This meal may be served at a seaside cottage, or near a lake or even a
river, or it may be used on board a yacht. If it happens to be in a
house or on a piazza by the sea, the walls near by may be decorated with
fish nets and oars.
[Illustration]
Use a table-cloth for the time, and omit any central decoration
whatever, even the customary piece of lace. Arrange a small fleet of
sail-boats all over the table, fastening them to each other by a couple
of strands of narrow ribbon, drawn loosely and tied to each central
mast. Heap the decks with some small flower which will look well with
the colour of the ribbon. If buttercups are to be had, they are pretty,
with yellow ribbons; or small pansies are lovely, with purple and
yellow; or the deck can be heaped with bonbons, and the ribbons used as
with the flowers, if this is preferred. It is necessary to cut off the
keels of the little boats in order to have them stand securely, and the
small unpainted boats which children use will do, and they can easily be
painted white if they are unfinished.
Your cards may be adorned with bits of pressed seaweed, if you are at
the seashore, or with little sketches of sail-boats, row-boats, oars, or
marine views. A meal of sea food might be fancied for variety.