The invitations were made of white water color paper cut in the shape
of daisies, with centers tinted yellow. Scattered over the petals were
the following lines:
"_One I love, two I love,
Three I love I say,
Come and see if this is true
On St. Valentine's Day."
(or "Friday next, I pray_")
On all the invitations but the guest of honor's was added: "In honor
of Marion's engagement. Please send your remembrance to me the day
before."
This direction was put on so that the gifts could all be wrapped in
advance by the hostess in white tissue paper, tied with yellow baby
ribbon and a big artificial daisy tucked into the knot. Piled on a
tray they were brought to the surprised little bride-to-be on the
afternoon of the party. The entertainment fulfilled the promise of the
invitation in this way: A large paper daisy with many petals was hung
against the wall and each guest was given a pointer and asked to
select a petal at random. On the back of each petal was written a
little fortune rhyme somewhat on the order of this one:
"_Five! he loves--good pumpkin pie,
So learn to cook it--thus say I_."
The refreshments were served in buffet style in the dining room. In
the center of the table was a blossoming pot of marguerites. There
were individual daisy salads, formed by little mounds of chicken salad
covered with yellow mayonnaise and surrounded by a fringe of petals
cut from the whites of hard-boiled eggs. With the salad simple bread
and butter sandwiches were eaten.
As a second course, frozen custard in paper cups with borders of white
paper petals was served with squares of angel cake, frosted in yellow,
and squares of sunshine cake, frosted in white.
The principal feature, however, and the final one, was the favor pie.
A big imitation daisy was made from a round basket, by covering the
top with yellow paper and surrounding the edge with as many petals
as there were guests. Each guest was asked to pull a petal from the
daisy, and in so doing drew from the basket a tiny doll dressed like
a "rich man, poor man, beggar man, thief, doctor, lawyer, merchant or
chief." The girl whose fate was already assured had been guided to
choose a particular petal and her favor doll proved to be dressed in
the garb of her fiancé's profession.