Year: 1874

Inc Dinner Hour.


Nothing in nature or society appears
to have so much specified gravity AZ
the dinner hour, 1t has gradually
sunk down, taking n century or two for
its descent, from IL o'clock, when it
makes its first appearance in history, to 8
o'clock, the hour when extreme fashion
dimes in London. Queen Elizabeth
and her court dined at noon, and we
may trust that the present prime minis
ter of England was not giving loyal
world an erroneous impression of the
proper hour for dinner when in "Lo-
thar" he fixes the time as "a late
eight" This is the lowest point yet
reached. The fashionable hour for din.
ing in continental cities is much earlier,
and thousands of noble families in Ger
many and France adhere resolutely to
their two-o'clock dinner. OF course,
the vast majority Of mankind never
dine at all, but eat what they can get,
and at any hour which may be conven
lent. But there is throughout the we'll
todo world among the peop,c who
have enough "goods laid up" to ena-
BILE them to invite their souls to make
of their dinner something more than n
mere necessity, and evident tendency
to postpone the principal meal of the
day to the evening, and as the life ef
fashionable people becomes every year
fuller OF varied occupation, to assign
later hour for dining.


This is probably due not SO much to
the progress of luxury as the gradual
increase Of objects of interest to men
of wealth. A few generations ago peo-
pie in society were composed of the
classes who neither toied nor spun, and
to whom the advent of the dinner hoWr
was welcome as it is on shipboard or in
the country An apparently impossible
line separated people of fashion from
those who did any regular or galnfnl
work. And however agreeable 1t may
appear from the outside, it is probable
that mere dawdling, even when enllv-
ened by the pursuit of women, does not
fill the day like II regular occupation.
There are comparatively few people
nowadays who have nothing to do. 1t
is especially unusual to find among
those who possess sufficient energy and
ambition to assume and hold leading
positions in society, any who are not
impelled by these same qualities to nc.
tive participation i'll the practical work
of life. Those who have inherited
wealth like to increase it, or at least to
employ it nationally. Those who have
received from their parents merely II
good name are inclined to gild it by
their own exertions And in every con
spicuous social circle in the world, eX-
cedt, perhaps, in the first society, the
court -capables of Vienna, you will find
among its leaders energetic people who
have made their own names and their
own fortunes. Tho tendency of the
lime being to an active employment OF
the day, it is not surprising that most
people prefer to finish their days work,
whatever it may be, before entering up
on 80 solemn and serious business AS
q modern dinner now is. 1t was one Of
our gleat historians who said that the
dinner party was the highest expression
of civilization; and when we consider
the number of trades, arts, and sciences
which concur to produce the daily re-
suit, the dresses, the plate, the furni-
ture, the flowers, the viands, and the
wines which are to be seen in the mod
ern formal diuner, it will be hard to
contest the apothegm.


But there are some drawbacks insepa.
rably connected from this custom OF
late dining. Two of the most evident
are the gradual abolition through this
means of informal evening visits, and
the startling decadence of the English
drama. In London the higher classes
have almost ceased to frequent the the
ater. 1t is simply imposslbleto dine at
eight and go to play the same evening,
and therefore the people who habituaIly
dine at eight have ceased to go to the
theater. The middle classes follow the
example of their betters and stay away (;
in fact, one attraction of places OF
amusemement is taken away when the
gentlefolks cease to gc. The prices of
admission are too high for the masses.
The consequence is that the theaters
are filled every night with transient
crowd, composed chiefly of the popula'
ton of hotels. The same causes are
operating powerfully against theater'
in New York, though in a less degree


as here the dinner hour is still some


what earlier, and the hotel population


is not so much inferior to the educated


people of the city. The opera is les'
affected than the stage for, while Il


remains fashionable, people are willing
to dine a little earlier and more simply
And yet, even in New York, the tirs
act of an opera is always sung to ful.
gallery and empty boxes. The effect OF
late dining upon dramatic art is undenl'
able, and is continually increasing
| Nc,C York Tribune.