Evening star., 1915-03-21
About the Dinner Tables.

From the duties of cal binet member
to the construction of a salad and its
dressing seems long step, and yet it
is one which the Secretary of the In
terror takes very frequently. For a
fact, Mr.. Lane makes all of the salad
dressing used at his own table and.
except for the dinner given in honor
of the President and the late Mrs Will
son, the first year of the admniStra
ton, he has shown his guests this
graceful accompli shment to each of
the Lane dinners or luncheons. While
the Secretary stirs and compounds one
of the delectable dressings for which
he is noted the general topic of con-
versation turns upon salads, NATURAL
ly enough, and whatever formality and
conventionalism might have obtained
earlier in the meal is thrown to the
four winds. and from salad to coffee
there is one delightful flow of repartee.
While dozens of dinner parties have
fallen through in the last few weeks
OIL one account or another, generally
because of night sessions at Senate or
House. and frequently from the epi
demiC of grip which has gone the
rounds. it is remarkable that Il hostess
should conceive the idea of giving
dinner in honor of a cabinet member
and his wife, secure the date from
them and then get charming COM
pany to meet them all in the space of
two days. That is what Mrs. John B.
Henderson did when she gave dinner
in honor of the Attorney General and
| Mrs. Gregory Tuesday night at
Boundary Castle. The Cuban minister
and his bride of a few weeks, Nine.
de Cespedes, were of the company,
which was an altogether notable one.
But even more remarkable than get
| ting the company together was the
| fact that Mrs. Henderson. who is one
of the most noted vegetarians in the
| country, served squads. One of the
guests who recited the fact was urged
| to make sure that they were really
| squads, whereupon she identified them
| bones. This brought out story told
on former Speaker Cannon a. few
| years ago, and which is apropos of the
bones. Asked to one OF Mrs Hender-
| sons dinner parties. and being unable
| to 60 he laughingly declared that she
had already fooled him a number of
times and had him picking meat from
"a toothpick, or skewer, only to hnd
that instead of bird he had eaten
something so like it but entirely Vese-
tartan that he thought it deserved
! bones. On one occasion Mr.. Cannon
| leaned toward Mrs. Henderson at table
and complmented her upon splendid
| oyster pate. whereupon he was IN
| formed that oysters Qlu not eiiteI iHto
the delightful morsel, but vegeta-
| BILE very like it in flavor. Fooled
again." was Mr.. Cannon's laconic re-
mark.
| Brig. Gen. and Mrs. Albert L. Mills
| have one of the most artistic dining
| rooms in their X street home to be
| found in Washington. The room itself
| is of fine proportion and not too large,
but the interesting thing about 1t is
the fine old Spanish furniture. very
| old, which fills it. The graceful side
| board and side tables, the large round
dining table, richly carved, and the
high back chairs are all of the wood
so similar to mahogany, but even
| handsomer which grows SO protusely
| in the Philippines. The chairs with
tail backs, richly carved, which set at
| the head and the foot of the table, are
| from one of the many ancient churches
of the Islands, and the table lends
itself admirably to the fine pima cloth
doilies and centerpiece richly embroid-
cred by the Filipino women Monday.
| when the last luncheon party of wom-
| en- was served, there was an old Dutch
| silver basket in the center of the
table-a basket of rare Workmanship
| filled with yellow jonquils and ferns.
| Mrs, Mills has a large collection of
! embroideries and laces, made by Fill
| pino women, and is constantly adding
to It,