Manners and Social Usages by Mrs John M. E. W. Sherwood (great book club books TXT) 📖

form, is far more of a

revelation of figure than a low-necked dinner-dress properly made.

There is no line of the figure so dear to the artist as that one

revealed from the nape of the neck to the shoulder. A beautiful back

is the delight of the sculptor. No lady who understands the fine-art

of dress would ever have her gown cut too low: it is ugly, besides

being immodest. The persons who bring discredit on fashion are those

who misinterpret it. The truly artistic modiste cuts a low-necked

dress to reveal the fine lines of the back, but it is never in

France cut too low in front. The excessive heat of an American

dining-room makes this dress very much more comfortable than the

high dresses which were brought in several years ago, because a

princess had a goitre which she wished to disguise:

 

No fulminations against fashion have ever effected reforms. We must

take fashion as we find it, and strive to mould dress to our own

style, not slavishly adhering to, but respectfully following, the

reigning mode, remembering that all writings and edicts against this

sub-ruler of the world are like sunbeams falling on a stone wall.

The sunbeams vanish, but the stone wall remains.

 

The modern married belle at a dinner is apt to be dressed in white,

with much crystal trimming, with feathers in her hair, and with

diamonds on her neck and arms, and a pair of long, brown Swedish

gloves drawn up to her shoulders; a feather fan of ostrich feathers

hangs at her side by a ribbon or a chain of diamonds and pearls. The

long, brown Swedish gloves are an anomaly; they do not suit the rest

of this exquisite dress, but fashion decrees that they shall be

worn, and therefore they are worn.

 

The fine, stately fashion of wearing feathers in the hair has

returned, and it is becoming to middle-aged women. It gives them a

queenly air. Young girls look better for the simplest head-gear;

they wear their hair high or low as they consider becoming.

 

Monstrous and inconvenient bouquets are again the fashion, and a

very ugly fashion it is. A lady does not know what to do with her

two or three bouquets at a musicale or a dinner, so they are laid

away on a table. The only thing that can be done is to sit after

dinner with them in her lap, and the prima donna at a musicale

lays hers on the grand piano.

 

More and more is it becoming the fashion to have music at the end of

a dinner in the drawing-room, instead of having it played during

dinner. Elocutionists are asked in to amuse the guests, who, having

been fed on terrapin and canvasback ducks, are not supposed to be

in a talking mood. This may be overdone. Many people like to talk

after dinner with the people who are thus accidentally brought

together; for in our large cities the company assembled about a

dinner-table are very often fresh acquaintances who like to improve

that opportunity to know each other better.

 

We have spoken of the dress of ladies, which, if we were to pursue,

would lead us into all the details of velvet, satin, and brocade,

and would be a departure from our subject; let us therefore glance

at the gentlemen at a modern, most modern, dinner. The vests are cut

very low, and exhibit a piqu� embroidered shirt front held by one

stud, generally a cat’s-eye; however, three studs are permissible.

White plain-pleated linen, with enamel studs resembling linen, is

also very fashionable. A few young men, sometimes called dudes—no

one knows why—wear pink coral studs or pearls, generally black

pearls. Elderly gentlemen content themselves with plain-pleated

shirt-fronts and white ties, indulging even in wearing their watches

in the old way, as fashion has reintroduced the short vest-chain so

long banished.

 

It is pleasant to see the old-fashioned gold chain for the neck

reappearing. It always had a pretty effect, and is now much worn to

support the locket, cross, or medallion portrait which ladies wear

after the Louis Quinze fashion. Gold is more becoming to dark

complexions than pearls, and many ladies hail this return to gold

necklaces with much delight.

 

Gentlemen now wear pearl-colored gloves embroidered in black to

dinners, and do not remove them until they sit down to table. Seal

rings for the third finger are replacing the sunken jewels in dead

gold which have been so fashionable for several years for gentlemen.

 

All the ornamentation of the dinner-table is high this winter—high

candlesticks, high vases, high glasses for the flowers, and tall

glass compotiers. Salt-cellars are looking up; and a favorite device

is a silver vase, about two inches high, with a shell for salt.

 

Silver and silver-gilt dishes, having been banished for five years,

are now reasserting their pre-eminent fitness for the modern dinner-table. People grew tired of silver, and banished it to the plate-chest. Now all the old pieces are being burnished up and

reappearing; and happy the hostess who has some real old Queen Anne.

As the silver dollar loses caste, the silver soup tureen, or, as the

French say, the soupiere (and it is a good word), rises in

fashion, and the teapot of our grandmothers resumes its honored

place.

 

CHAPTER XXXIV. SUMMER DINNERS.

 

There is a season when the lingerers in town accept with pleasure an

invitation to the neighboring country house, where the lucky

suburban cit likes to entertain his friends. It is to be doubted,

however, whether hospitality is an unmixed pleasure to those who

extend it. With each blessing of prosperity comes an attendant evil,

and a lady who has a country house has always to face the fact that

her servants are apt to decamp in a body on Saturday night, and

leave her to take care of her guests as best she may. The nearer to

town the greater the necessity for running a servant’s omnibus,

which shall take the departing offender to the train, and speed the

arrival of her successor.

 

No lady should attempt to entertain in the country who has not a

good cook and a very competent waiter or waitress. The latter, if

well trained, is in every respect as good as a man, and in some

respects more desirable; women-servants are usually quiet, neater

than men-servants, as a rule, and require less waiting upon. Both

men and women should be required to wear shoes that do not creak,

and to be immaculately neat in their attire. Maid-servants should

always wear caps and white aprons, and men dress-coats, white

cravats, and perfectly fresh linen.

 

As the dinners of the opulent, who have butler, waiters, French

cook, etc., are quite able to take care of themselves, we prefer to

answer the inquiries of those of our correspondents who live in a

simple manner, with two or three servants, and who wish to entertain

with hospitality and without great expense.

 

The dining-room of many country houses is small, and not cheerfully

furnished. The houses built recently are improved in this respect,

however, and now we will imagine a large room that has a pretty

outlook on the Hudson, carpeted with fragrant matting, or with a

hard-wood floor, on which lie India rugs. The table should be oval,

as that shape brings guests near to each other. The tablecloth

should be of white damask, and as fresh as sweet clover, for dinner:

colored cloths are permissible only for breakfast and tea. The

chairs should be easy, with high, slanting backs. For summer, cane

chairs are much the most comfortable, although those covered with

leather are very nice. Some people prefer arm-chairs at dinner, but

the arms are inconvenient to many, and, besides, take a great deal

of room. The armless dinner-chairs are the best.

 

Now, as a dinner in the country generally occurs after the gentlemen

come from town, the matter of light has to be considered. If our

late brilliant sunsets do not supply enough, how shall we light our

summer dinners? Few country houses have gas. Even if they have, it

would be very hot, and attract mosquitoes.

 

Candles are very pretty, but exceedingly troublesome. The wind blows

the flame to and fro; the insects flutter into the light; an unhappy

moth seats himself on the wick, and burning into an unsightly

cadaver makes a gutter down one side; the little red-paper shades

take fire, and there is a general conflagration. Yet light is

positively necessary to digestion, and no party can be cheerful

without it. Therefore, try carcel or moderator lamps with pretty

transparent shades, or a hanging lamp with ground-glass shade. These

lamps, filled with kerosene—and it must be done neatly, so that it

will not smell—are the best lamps for the country dinner. If

possible, however, have a country dinner by the light of day; it is

much more cheerful.

 

Now for the ornamentation of the dinner. Let it be of flowers—wild

ones, if possible, grasses, clovers, buttercups, and a few fragrant

roses or garden flowers. There is no end to the cheap decorative

china articles that are sold now for the use of flowers. A

contemporary mentions orchids placed in baskets on the shoulders of

Arcadian peasants; lilies-of-the-valley, with leaves as pale as

their flowers, wheeled in barrows by Cupids or set in china

slippers; crocuses grown in a china pot shaped like a thumbed copy

of Victor Hugo’s “Notre Dame de Paris;” or white tulips in a cluster

of three gilt sabots, large enough to form a capital flower-stand,

mounted on gilt, rustic branches. Stout pitchers, glass bowls, china

bowls, and even old teapots, make pretty bouquet-holders. The Greek

vase, the classic-shaped, old-fashioned champagne glass, are,

however, unrivalled for the light grasses, field daisies, and fresh

garden flowers.

 

Pretty, modern English china, the cheap “old blue,” the white and

gold, or the French, with a colored border, are all good enough for

a country dinner; for if people have two houses, they do not like to

take their fragile, expensive china to the country. Prettily-shaped

tureens and vegetable dishes add very much to the comfort and

happiness of the diners, and fortunately they are cheap and easily

obtained. Glass should always be thin and fine, and tea and coffee

cups delicate to the lip: avoid the thick crockery of a hotel.

 

For a country dinner the table should be set near a window, or

windows, if possible; in fine weather, in the hall or on the wide

veranda. If the veranda have long windows, the servant can pass in

and out easily. There should be a sideboard and a side, table,

relays of knives, forks and spoons, dishes and glasses not in use,

and a table from which the servant can help the soup and carve the

joint, as on a hot day no one wishes to see these two dishes on the

table. A maid-servant should be taught by her mistress how to carve,

in order to save time and trouble. Soup for a country dinner should

be clear bouillon, with macaroni and cheese, creme d’asperge, or

Julienne, which has in it all the vegetables of the season. Heavy

mock-turtle, bean soup, or ox-tail are not in order for a country

dinner. If the lady of the house have a talent for cookery, she

should have her soups made the day before, all the grease removed

when the stock is cold, and season them herself.

 

It is better in a country house to have some cold dish that will

serve as a resource if the cook should leave. Melton veal, which can

be prepared on Monday and which will last until Saturday, is an

excellent stand-by; and a cold boiled or roast ham should always be

on the sideboard.