Of the ordinary man,
but that sum represents the investment in
silver alone of some of our largest hotels.
None of the f1rSt-class hotels in any
large city probably has less than $500,
600 worth. The value of the investment
depends, of course, on the amount, for
all have varied and elegant services.
These sums represent from one hundred
to two hundred thousand separate pieces
of table silver.
All these pieces not only represent the
enormous amount paid for them in the
first place, but they call for another ex-
penditure to polish, repair and guard in
one way or another. Indeed, there are
many businesses called large which do
not involve as much trouble and expense
as this single item in the province of the
hotelkeeper.
1t Is an item, too, that passes half I'M
noticed Guests may wonder vaguely
how much silver 1t takes to run large
hotel, but they do not see half the guam
tity and cannot imagine the detail its care
involves.
If the steward of one of these great ho-
tells Is so good as to let you look at his
inventory the items will be found to run
something like this:
Table forks. 5000: banquet spoons, 5000;
knives 5000; banquet knives. 5000; table
spoons, $500; dessertspoons. $500: tea
spoons. $500: dessertknives, $500; but
ter chips, 2, 500.
Then he will explain that, for ordinary
everyday use, the hotel must have just
about twice the amount of silver that Is
actually In use at any one time; this OF
course, to allow for washing and polish
ing.
But that is not ALL There are banuuets
at every hotel and these require proper
tiOnately more silver than is used in the
regular dining room. For the banquets
the big hotels have almost, or quite, as
much silver again.
This does not include the special sery-
ices. The ordinary banquet silver is like
that used in the dining rooms, but for a
small party, when the affair is very elab-
crate, there is always a service q little
finer than the other, and every hotel
nowadays has its gold service to give the
final touch Of elegance.
The silver that IS not actually in use is
kept In a special room. Everything has
to be calculated by what will be needed
during the height Of the season, and
when the season Is waning the store
It is not a glittering and gorgeous place.
the silver storerOom. for it's thousands Of
dollars worth of beautiful things are COW
cred up. but 1t is none the less impress
i've to be told that the chatting dishes
that line the shelves cost from forty to
seventy-f1ve dollars apiece. There are
dozens of them. and dozens more are in
use.
There are. in the storeroom, more kinds
Of forks than can well be counted. How
many years ago was it that our ances-
tors first began to think that food could
be better conveyed to the mouth by a
fork than by the fingers! Not many CEN
turtles. certainly, but within that time we
are certainly occupying ourselves with
the task Of evolving many and curious
forms of the implement
There are. to begin with, the usual large
table forks for the meat courses and
the smaller forks for breakfast and for
dessert. There are the oyster forks and
the ice cream forks, and queer fish forks
in great numbers.
There are asparagus forks-but to serve
asparagus, not for eating it-and game
forks, also for serving. of a sharpness
that the other carving forks lack. Hun
dreds and hundreds Of every kind are
piled about.
In the storeroom, too, are the most ex-
pensive pieces of silver. the enormous
ones used only for large banquets. They
weigh tons. and each piece has cost at
least 500 or $500. Most Of them never go
before the guests, but stand on the
serving table in q sort Of glorious incon-
spfcuousness.
Perhaps the most impressive thing
about the silver behind the scene is.
after all, the number Of silver trays
stacked all around
There are trays to the right and trays
to the left-trays in front and behind.
Thew r. v,fled nm the IN hos where c0ffeA