The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-02-07
SOCIETY PUZZLED OVER
ITS HOUR FOR DINNER
Question Has Become Important and Perplexins
Dinners During Lenten Season---Much Entertain
day--Dances of the Week-WedcinGs ar
Su WEDNESDAY is close at
\ aand and the dancing season
Is nearing its end in so far as

y aand and the dancing season
Is nearing its end in so far as
the giving Of private dances
f. concerned. hut still many entertain
ments are being planned especially
for those who have heretofore been
content with the role of chaperon or
entertainer. Lent always ushers in
numberess dinners and this winter
dinners are first and foremost among
the diversions Of social life.
The formal dinner for sixty or
eighty guests is exceedingly popular.
but the smaller dinners with from
eight to twelve carefully chosen guests
continue to he considered the most de-
Erable method OF entertaining per-
sons Of consequence as we'll as ones
intimate friends. The test Of the pop
uarity Of a man or woman is said
10 lie in the number Of dinner invita-
tons received and while there is. as
Is well understood an enormous
amount Of give and take where din
rers are concerned there are at
every function OF this kind one or
more guests to whom the give and
take principles do not apply.
Under these circumstances the
question OF the hour for dinner has
become important and perplexing, be-
cause ,he tendency has been to make
j. later and later Everything is in
a transition stage and there are no
NOR fixed and immutable laws as TO
any form Of entertainment. The din
nor hour is especially movable and
Consequently it is hard for a dinner
guest to plan the day properly.
Later and later is the hour set. and
f'r those whose days have not been
carefully aid out from noon onward
there are apt to be some hours that
are bit dun before the time comes
TO set forth for the feast. Seven
o'clock, once fashionable. is now an
unnoiy ana not 70 oe thought OF nour
for dinner even when the theatre is 10
follow, and every effort is made TO
avoid any invitation that means din
ner before the play \ new idea in
'-oduced a year ago has been tried
again this winter, and while not yet
universally adopted 1t shows signs Of
being taken up by the elect. This is
a hearty supper following the theatre
quite on the lines Of dinner
The pleasure of your company is
requested at dinner at o'clock"
Is the most usual form of invitation.
but half after 8 is just a bit smarter,
so to say, II any one understands
What Is meant by smarter. Half
after S means that dinner does not
begin until . o'clock, except in some
rare Instances, and the wait before
dinner is announced does not show
me guests, either the women or the
men, to advantage The women, If
anything, have the better of it, for
ivy "hNf lldu a lbIE rest dlltT after
noon tea; but the man, the business
man who does not play auction at
MS club until the last moment, has
lived through some dreary moments
before time came to start forth, mo-
ments so dreary and dun that he il
saint If he arrives in good humor and
without being at least a bit bored.
Nine o'clock has been attempted az
me dinner hour, but that is really
rather ultra, for 1t means that the
entire twenty-four hours have been
Hved or rather planned on anything
but conservative lines. 1t is re-
Versal to the situation in London So
'iety when Lewis CAROLS poem Of
The Shark won so much favor with
rs lines They always breakfast at
o'clock tea, and dine on the fol-
owing day"
To work out a fashionable schedule