EVENING GARDEN-PARTIES
=The Garden-Party Season= has been widened out by the introduction of
"Evening Garden-Parties" into the list of country festivities, and this
form of entertainment has found great favour with all.
Invitations are issued on the usual "at home" cards, the hours from 9 to
12 p.m. Occasionally "dancing" is printed on the cards, but not often,
as it is not usual to combine an evening garden-party with a dance,
except when only young girls and young men are invited.
Some little perplexity is felt by the recipients of evening garden-party
invitations as to the style of dress that should be worn. Should ladies
wear morning dress or evening dress? Men are equally in doubt on this
point. Ought they to wear evening dress or not? Although this is not
stated on the invitation cards, yet it is tacitly understood that ladies
are expected to appear in the usual garden-party attire--smart, pretty
dresses and hats or bonnets, and small fashionable wraps carried in
place of sunshades in the event of the evening air proving somewhat
chilly. Evening dress, when worn at one of these "at homes," looks
particularly out of place. The thin evening shoes, which must of
necessity be worn with this style of dress, suit neither dewy grass nor
stony gravel; and although at the evening concerts at the Botanic
Gardens many ladies wear "evening dress" with smart evening cloaks, this
is beside the question. They go for a short half-hour or so, not for a
three hours' stay. Anyhow, at evening garden-parties, the rule is not to
wear evening dress as far as ladies are concerned. Men, on the other
hand, one and all, are expected to do so, morning dress being looked
upon as out of place on these occasions. A light overcoat is inseparable
from evening dress, therefore it is not considered risky wear for men
even on the chilliest of summer evenings.
=As to the arrangements= for one of these evening garden-parties. It is
usual to have tea and coffee, and light refreshments during the whole of
the evening, from arrival to departure, and to give a light supper a
little before twelve o'clock. The gardens and grounds are illuminated
with coloured lamps and lanterns, extensively or moderately, as the case
may be. A band is considered indispensable, but a good one does not seem
to be equally imperative, to judge from the indifferent performances of
various bands heard on these summer evenings. However, country audiences
are not too critical, knowing that to engage a good band from a distance
entails considerable expense, and that evening garden-parties would be
singularly few if superior music was insisted upon. Thus the local band
is encouraged to do its best, and to allow long intervals to elapse
between each selection.
In the case of an evening turning out decidedly wet, guests invited from
a distance seldom put in an appearance, while the nearer neighbours do
so, and the evening garden-party becomes an evening reception within
doors, shorn of its numbers, it is true, but a pleasant gathering,
nevertheless, especially with those who know how to make the best of a
_contretemps_ caused by unpropitious weather.