Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-10-05
To Be Successful Host
ess Woman Should
Limit Guests to Those
She Can Entertain
Comfortably, Have
Them Congenial and
Keep Within Her
Means as to Features.
Means as to Features,

- INVITE only rs many guests as you
can comfortably entertain. IL your
aiming room is small II your
II Kitchen is inadequate. IL you have,
q limited amount OF china or 'sil-I
yer. if your servants are few or not
perfectly trained, do not attempt any
thing elaborate. $50
Three or four simple dinners. "a.
which two or four guests are invited.
will be much more pleasant for every
one concerned than one big one badly
given. @
Invite persons who are eongenial
Do not invite sworn enemies to sit at
the same table with each other, even
| IL they are separated by the most
charming persons in the world. If you
invite a middle-aged man do not seat
him beside debutante. Give him as
dinner partner an older woman. who
looks at life from his point of view.
| Never attempt TO give the sort of
dinner persons with. more wealth than
you would give. Make your dinner
| honestly successful
| Do not go in for any unusual fea-
lures. If you have the wealth OF a
king-unless he be a poor one--you
can Introduce new dishes and deck
your table with exotic flowers, and
have dancing maiden emerge from
the centerpiece. But otherwise you
will do better to Keep to the sane road
Of simplicity.
| Your most attractive china, shining
silver and cleaning glass, good linen
well ianndered. fresh and beautiful
a ~ ets t-S-, fan
reliable dishes we'll prepared. simple
but dainty place cards-these essentials
should all be looked after carefully,
and your dinner will be a success
Do not have everscented flowers on
the table. They are overpowering in
their fragrance and sometimes really
cause faintness.
Have the dining room well ventilated.
Nothing is more uncomfortable. in the
social world, than dinner table in a
room where the temperature is eighty
degrees-unless. indeed, 1T is a draught
blowing on bare neck and shoulders:
| Have the room moderately cool when
| the guests are seated, and If possible
| have window or two open a couple OF
| inches at the top. Have a window
open In an adjoining room and use.
screens to shield the guests from
direct draughts -
4 =
Never repfimand servant publicly for
an error RI II is necessary to make i'm
mediate corrections speak to the servant
quietly and call her attention to the mis-
| take she has made. If possible walt un-
til the hext morning to reprimand her
I she will appreciate your Kindness. All
but the most highly trained servants are
little nervous when they have the re-
spbnsiBility OF serving a dinner.
| Do not show anger because of delays
| In the kitchen. They generally pass prac-
ticaily unnoticed. IT, the hostess passes
, them on by filling III. the gap with pleas
ant conversation.
Do your best to bring all the diners into
the conversation. Seat them with this
end in mind. BY putting a good CONVEX
sationalist between two rather duh ones
| you can often bring out latent converse
tional gifts In your guests.
Always commend your servants-wheth-
er you and your maid of all work have
prepared the dinner beforehand and she
has played waitress, with q cfiarwoman in
the kitchen to help her, or whether you
have butler and chef, and they have
each half a dozen assistants-for what
ever Is commendable In their service.
Commentator goes farther than blame.