_Table-Linen, etc._--Table-cloths of white damask, double or single, as
fine as the owner's purse admits, are used for the dinner-table, with
large square white napkins to correspond.
The table should first be covered with a mat of double-faced cotton
flannel wide enough to fall six inches below the edge of the table, all
around. This under mat greatly improves the appearance of the
table-cloth, which can be laid much more smoothly over this soft
foundation. Besides, the mat protects the table from too close contact
with hot dishes. Small table mats for the purpose of protecting the
cloth are not fashionable at present, though many careful housekeepers
retain them rather than risk injury to fine table linen.
Carving-cloths are used when carving is done at the table, but are not
needed when dinner is served _a la Russe_.
Napkin rings are discarded by many who hold that a napkin should be
used but once, and must be re-laundried before reappearing on the table.
Practically, such a fastidious use of table linen would exhaust most
linen supplies, and overcrowd the laundry. The neat use of a napkin
renders this extreme nicety superfluous as a rule of home dining, Care
should certainly be taken to remove all soiled table linen. Nothing is
more disgusting than a dirty napkin, but the snowy linen that comes
spotless through one using may, with propriety, be retained in the ring
to be used several times. This, of course, refers to every-day dining
at home. On formal occasions no napkin rings appear on the table; the
napkins are always fresh, and used for that time only. At the close of
the dinner they are left carelessly on the table; not rolled or folded
in any orderly shape.
Small fringed napkins of different colors are used with a dessert of
fruits. Fancy doylies of fine linen embroidered with silk are
sometimes brought in with the finger-bowls; but these are not for
utility, the dinner napkin doing service, while the embroidered "fancy"
adds a dainty bit of effect to the table decoration.
_China, Glassware, Cutlery, Silverware, etc._--Chinaware for the dinner
service should be of good quality. Fashions in china decoration are
not fixed; the fancy of the hour is constantly changing, but a matched
set is eminently proper for the dinner table, leaving the "harlequin"
china for luncheons and teas. In the latter style the aim is to have
no two pieces alike in decoration, or at least, to permit an unlimited
variety; a fashion that is very convenient when large quantities of
dishes are liable to be needed. But for a dinner served in orderly
sequence, the orderly correspondence of a handsome "set" seems more in
keeping. But even with this, the harlequin idea may come in with the
dessert; fruit plates, ice-cream sets, after-dinner coffees, etc., may
display any number of fantasies in shape and coloring.
Artistic glassware is a very handsome feature of table furnishing.
Carafes and goblets for water are always needed at dinner; wine
glasses, possibly; and the serving of fruits and bon-bons gives
opportunity to display the most brilliant cut-glass, or its
comparatively inexpensive substitutes, which are scarcely less pretty
in effect. Fine glass is infinitely more elegant than common
plated-ware, and though more liable to breakage is less trouble to keep
in order.
The best dinner-knife is of steel, of good quality, with handle of
ivory, ebony, or silver. Silver-plated knives are much used; they do
not discolor so readily as steel, and are easily kept polished. They
answer the purpose for luncheon, but they rarely have edge enough to be
really serviceable at dinner or breakfast.
Many people who own solid silverware store it away in bank vaults and
use its _fac simile_ in quadruple plate, and thus escape the constant
dread of a possible burglar. For the sense of security that it gives,
one may value the finest quality of plated ware, but it should be
inconspicuous in style and not too profuse in quantity, since its
utility, rather than its commercial value, should be suggested. Any
ostentation in the use of plated ware is vulgar. But one may take a
pride and satisfaction in the possession of solid silver. Every
ambitious housekeeper will devise ways of securing, little by little,
if not all at once, a neat collection of solid spoons and forks. The
simplest table takes on dignity when graced with these "sterling"
accompaniments. The fancy for collecting "souvenir" spoons, one at a
time, suggests a way to secure a valuable lot of spoons without feeling
the burden of the expense. Yet, on the other hand, these spoons are
much more expensive than equally good plain silver, the extra price
being paid for the "idea;" but the expenditure is worth while to those
who value historical associations. One may find in the silver-basket
salient reminders of all important epochs in our national life, a sort
of primer of United States history, to say nothing of the innumerable
"souvenirs" of Europe. Its subtle testimony to the intelligent taste
of its owner gives the souvenir collection its chief "touch of
elegance."
The towering "castor," once the central glory of the dinner table, is
out of style. The condiments are left on the sideboard, and handed
from there in case any dish requires them, the supposition being that,
as a rule, the several dishes are properly seasoned before they are
served. Individual salt-cellars are placed on the table, and may be
accompanied with salt spoons; if these are omitted, it is understood
that the salt-cellar is emptied and refilled each time that it is used.
On the family dinner-table the condiment line is not so severely drawn;
vinegar in cut-glass cruets, mustard in Satsuma pots, and individual
"peppers"--in silver, china, or glass, and of quaint designs--are
convenient and allowable.
A table covered with white damask, overlaid with sparkling china and
cut-glass, and reflecting the white light of polished silver, is a
pretty but lifeless sight. Add one magic touch--the centre-piece of
flowers--and the crystallized beauty wakes to organic life.
In arranging the modern dinner-table, when the service is to be _a la
Russe_, floral decorations are almost indispensable. Without something
attractive for the eye to rest upon, the desert stretch of linen looks
like the white ghost of famine mocking the feast.
The shape of the table, the available space, and the nature of the
occasion decide the quantity and distribution of the flowers. It is a
matter in which wide latitude is given to individual taste and
ingenuity, original designs and odd conceits being always in order,
subject only to the law of appropriateness.
For a square or extra wide table a large centre-piece, either round or
oblong, is usually chosen, with endless varieties in its component
arrangement. It may be low and flat, like a floral mat, in the middle
of the table, or it may be a lofty _epergne_, or an inter-lacing of
delicate vine-wreathed arches, or a single basket of feathery
maidenhair fern--in fact, anything that is pretty and which the
inspiration of the moment may suggest. In early autumn, in country
homes or in suburban villas, nothing is more effective than masses of
golden-rod and purple asters, gathered by the hostess or her guests
during their afternoon drive, and all the more satisfactory because of
the pleasure taken in their impromptu arrangement. Wild flowers should
be neatly trimmed and symmetrically grouped to avoid a ragged or weedy
appearance.
Fortunately, even quite elaborate floral decorations need not be
expensive. Nature has bestowed some of her choicest touches upon the
lilies of the field, and an artistic eye discerns their possibilities.
At the same time, art in floriculture has produced marvels, and those
who can afford it may revel in mammoth roses and rare orchids, lilies
of the valley in November, and red clovers in January, if it please
them to pay the florist's bill for the same.
For narrow "extension" tables, slender vases ranged at intervals may be
the most convenient disposition of the flowers; or, if the ends of the
table are not occupied, a broad, low basket may stand at each end, with
a tall, slender vase in the middle of the table.
On choice occasions a handsome centre-piece may be, for example, a
large bowl of La France roses, with small bundles of the same (groups
of three are pretty), tied with ribbon of the same hue, laid by each
plate. Any other single flower may be disposed similarly, or variety
may rule, and no two floral "favors" be alike, in which case it is a
delicate compliment to give to each guest a flower known to be a
favorite, or one that seems especially appropriate--a lily to Lilian, a
daisy to Marguerite, etc. These little marks of thoughtfulness never
fail to be appreciated, and add much to the grace of entertaining.
An elaborate centre-piece may stand upon a rich velvet mat, or on a
flat mirror provided for the purpose. The latter is a clever idea for
a centre-piece of pond-lilies or other aquatic plants, simulating a
miniature lake, its edges fringed with moss or ferns.