(1.) Home Culture and Refinement

(2.) Mutual Courtesy of Husband and Wife, of Parents and Children, to Elders and Superiors

(3.) Dining room and Kitchen Civilities, Consideration and Claims; Courtesy to and from Domestics.

(4.) Neighborhood Courtesy; Informal Receptions; Home Gather ings.

(5) Dinners, Teas, and Balls; dress for public occasions, of both Sexes.

(6) Courtesies of Host. Hostess and Guests.

(7.) Good Form as to Engagements, Weddings, and Wedding Presents.

(8.) Letters of Congratulation; Letters of Condolence and Funeral Remembrances, Floral, and otherwise, Specialties in Stationery and Postal Proprieties.

(9) Courtesies, Comforts and Discomforts of Shopping; of Correspondence, proper and improper.

(10.) Courtesies of Traveling; Hotel Customs and Accommodations; Good Form in unexpected situations.

(11.) Duties and Privileges of a Chaperon; Etiquette of Cards and Introductions.

(12.) Courtesies between Stenographers and Typewriters and their Employers, from the two standpoints of Business Demands, and Custom and Privilege; Cycling Etiquette for both sexes; Proper Deportment on or off the Wheel; Etiquette in Woman's Clubs.

CHAPTER VI

HE serving of a formal dinner requires a degree of care and involves anxieties second only to those accompanying a marriage and the attendant feast. In regard to the invitations, the selection of guests, the viands agreeable to the season and to one another, and the serving of the same, to say nothing of their preparation, there must be exercised taste and judgment. Even where the housekeeper can secure a chef or a cook of good ability who demands neither that name nor the compensation, there are inevitable accessories of the dinner that require looking after in many details.

Formal dinner invitations should be written with

extreme care, both in the wording, the spacing and penmanship. A correct form reads like this:

Mr. and Mrs. Henry James

Request the pleasure of

MR. AND MRS. HERBERT SPENCER'S Company at Dinner on

Wednesday, March ninth, at seven o'clock.

500 Willow Street.

In most cases these invitations, unless the town is one of magnificent distances, are delivered by messenger, and are sent two weeks in advance. They should be answered immediately, so that host and hostess may, if need be, supply vacant places. Invitations and replies should be written on fine note paper and the use of sealing wax is appropriate, since it shows deliberation and respect. In no case should the first and the third person be used in the same note. In anything informal the first person is employed. A correct form, where the dinner is in honor of a third person, is to append to the invitation below the date and address as above, the words: To meet General Lane of Boston.

The acceptance to a formal dinner, reads:

Mr. and Mrs. Herbert Spencer accept with great pleasure Mr. and Mrs. Henry James' kind invitation for Wednesday, March ninth, at seven o'clock.

In case of a declination, the second and third lines, are:

"Regret extremely that a previous engagement prevents their accepting," etc.

It is understood that a husband is never invited

without his wife. Readers of the Carlyles' story will recall the bitterness of heart of the bright Jeanie, who was always ignored in the invitations given to the grumbling sage, by a certain titled lady. One wonders how he reconciled the fact with his pride, but he did.

The answer to such an invitation once sent, should not be changed except in cases of dire necessity. Punctually a quarter of an hour before the hour all guests should reach the house. Of all places delay here is unpardonable.

At the door stands a waiter to indicate the dressing rooms for men and women. Here are to be found all appurtenances with which a toilet may be freshened, presided over in the woman's dressing room by

a dextrous maid. Here are water, towels, pins, hairpins, combs and brushes, a hand glass, with the ever needed needles and thread.

When each fair guest is ready she will find her escort waiting near the door. A gentleman escorting no one will be introduced to the lady whom he is to take in to dinner by the hostess. Often husband and wife are separated at dinner, each being paired with another couple. At such times there will be cards either in the dressing room or upon the hall table, each bearing the name of those couples who are to be table companions. Adept dinner givers carefully study the distribution of guests, so that those supposed to have common subjects of interest shall be seated together or near one another.

Upon the moment fixed a servant noiselessly appears and indicates to the housemaster that dinner is served. Offering his right arm to the lady whom, by position or age he most desires to honor, the host leads the way to the dining room, followed by guests in pairs. The hostess, with the most distinguished man, is the last to enter. In each case, dinner givers have at their right, guests of honor. At very elegant affairs, where many covers are laid, there are diagrams in the dressing rooms where each guest can see the position of all. Where the number is large, host and hostess often sit opposite each other, as at the State dinners of the President, otherwise they are usually at the extremities. Names may be written on menus, but they are usually upon separate cards, and the attendants indicate to guests where these are placed.

On such occasions the dining-room should present a handsome picture. The butler, should there be one, and his assistants, are expected to be silent, alert, ubiquitous. There is to be no talking or whispering among them; no nods, frowns or asides from host and hostess; no clashing of dishes or noise in the butler's pantry. The glasses are to be kept filled, and no plates remoyed until all have finished eating. Between each course the table is to be cleared, save of fancy dishes, which remain throughout the entire dinner.

But let us glance at the table. Snowy linen, smoothly spread; a centerpiece with flowers, not so high as to obscure opposite parties; a glass, with one beautiful flower or a tiny bouquet, at each plate; at the ends, a banquet lamp or candelabra with tinted shades; low dishes of cut glass or faience, containing olives, almonds, ginger and bonbons, placed at intervals; soft, yet bright sidelights, dainty china and sparkling silver; all are the tokens of a social evolution that marks the progress of the arts.

At each plate and in front are wineglasses or a water tumbler and a carafe between every two or four persons, while at the left are bread and butter plates and knives. On each plate is a napkin, between the folds of which peeps a roll, and at the right also an individual salt and pepper castor, with whatever knives and spoons are needed for the courses. At the left are forks, the oyster fork outside of all. The

concave portions of spoons and forks are uppermost and the knife blades turned inward.

In formal functions everything is served from the side, only the first course of raw oysters being on the plates at each place when all are seated. When this is removed, there is a plate underneath which remains while soup or bouillon is served, after which that is taken away. The waiter removes plates or places them in position from the right of the guest. Where a viand is offered for the guest to help himself, it is done from the left. The attendant wears white cotton gloves and holds the dish upon a folded napkin. Guests help themselves and pass along the olives, almonds and other trifles; nothing else. A second serving of the same viand is never offered.

Whenever a dish is undesired a guest never refuses, but simply affects to eat, though he need not. The most famous diner out of New York eats no course dinner. "If I partook of one quarter of the feasts which I am supposed to enjoy," said he, "I should not now be living. I eat a bit of bread, and never touch wine."

In the interest of health it may be stated that the number of courses at dinner has decreased in the last ten years. It is now recognized that digestion has its rights and its revenges. Meantime, the quality of cooking and the delicacy of the table service, with the refinements of serving, have greatly increased. At the most recherché of functions there are usually no more than oysters, soup, a roast, an entrée, a releve, sherbet, game, a salad, sweets, ices, biscuit, cheese and coffee. Of course there are always fruits attractively arranged, and trifles like almonds, crystallized ginger and bonbons. In less than two hours the most formal dinner will be finished.

Upon entering the dining room, all are seated at the same time, the gentlemen, unless there are many waiters, placing those whom they have escorted before seating themselves. Ample space should be allowed, there being nothing more annoying than interference with the elbows of one's neighbors.

Con

And now the brilliant diner out has the field. versation should be sparkling, humorous, and as general as convenience will permit. The first courses are served beginning with the hostess; in the latter part this order is often reversed. During the serving there is opportunity for pleasant interchange of anecdotes or whatever will contribute to the agreeability of the scene. To obtrude unpleasant subjects or personal affairs, is out of place. Should there be contretemps, like the breaking of dishes or spilling their contents, as little notice should be taken of the incident as possible.

Where wine is served, past masters in the art of imbibing declare that sauterne or Rhine wine accompanies oysters, sherry appears with soup and fish, champagne with the roast, claret with game, and port or Burgundy at dessert. It must be an onlooker who relates these rules, a partaker would never survive to tell the tale. Red wines are to be poured when about the temperature of the dining room; white

wines are to be chilled on ice, but should never have ice in the glasses.

Contrary to the usual belief, Americans consume more wines than their transatlantic cousins. So declared the late George W. Childs, than whom, on subjects pertaining to the table, no man was better informed. It was he who set the example of reversing his wineglass on being seated, an obvious way of declaring abstemiousness. Just as effectual would be a slight motion of the head to the officiating waiter. At informal dinners, Madame serves the soup, salad and dessert.

For men the correct and conventional dinner dress is the ordinary evening clothes worn all over the civilized world,—black swallow-tailed coat, black trousers, a black or a white waistcoat, cut low or high according to the fashion of the day, and a black silk or white muslin four-in-hand tie, low-cut patent leather shoes and black hose. About it there is nothing picturesque. But-and there they have the advantage of us-it never goes out of style. Even the hair, as long as any remains, is arranged in the same way. On the contrary the coiffure of women changes like the fashion of their bodices and sleeves. Whatever the skirt may be, these two last should conform in their main outlines with the prevailing mode, or the wearer will seem odd. Still if she have genuine esthetic taste she will drape herself in defiance of the modiste, yet appear distinguished. In general it may be said that a good deal of light-tinted stuff or creamy, billowy lace, sets off an evening waist. Prim enough it is and out of keeping with a beautiful table, flowers, lights and decorations, to see a guest wearing a dark silk or cloth without anything to soften the lines of neck and shoulder.

Among the ultra fashionable it is the custom at dinner, to wear a frock with a decollete or low neck waist. A more quiet and shall we say? a more modest and refined taste desires to obscure with soft thin light foldings, the neck and bust. The square cut or pointed waist front can be made dressy by lace or chiffon. So that even a black fabric as a background, becomes a thing of beauty. The fancy waists now in vogue lend themselves readily to fine effects. And, as far as effects are concerned paste or colored glass, avowed as such, are as decorative at night in shimmer and sparkle, as costly gems.

In many places in this country, the habit which men have of remaining at table after the women have withdrawn to the drawing room, is falling into disuse. In England it still flourishes. Where the men must finish dinner by the use or abuse of the cigar and the decanter, it is better they remained by themselves. Otherwise not. At men's dinners, it is expected that cigars came in with coffee, while the decanters flourish at all stages of the repast.

In withdrawing from the dining room the hostess leads the way, followed by ladies, while their chairs are deftly removed by the gentlemen who stand until they have passed out. All servants having left the room after handing about the coffee, one of the

gentlemen holds open the door while the ladies pass to the drawing room. During the period that elapses before this, neither host nor hostess should feel obliged to give orders to waiters or show anxiety or pre-occupation concerning the service. Perturbation at infringement of order is never shown by those situated at either end of the social ladder, savages and members of the famous four hundred. In such manner do extremes meet. It must be confessed that great will power is evident when woman is

"Mistress of herself though china fall " Unless invited to some entertainment after a formal dinner, guests are not expected to remain more than a half hour. In cities, such a function frequently precedes a theater party or a dance at some residence where all invited are known to be expected guests. In leaving the dining room, each has taken a menu, which is often a work of art, showing originality and appropriateness to the occasion.

That brief calls should be made upon the dinner givers within ten days after the function, is incumbent upon all who have attended them. Where distance prevents this an appreciative note should be forwarded.

It may be well to state here that bouillon or soup is sipped noiselessly from the side of the spoon taken from the side of the plate farthest from the diner. Fish is taken with a fork while holding a bit of bread in the left hand. Salad is never cut, but cheese should be; it is then placed in bits on biscuit or bread and conveyed to the mouth. Strawberries served unhulled are held by the stems and dipped in individual dishes of powdered sugar. Oranges, peaches, apples and pears are peeled and cut across, while bananas, after peeling, are sliced and eaten by the help of a fork. Peas are usually conveyed to the mouth by a fork. The American fashion of partaking of corn is to break it in two and eat it from the cob. Bread should never be buttered in the slice, but only in small broken pieces. Fruit seeds should be taken from the mouth by the fingers.

It is not customary either to ask for a second helping of any dish or to comment upon its quality. Should tumbler or glass need replenishing, it is better to speak to the hostess than to the waiter. At the close, the napkin is left unfolded at the side of the plate.

OF VISITING.

Special care should be taken of guests who remain over night. Whether man or woman, the person should at once be shown to the guest chamber. The room should be well aired, orderly, neat, with plenty of towels, water and other appurtenances for comfort, such as brushes for the hair and clothing, pins, a hand glass and button hook, and a well-supplied work basket. There should also be a tray containing biscuit and fruit, a portfolio with writing implements and stamps and closet room for frocks and wraps. There should be a shelf of books, a footstool, and perhaps a screen.

These directions to many will seem superfluous.

Where such is not desired there need be no insincerity in not pressing a repetition of a visit. Yet the guest should not be permitted to feel she is unwelcome or that she has increased family cares. At the last "speed the parting," as well as "welcome the coming guest." Prepare a nice little lunch for an all-day traveler. Before that, consult her views and wishes about sight-seeing, and never feel that hospitality demands you should amuse your friend, as if she were a child in search of a new toy. Or that you turn your home topsy turvy to meet her supposed tastes. That is neither sincerity nor fine manners. Such traits mark an effete civilization.

Original in GOOD HOUSEKEEPING.

CARE OF THE KITCHEN.

What To Do, and What Not To Do.

A

FTER the fire is lighted in the morning brush off the stove, carefully sweep the kitchen and allow the dust to settle before wiping chairs, etc. In preparing breakfast, if one can acquire the habit of washing utensils that have been lightly used, immediately, and putting them in place, much labor will be saved and an accumulation of dishes and utensils avoided. If bread has been cut, at once remove the crumbs, and if the meat or molding board has been used, wash at once and put away. Do not use the dishcloth or your apron to handle pots, skillets or teakettle, but hang on the wall near the stove, two holders, and use for this purpose. They can be covered with calico, which should be removed and washed when boiled.

The closets or cupboards should be thoroughly cleaned once a week. The sink should have attention daily. Use lye freely with a whisk broom for removing grease and keeping the sink pure and sweet.

The tables in the kitchen-there should be twomust be marvels of purity. Above all things keep them free from grease spots. Some housekeepers cover the tables with oil cloths, and others have a square of zinc nailed on part of the cooking table where the hot utensils may be placed without injury to the boards. To keep the tables white use white sand, sapolio or bath brick. The latter I find keeps the boards beautifully white. A bath brick which costs five cents will last for some months, and is useful for kitchen cleaning in general. The kitchen floor, if uncarpeted or if painted, should be wiped. frequently with warm suds. Keep the windows clean and the paints free from finger marks. The stove or range should be well polished once or twice a week, and rubbed over every day with cloth or brush. The kitchen should always be swept before the dishes are washed. There is no place about the house where vile odors an 1 filth are so likely to accumulate as in the kitchen. For this reason it should be kept thoroughly clean at all times.

- Vira Albert.

Original in GOOD HOUSEKEEPING.

THE VOICES OF THE PAST.

From the vale of the past, thro' the mist of years,
Voices of the long ago

Come dreamily, soothingly to my ears,

As the sun of my life sinks low.

In the whispering breeze, in the pattering rain,
As I sit by the fireside glow,

I hear in faint echoes the tones again,
Of the friends I used to know.

When around the eaves the storm-wind howls,

I am, as of yore, at school,

And hear with trembling the master's growls,
As he glares from his three-legged stool.

All in fancy, forsooth, when the south wind sighs,
As the evening shadows grow,

I hear once more a fair maiden's replies,
In the twilight long ago.

And the merry brook, as it softly purls
Its song in the summer air,

Calls up from the past the boys and girls
At play in the meadows fair.

As I list to these low, sweet voices of yore,
What joy awakes in my heart!

For their music delights and charms me far more
Than the best musician's art.
-A. S. Brendle.

Adapted for GOOD HOUSEKEEPING.

BUTTER MAKING ON THE FARM. The Most Important Department of Modern Dairying. 1.-Milk and its Treatment.

NE of the most important matters for every person "keeping a cow," whether a single animal or a herd, is to be able to make good butter; and as a matter of course, every one keeping cows for the purpose of making butter is desirous of making an article that will bring the best price. possible if sold, that will give the fullest degree of satisfaction if consumed in the household, at the same time securing the greatest possible product from the available milk. This matter has been made the subject of a 'Farmers' Bulletin " by the United States Department of Agriculture, which does so much to aid the people toward success in many ways. The writer of this bulletin is Professor C. P. Goodrich, of the Farmers' Institute Department, University of Wisconsin, an authority upon the subject, a systematic and pleasing writer, who treats the topic in a complete and pleasing way. The substance of his treatise is here presented, and it may profitably be read and studied by all who are interested in the making of good butter.

66

In his introduction the professor remarks that when the milk is delivered to a creamery it is usually manufactured by those who have been well instructed in