The Project Gutenberg eBook of Suppers, by Paul Pierce.

To that much abused, but very eminent class, the society women of America, this book is dedicated. It is with a realization that they constitute the better half of the best aristocracy in the world—probably the only real aristocracy of the present day. It is an aristocracy of real merit, entree to which is attained by achievement, not by mere inheritance. No titles are inherited there; they are bought with effort and accomplishments. It is an aristocracy of the fittest, not of chance birth. Out of the competition is growing a higher and higher standard for each succeeding generation, and hence it is an aristocracy of ascent and not of descent.

Suppers are the favorite social function of the American aristocrats. Hence it is with the highest esteem of their station, and the honor they reflect on the nation that this humble volume is recommended to their especial protection and favor.

Publisher's Announcement.

So scant is the information regarding suppers that it has been almost impossible for the host or hostess to obtain authentic knowledge regarding these functions excepting through actual experience as a guest, and even then the prevailing ignorance has led to many erroneous conceptions causing deplorable awkwardness. The publication of this volume was decided upon only after a search of libraries and bookshops everywhere revealed such a woeful dearth of information on suppers and the fact that such information as was obtainable was often misleading and in many cases positively ridiculous. There is no social function that lends itself so admirably for a high class entertainment as the supper.

This volume, therefore, will fill a vacuum in the needs of society; it will supply a long felt want of both men and women, who often, so often, have worried over the proper forms and menus for suppers. The book is complied by Paul Pierce, publisher of What To Eat, The National Food Magazine, an international authority on all subjects pertaining to dinings and other social functions. Mr. Pierce is the Compiler of "Dinners and Luncheons," "Parties and Entertainments," "Breakfasts and Teas," and "Weddings and Wedding Celebrations," to which "Suppers" is a companion. All the other volumes will be found most helpful to the man or woman who entertains on a large or small scale.

Chapter I. Chafing Dish Suppers—Chafing Dish Cooking and Serving—Chafing Dish Chat—A Chafing Dish Supper—A Chafing Dish Party—Over the Chafing Dish.

Chapter IV. Suppers for Special Occasions—Danish Valentine Supper—A Hallowe'en Ghost Hunt—A Hallowe'en Supper—Hallowe'en Supper Menus—A Pie Party for Thanksgiving Season—The Pie Shelf—Birthday Suppers—Birthday Party.

Chapter V. Miscellaneous Suppers—Camping Parties and Clambakes—Nutting Party—Harvest Home Supper—Autumn Suppers—Dickens' Supper—Boston Supper Party—Yachting Party—Butterfly Supper—Young Married Couples' Supper—Head Dress Supper Party—Quilting Supper—Wedding Supper—Waffle Supper—The Bohemian Picnic Supper—Railroad Party—Literary Supper—Peanut Party—Folk Lore Supper—Cake Walk Supper—Bridge Whist Supper—After Theatre Menus—A Cold Supper Menu for Hot Weather.

CHAPTER I.

Chafing Dish Suppers—Chafing Dish Cooking and Serving—Chafing Dish Chat—A Chafing Dish Supper—A Chafing Dish Party—Over the Chafing Dish.

In serving the most simple of chafing-dish suppers, it would seem as though the novice had a million things to remember and a thousand duties to follow in quick succession. She is the cynosure of all eyes. With what grace and tact she may discharge her pretty duties, or with what awkwardness and evident distaste, none but a "chafing" audience can really appreciate. Charming and at home on every other occasion, the most finished society woman frequently feels completely lost in this unwonted dipping into domestic service.

Perhaps one of the most embarrassing moments is when, the company assembled, unconsciously expectant and usually most flatteringly interested, the hostess prepares to fill and light the little lamp whose flickering flame begins the ceremony. If the hostess is wise and conversation seems to flag at this interesting moment, she will promptly start the ball rolling and relieve the tension by some extemporaneous remark, some light jest that will at least temporarily distract the attention of the merry assemblage. But this over, there is still the inconvenient delay before the water heats, the butter splutters and the real preparing of the supper is begun, and remembering this and the[Pg 8] embarassing interval, even at the most informal supper the chafing-dish course should be preceded by a little appetizer, or, to speak more correctly, diverter, which will form a pleasant interlude, occupy in part the attention of the guests and tend to promote the success of her favorite dish by allowing her to proceed in its preparation undisturbed by haste or excitement.

For this purpose something most appropriate to the supper must be served, in order that, as according to the customs in ancient Rome, the piece de resistance may be emphasized and the appetite whetted, not cloyed by the introductory viands.

Before the favorite Welsh rarebit, so rarely thought of in any combination but with ale and indigestion, anchovy sandwiches garnished with water cress will be found delicious, or sardines, chilled in lemon juice, and offered with inch wide sandwiches of buttered Boston brown bread may be served. Iced shaddock pulp, flavored with Maraschino, is an excellent introduction to creamed chicken. Egg lemonade, clam cocktail, raw oysters with stuffed mangoes, or some such light course can all be easily prepared beforehand, and should be served most daintily, individually, in order that no rapacious collegiate may inadvertently regale himself with a second helping, and thereby too early spring the epicurean trap so adroitly set for later refections.

The lamp lighted and this first course passed, the hostess may at least be sure of a short interval in which to make her preparations. Have everything ready beforehand—the rest is easy. Why there should be so[Pg 9] much excitement over the cooking of an ordinary rarebit, a creamed chicken, a souffle of oysters or all this terrible excitement about a lobster Newberg or a simple cheese fondue is beyond comprehension.

The first ambition of the young hostess seems to be a rarebit, possibly because its frequent introduction at stag suppers makes it a great favorite with her men friends. Rarebits are avowedly hard to make, and the recipes are legion, but whatever formula you use, whether you use cream, ale, beer, curry or Tobasco, never fail to add two half-beaten eggs for each pound of cheese, and serve the minute it reaches a creamy consistency. This principle followed, your rarebit woes will vanish, and the fame of your chafing dish will be heralded abroad.

Unless you are really an experienced cook, it is unwise to attempt too complicated a dish, but a little practice will soon put you quite at ease, and a little thought will enable you to serve your Sunday-night supper or a midnight lunch quite as easily this way as any other.

We are most of us familiar enough with simple cooking to prepare any ordinary dish, and without entering into a list of formulæ, the following suggestions will be found all sufficient:

Ham, oyster, bacon, cheese, potato, jelly, celery or preserved fruit omelets; scrambled eggs; curried oysters or chicken; minced ham or minced tongue souffle; fried shad roe, calves brains, chops, sausages or sardines; creamed chicken with mushrooms, creamed sweetbreads, liver, bacon, lobster, oysters, cold boiled fish of all kinds; fried oyster,[Pg 10] clam, corn, pineapple, peach, orange or banana fritters (fried in butter); cheese fondue, Welsh rarebit, sardines in cheese sauce, or any other simple little dish your fancy may dictate. With such an array as this to choose from, and a hundred other equally simple dishes in reserve, is it possible for any one to despair over the impossibilities of the chafing dish and its limited qualifications for a quick, hot supper?

Chafing Dish Chat.

While recipes for chafing dish cookery abound, the little hints which make all the difference between success and failure in the concoction of any given dish are usually omitted.

The chafing dish novice is usually obliged to learn them by that hardest of all teachers, experience.

Have plenty of alcohol on hand to avoid the possibility of the lamp's going out just before some dish is completed, otherwise, if you are a man, you may be tempted to use language almost warm enough to cook the ingredients.

If your chafing dish lamp has not been used for some time, pour only a little alcohol into it at first, let it stand, and then fill it up.

If obliged to refill the lamp in the process of cooking, do not do it while the lamp is very hot, as the igniting point of alcohol is low.

Do not fill up your lamp until ready to use it, as alcohol evaporates very rapidly.

Do not blow the flame to extinguish it, or it may fly back at you and scorch your eyebrows and lashes. Put it out with a little extinguisher that comes with the lamp.

Almost everything can be cooked without the hot water pan, and thus one-half the time can be saved in making your dish.

Never leave the alcohol bottle uncorked, on account of the odor of the alcohol and also to avoid the possibility of its catching fire.

Should the contents of the bottle ignite, clap your hand over its mouth. This will extinguish the fire at once.

Almost anything that can be cooked in a sauce pan on the stove can be cooked in the chafing dish.

Have everything you need for your dish on the table before you begin to cook, and if possible have every ingredient, except the seasonings, measured.

One level tablespoonful of butter when melted is usually enough to cover the bottom of the chafing dish.

Do not use too much sherry in making Lobster Newberg, for alcohol, when used in cooking, tends to make fish or flesh tough.

Remember in measuring out the sherry that you are preparing a dish, not concocting a drink.

The sherry should not be instantly recognized; there should be just a hint of its flavor.

When your dish is completed, serve it from the chafing dish. If, however, you prefer turning it out on a platter, garnish the edges of the same with watercress or parsley.

Last, but not least, save the best and brightest story you have heard during the week, to relate at the chafing dish supper.

A Chafing Dish Supper.

A chafing dish supper menu must necessarily be confined to those dishes which are the hosts' or hostess' specialty—Welsh rarebit, panned or creamed oysters, shellfish, eggs or meats. The very informality of a chafing dish supper is its charm, the guests sitting at the table while the dishes are prepared. Decide upon the chief dish and have everything possible prepared in the kitchen and ready to use at the table, the cheese or meat cut into dice, the bread or crackers toasted, the ingredients measured and in glasses or cups and all utensils ready to use. Decorate the table with centerpiece and plate mats or large white cloth with bowl of flowers or fruits in the center. Do not have many candles or decorations on the table as these will interfere with the preparation of dishes. Have the chafing dish or dishes at one end of the table and some hostesses have a higher chair in which to sit while they[Pg 13] preside over the chafing dish. Have the salad, trays or platters with sandwiches and coffee machine if you make coffee at the table, placed conveniently by those who prepare these articles of food. Suppose you are to serve panned oysters, on squares of toast, lettuce salad, bread and butter sandwiches and coffee, or Welsh rarebit, potato salad and coffee and sandwiches. Any of these is a good menu as you will not want sweets or ice cream at such a supper.

For safety place your chafing dishes on metal trays and do not fill the lamp too full. Many hostesses prefer to have their ingredients on the table in bowls which will not break and on Japanese trays and use wooden spoons for stirring as they do not become hot, and do not scratch the dishes. As food is served directly from the chafing dish to the plates and the object is to have everything very hot, garnishings are not necessary. The water pan placed under the cooking pan will keep things hot after the flame is extinguished. Two chafing dishes come in very handy in keeping the toast and hot water hot while the main dish is being prepared.

Have a pile of hot plates at hand and have someone place the toast on the plate and hand it to the hostess who serves from the chafing dish. While she is doing this, have someone at the other end of the table mix a plain French dressing and toss the lettuce leaves in it in a large bowl and serve the lettuce salad, or serve the potato salad which should be already prepared on small fancy plates. If coffee is made at the table assign this task to one guest and appoint two or three waiters to[Pg 14] see that the sandwiches, coffee, salad and the chafing dish product are handed about. Dill pickles are popular for chafing dish suppers, and so are wienerwursts, rye bread and Swiss cheese. The main idea of such a supper is to keep everyone busy helping and seeing that the supper does not lag.

A Chafing Dish Party.

Hey diddle diddle, the cat's in the fiddle,
The cow jumped over the moon,
The little dog laughed to see the sport,
And the dish ran away with the spoon.

Start in with a spelling match and spell each other down in good old-fashioned style. As soon as any one misses two words he or she is dropped out. Finally when only one is left, award a prize, a little water color, painted by the hostess, and framed passe-partout, to the "unabridged dictionary" as the winner might be called. The one who fails and retires first from the field receives a toy chafing dish. In the dining room the polished table is daintily set with doilies under the olive and almond dishes, and under the plates and glasses. The supper is a very simple one. Make creamed oysters in the chafing dish and serve them in home-made pate shells. Then have celery sandwiches made of thin slices of bread rolled around tender splintered stalks of celery, and dainty lettuce sandwiches with the lettuce crisp and cold and the mayonnaise of good stiffness and small cups of coffee.

To divert the attention while the hostess is cooking the oysters put at each plate a large oyster shell with a verse painted upon it in the form of a recipe which brings out little characteristics of each one of the guests. One man who is very clever and a dabbler in verse may receive the following:

"For this wonder culinary
Take a pound of dictionary,
Philosophy, perhaps a cup—
Beat three epics, mix them up,
With a measure of blank verse
Season with oratory terse,
Sprinkle in a bunch of rue
—— looms into view."

A girl who has a record of alleged broken hearts to her account, is exploited in this style:

"Take an ounce of fickleness,
Remorse, perhaps a grain or less;
Stir this into ready wit,
A Siren's smile to leaven it;
A laugh of wondrous catchiness
This is little ——"

Over the Chafing Dish.

Recipes for cooking with this dish of dishes are more than plentiful, yet new ones are always sought; and these will all be found most excellent.

Sweetbreads with Peas.

Can of peas; three small sweetbreads; one teaspoonful butter; one-half pint of stock broth; celery leaf; salt; white pepper; one-half teaspoonful brown flour. Stand the sweetbreads in cold water for an[Pg 16] hour. Then parboil and remove rough edges, membranes, sinews, etc. Put in cold water and keep on ice until wanted. Put into the chafing dish the butter and the sweetbreads. When the butter has been absorbed, add one-half pint of stock and the celery leaf, chopped fine, the salt, pepper and browned flour. Turn the sweetbreads. When the same is reduced one half it is ready. While the sweetbreads are cooking open a can of green peas. Warm thoroughly in the chafing dish. Put in salt, pepper and tablespoonful of butter. Serve peas and sweetbreads together.

Lobster a la Newberg.

Meat of a boiled lobster, cut into large dice; good-sized lump butter; one gill of sherry; one pint of cream; yolks of two eggs; glass of sauterne.

Put the lobster into the chafing dish with a good-sized lump of butter and stir gently until the butter is melted and the lobster heated through. Mix the sherry with the cream and yolk of eggs, first blending the latter with enough cream to make them thick as mayonnaise. Pour the mixture into the dish over the lobster. Let it simmer a moment, then pour the sauterne over the whole and serve hot.

Welsh Rarebit.

One pound chopped American cheese; one-half glass ale; yolk of an egg; one teaspoonful dry mustard; one teaspoonful Worcestershire sauce and butter; a dash of red and one or two of black pepper; a few drops of[Pg 17] Tabasco. If cheese is fresh add salt. Into the chafing dish put a few small lumps of butter. After it has simmered a bit put in the cheese. Stir constantly and gradually add the ale. When the cheese and ale are well blended stir in the condiments prepared as follows: To the yolk of the egg broken into a cup, add the dry mustard and Worcestershire sauce, red and black pepper and Tabasco. Let it have one more heating and pour over toast or toasted biscuit.

CHAPTER II.

German, Dutch and Bohemian Suppers—Some Queer German Suppers—A Dutch Supper—Bohemian Supper for Men—The Dutch Supper.

Some Queer German Suppers.

At the following suppers German wines or beers are served during the meal when desired:

Beer Bouillon

Fricandeau of Veal, with Macaroni

Cauliflower

Cold Pullet, with Apricot Compote

Chocolate Souffle

Coffee

Herring Broth

Pork Cutlets

Cold Turnips

Sour Roast Meat Sliced, with Pear Compote

Orange Jelly

Small Cups of Coffee

Sardines

Turbots

Carrots, Creamed

Slices of Venison, with Cranberry Compote

Omelette

Black Coffee

Plum Bouillon

Salmon with Butter

Fillet of Beef with Mushrooms

Creamed Asparagus

Duck with Currant Compote

Ices

Black Coffee

Crab Broth

Cold Slices of Beef, with Plum Sauce

Sour Potatoes

Belgian Hare, Sour Cream Sauce

Crackers and Cheese

Small Cups of Coffee

In Germany the rich and poor alike have the same taste for strange and extraordinary dishes, though these are prepared in a more costly manner in the houses of the wealthy. The German "geschmack," to borrow their own word, seems different from that of other nations. A waiter who had the selection of a menu for the principal officers' mess in Berlin, when questioned stated that all the sweets were regularly struck out by the officer who revised the bill of fare with the remark, "Give us only sour." That the Germans, however, lay great stress on the culinary art is best proved by the fact that in the German domestic exhibition, recently held in Berlin, the recipes were sold at the rate of 12½ cents apiece and freely bought at that price.

The Germans have a greater variety of soups, including chowders, broths and bouillons, than any other nation of Europe. Most peculiar are their beer soups. One of the most popular of these is beer and raisin soup,[Pg 20] which, in the form of chowders, broths, bouillons and soups, is served for breakfasts, dinners, and suppers. It is made as follows:

Boil a sufficient quantity of raisins in water with a slice of bread in it until the raisins are soft. Then pour in beer till the mixture tastes quite strong. Sweeten with sugar and when it boils add from a half to a whole teaspoonful of flour thickening. Stir the liquid and add whisked eggs or cream.

It might seem the height of human imagination to combine beer and raisins in a soup or bouillon, but the Germans proceed a step further and make a favorite soup, broth or bouillon out of beer and milk, which are mixed together in the proportion of two pints of milk to one pint of beer and prepared with the addition of currants, flour and salt. Fruit soups, broths and bouillons of all kinds play an important part at German luncheons, dinners and suppers, and really some of them are delicious. Perhaps the best is a strawberry decoction which is made as follows:

Boil some biscuit powder in water. Add wine, sugar and cinnamon according to taste. In case the mixture is not thick enough stir in a little corn flour. When this has boiled take it off the fire and put in some cupfuls of ripe strawberries which must have lain an hour with sugar over them. Serve as soup, broth or bouillon.

Fish soups are also very usual, the chief fish employed for the purpose being the carp and the pike. Indeed the Germans seem able to make soup out of anything and, not only to make it, but enjoy it.

Vegetables at German dinners, luncheons or suppers are always served in a special course by themselves, being served cold at suppers. They are dressed with oil, butter, or drippings, never boiled in water as we cook them. These fats are placed in a saucepan and allowed to boil before the vegetables are put in. Suet may be used instead of the above. Of course, this method of dressing does not always apply to potatoes—which are boiled in the American manner, though served in a countless variety of ways. They are served with melted butter and parsley sauce as a dish by themselves. They are served with sour milk sauce. Other preparations of potatoes are too numerous to mention, but we may briefly enumerate sour potatoes with bay leaves (the latter being boiled with them), potato fritters, potatoes and apples, potatoes and pears, potatoes and damsons, potatoes and vermicelli, etc. Some of these mixtures we attest, from personal experience after tasting them, are not so unsavory as at first sight might appear. The potato is a vegetable of undecided flavor and lends itself to combinations with sweet fruits in an extraordinary manner. Indeed by the addition of sugar in some of the German dishes it would pass for a fruit itself.

Sour roast meat is a favorite with Germans. The extraordinary taste which finds pleasure in eating this sour meat is little less remarkable than the strange way in which the viand is prepared. Whey is first taken and curdled with vinegar, and the meat is laid in this, the whey and[Pg 22] vinegar being changed every two days. This preliminary pickling goes on for more than a week until the meat is thoroughly sour and sodden. If not sour to the last degree the cook has orders to baste it with vinegar while roasting, so as to secure the extreme point of acidity. Before it is put to the fire the cooks often slash it, and rub it with cayenne pepper, onions, turnips and the crust of black bread so as to give it some recondite flavor, with the merit of which we are unacquainted. When finally cooked, it is eaten by Germans with as much relish as a fine sirloin is by Americans. This meat is very popular when served cold at suppers.

At German suppers along with the meat is eaten the "compote." This is a species of preserved or stewed fruit, which is served on little glass plates, and lies at the side of the supper plate. It is not an uncommon sight to see a German at supper or dinner putting methodically a piece of meat in his mouth and next instant a spoonful of cranberries or stewed apricots, and repeating the process indefinitely as long as the meal lasts. The little glass plate on which the "compote" lies is lifted to the mouth along with the spoon, replaced on the table, and then the German attacks his meat for another mouthful only.

A Dutch Supper.

Some cold night try an American version of a Dutch supper. Have the place cards in the form of Hans Brinker with the silver skates, or sketches of Henriette Ronner's famous cats. A windmill for a[Pg 23] centerpiece and copies of the wooden shoes for bonbons and nuts.

Use Delft china and of course the coffee must be from Mandheling or Padang—the best Java. From a German bake shop get the bread, either "Kummel," (which is rye with caraway seeds), or Pumpernickel. Be sure and have herring and anchovies in some form—anchovy toast is nice. The simplest way to prepare this is to toast white bread cut in strips, then spread each with butter and essence of anchovy. Fry some fine oysters. Prepare plenty of cabbage salad or cold slaw, with boiled dressing. From a delicatessen store procure dill pickles and a nice Edam cheese.

After these, serve rich compotes of fruit—cherry and plum, with anise seed cookies and little nutmeg and cinnamon cakes, so that if, perchance, dreams follow, they will be of the tropic seas and the fragrant breezes of the Dutch spice islands.

Bohemian Supper for Men.

Here are two ideas for a Bohemian supper. Knowing that men prefer substantial dishes with generous helpings to a great number of fancy "messes" as they term it, we would therefore suggest a Beefsteak supper. First serve raw oysters. After the oysters have the steaks brought in on separate platters, placing platters before the second, fifth, eighth, eleventh, etc, guests. These men cut the steak for the men on their left and right. With the steaks serve French fried potatoes and the Vienna[Pg 24] bread or rolls, the very hard crusty kind. For the second course serve cheese, a rarebit on hard crackers, or any strong cheese. Serve ale or beer with this supper and no sweets. In buying the steaks the chef will have to pay more attention to the quality of the meat, than size and appearance. The steaks should be broiled over coals and served piping hot in their own gravy. The second menu includes one hot dish, a rabbit fricasse or stew. Any chef (especially German) can prepare what is called "Hassenpfeffer stew." This is rabbit soaked in vinegar and cooked with certain herbs and is liked by Bohemians. With this serve potato salad and cold dishes, Swiss cheese on rye bread, Westphalian ham, Frankfurters, Bologna, cottage cheese with chopped chives, dill pickles, Spanish onions sliced in vinegar, French mustard, radishes, spring onions, pickled beets and pickled eggs, pickled herring. Serve black coffee, beer or ale with this supper. Have the sandwiches in baskets and the condiments in the four-part dishes, everything on the table and no waiters save for the liquors. Sardines on toast will make a good first course or appetizer for this dinner. If one has a few pieces (violin, cello, bass viol, flute) to play Hungarian airs during the dinner it will please the guests. The table should be bare of cloths of any sort. Arrange as a center decoration a miniature prize fight. Have a small platform roped off with silk cords, toy figures of pugilists labeled, and all the accessories. For each guest a toy figure of a hunter, football player, golfer, prize fighter or any desired athlete could be[Pg 25] used. On the back of the figure hang something which will refer to some particular fad or joke on the member. For instance, if one has met with an accident in hunting put a bit of porous plaster on the back of the figure. If one has won a trophy, hang a tiny loving cup or stein, etc. In place of the toasts try this: Arrange with a man at the telephone exchange to ring up the telephone in the house every ten or fifteen minutes during the dinner. Ask one man to answer the 'phone and carry on a fake conversation taking off different members of the dinner, incorporating the question in his answer. This will keep the crowd roaring. A man with a megaphone describing a race or fight will keep the crowd in a good humor.

The Dutch Supper.

The plebian Dutch supper is the very latest mode of dispensing hospitality, and has, as yet, the charm of novelty.

The hours range from six in the evening until midnight, and during the heated term is very popular as the windup of a trolley or automobile ride.

Now, it would not do to seat an American crowd to a genuine Dutch supper, in all its glory of limburger and sour-kraut, but relieve it of the disagreeables, and a menu, not fancy, but simple and eatable, remains.

The table must be covered with the whitest of linen, while the decorations should be blue and red, thus to combine effectively Holland's national colors, which, by the way, are not the same as our own.

The center is occupied by a great dish of stuffed eggs, garnished with parsley, the green sprays trailing on the cloth; as a companion to this, there is a large platter of thinly sliced ham, cold, but the "weinies" must be steaming hot. Then there is a salmon salad encircled by water cress or nasturtium leaves, and at intervals, dainty mounds of potato salad. Tomatoes with French dressing (with onions would be more in keeping), small saucers of cheese, sweet and sour pickles, olives, slaw (instead of sour-kraut), bread, in layers of white and brown, and last, but by no means least, smear-kase, served individually.

Pretzels and fruits, which may include any and all kinds, form the dessert, and can be most artistically arranged by a tasteful person with deft fingers.

Beer, in mugs, is, of course, the correct beverage, but the lighter wines are also permissable.

One charming feature of the supper is that it is served cold and all together, which leaves the hostess free to enjoy her guests without fear that something will go wrong in the culinary department.

Now, like everything else, the Dutch supper can be made elaborate, and the bill of fare extended and put in courses, but a friendly gathering about a homely meal, where one naturally feels at ease, will appeal to most as preferable.

CHAPTER III.

Entertaining in the Modern Apartment—A Little Sunday Night Supper—Stag Suppers—A Bachelor Supper.

There are some people to whose distorted vision the tiniest molehills are magnified into veritable chains of mountains, rugged and insurmountable; and if, in addition to their other woes, they happen to be unfortunate enough to dwell in a flat, their desolation is complete. To these women what is said on the subject of entertaining in a modern apartment will possess not one atom of interest. Before their horrified eyes will gleam a thousand unsolvable difficulties, and an attempt to successfully evade them might engulf them still further, so this appeal for the much maligned "tenement" of the day is to some bright little woman whose very touch transforms and whose ready brain devises with unerring accuracy.

First; it is not to be supposed, if you are dwelling in a modern apartment, that your wealth is unlimited, your resources illimitable and just for that very reason your fertile brain has far more opportunity to exercise its originality than if you merely telephoned "covers for twelve" to some fashionable caterer, stepped into an evening gown held by an obsequious maid, and exhibited your jewels at the head of your well appointed table, conscious (if not troubled) by the fact that this same man was turning out well-served dinners by the dozen, shaping them[Pg 28] all (like his ice-cream) in certain fashionable moulds.

We all retain just enough of the old Adam to relish a well earned victory, and the old lady whose light hand for cake is the talk of the township, is just as much of an artist in her own way as the fashionable decorator. It is almost as impossible to set down a given rule for entertaining as it was for the old darkey to present in tangible form her famous recipe for pones. "Why, honey," said she, "it's easy enuf. I jes stir up a little cohn meal and watah, adds some salt and other truck and cooks it till it's done. Sho nuf you cud make it yousef."

It is quite as often the hand that stirs the cake as well as the ingredients themselves that makes the entertainment successful.

There are some women who have a perfectly inexplicable talent for making life livable. Under their deft fingers awkward curtains and draperies assume classic form; from their imaginations blossom forth the most marvelous devices for entertainment and comfort; their ferns never have scales and their umbrella plants do not wither at the edges. These are the women who, with studied patience and ready tact, overlook the small ills our flesh is heir to and bring forth into the bright sunshine the many opportunities which everyone's life contains.

A woman who lives in an apartment so tiny and modest it would seem at first glance almost impossible to entertain therein, can study its best effects and give as charming little dinners as were ever attended. Her[Pg 29] dining room, small but cosy, seems made for decoration and her table may well be the delight of many a more ambitious hostess. The decorations, simple, inexpensive and artistic, are the outward and visible signs of her individual taste. No thick stalks of unbending and forbidding "bouquets" disfigure her pretty vases. Her candles gleam through dainty shades (of paper it is true) fashioned by her own deft fingers. Full-skirted and fluffy, their inexpensiveness makes it quite possible to have them of all colors and shades, and a much-prized pair of silver candelabra lend dignity to the general effect.

Quiet entertaining, preceded by gracious little notes presaging a cordial welcome, is one of her fancies, and one is quite sure that at her home the entertainment will be deprived of customary stiffness and will resolve into a merry table of congenial friends.

A short time ago an old friend of such a woman became engaged and wishing to meet his fiancee she followed her call by an invitation to supper. Appreciating the newness of the engagement and her slight acquaintance with the young lady, she wisely made it a little supper of four and decked her table with sweet simplicity.

Her china, of dainty Limoges, was purchased with an idea of being serviceable for many occasions, and is mostly in odd half-dozens, although the color scheme throughout is green and white, a combination which blends well with anything. Her soup plates, tea plates, dinner plates, platters and vegetable dishes are of the same pattern, but the china for the entree, the salad set, dessert set, cheese plates, bread[Pg 30] and butter plates, etc., are all of a different but harmonizing design.

Green and white being always a lovely color for the table and also admitting of very inexpensive treatment, make informal suppers not only quite possible but very attractive as well.

The table was round, just large enough for four, and nearly covered with a pretty lunch cloth embroidered in white. In the center a huge butterfly bow of wide green ribbon that just matched the china trailed nearly to the edge of the table. Over the cloth were scattered white carnations and ferns in artistic carelessness, and two slender candlesticks, with generously green skirted candles, broke the flat effect. Each candlestick wore, with holiday gayness, a large green bow, and the soft combination of color and grouping was charming.

The supper itself was very simple. A course of raw oysters and stuffed mangoes, with the usual accompaniment of horseradish and lemon, came first. Quail on toast with quince jelly (the jelly served in individual forms on tiny leaves of lettuce) followed with stuffed potatoes as an accompaniment and a delicious little chestnut salad was next in order. The dessert was a rich chocolate cream, stiffened with gelatine and moulded round with a large hole in the center. This was filled high with thick cream, whipped, sweetened and flavored with maraschino. The bonbons, of green and white, added the last touch of harmonic color to the dainty little feast.

A Little Sunday Night Supper.

Shortly after this, encouraged by her success, she gave a little Sunday night supper to introduce two young people to each other. The table, as before, was round, but the colors used were yellow and white.

A large round tea cloth, fashioned by the hostess, covered the table. In the center five ragged yellow chrysanthemums were fastened together with a wide yellow ribbon and wired to a slender upright, which they entirely concealed. Just inside the circle formed by the plates, glasses, etc., a wavy circle of smilax trailed and ran out into little curves between the plates. Nothing more simple could be imagined, but the guests had a very appreciative look as they were seated. Getting acquainted under such conditions was a very natural and easy process.

The supper was simplicity itself, and consisted of a clam cocktail; frilled French chops with green peas; a rarebit made in the chafing-dish and a rich lemon ice for dessert. In connection there were, it is unnecessary to add, many delicious accompaniments. Brown bread sandwiches, thin as wafers, were passed with the cocktail. Bread accompanied the chops, the rarebit was served in a bank of cress, with lettuce and cress sandwiches, and the ice was made even more delicious by the addition of stuffed champagne wafers. A pleasant time in the host's den followed, and thus, a happy little evening, quite within the reach of anyone, was made possible by a little forethought.

The apartment in which this woman lives has only six rooms, so you can[Pg 32] imagine that entertaining (in its ordinary sense) is somewhat out of the question, but very charming little "at homes" are given once a month during the winter, and as the parlor and den adjoin, and are cosily furnished to correspond, it is quite possible to entertain in this way.

If you attend her "Wednesdays" in December you will be ushered in by a neat little maid in frilled cap and apron and black sateen gown. You will find your hostess in the parlor with half-a-dozen others, and, think you have a glimpse into Japanese fairyland. The den is somewhat denuded of its ordinary furnishings, but the bizarre posters still remain on the walls, and the couch, covered with a scrawly Japanese creton, is still in evidence. Wires are stretched from picture moulding to picture moulding, and Japanese lanterns swing gayly from above. In one corner a huge paper umbrella, dangling with unlighted lanterns, bright hued and tiny, swings over a low tea table, at which sits one of the hostess' friends in Japanese array. Her dark eyes, blackened into almond-shaped slits, vie with her decorated hair in foreign effect. From dainty little Japanese cups we drink the tea she makes for us and thank fortune there is one woman in the world at least who dares trifle with the conventional "at home" and eliminate its objectionable features. While drinking your tea you nibble at rolled Tutti Fruitti wafers, munch delicious home-made bonbons, stuffed figs and nougat (for which your hostess is so famous), revel in a huge Japanese jar (strangely like a familiar umbrella stand) which holds five great ragged yellow[Pg 33] chrysanthemums with stems nearly three feet long, and finally settle yourself down to listen to some quaint little love song, with guitar accompaniment, sung by a dear little maid with bronze-brown hair.

This hostess limits each "at home" to twenty-five, so small a number it makes the average hostess smile, but, if necessary, gives four or five through the winter, as she needs no service beyond that of her own maid, making the expense marvelously small. She has many friends who feel as you do, that one bid to a sociable little "five o'clock" in her doll-house flat is worth all the receptions of a week on gay upper Fifth Avenue.

The first Saturday evening in each month, from November until April, she and her husband are at home to his bachelor friends and any young married people who can endure the suffocating atmosphere. All the easy chairs are pressed into service, the little iron lanterns blink joyously, and story-telling, music and smoking are the order of the evening. The light being dim, positions are uncertain and bachelor manners prevail, so unrestrained jollity reigns, and though the people in the other flats may hear the echoing laughter they pass it over with a good natured tolerance and wonder what there is that is so funny.

About half-past ten, when stories wane and a change seems desirable, the little low tea table appears and a rarebit, souffle of oysters, or some chafing-dish dainty, is prepared by the hostess. Occasionally, when one of the men has a firmly founded reputation for some special dish he is asked to officiate, which he does amid the joyous jokes of his[Pg 34] roistering colleagues, while everyone within reach renders able assistance and the others keep up a running fire of disabling comments.

If one is willing to take advantage of their very present opportunities it seems to me that limited means lose half their disadvantages. Choose your apartment with a view to entertaining. If your bed-room opens from the parlor make it dainty and sweet and close the portieres until merely a glimpse appears.

Wax your hardwood floors and keep them shining like mirrors; if rugs are scarce they will be a good apology. Make your friends welcome and give them a good time when they come. An old-fashioned candy-pull is often more entertaining than the most elaborately prepared function.

A Stag Supper. 1.

In the main room have a mellow light from two or three swinging iron lanterns and several in Japanese paper. Off in one of the corners, have a cut-glass bowl filled with punch and around it a ring of smilax. The guests select their places by each choosing the name of one of six popular actresses. A silver tray containing six small blank envelopes is passed, and in each envelope is enclosed one of the host's cards, on the back of which is inscribed the name of an actress. Passing into the dining-room they find, at each place, a photo to correspond, on the back of which is written some well-known quotations from the actresses' most famous plays. These photos are removed from their original cards by[Pg 35] soaking, and are rebuffed and mounted on rectangular mats of dull gray, on which the inscriptions are written in white ink.

In the dining room over the heavy damask cloth, is stretched a quaint old German table runner, reaching from end to end of the table. In the center, embroidered in the red cotton used in such work, hospitality encourages jollity in the familiar old motto, "Ein froher Gast is Niemand's Last" (a merry guest is no one's burden). "Wein, Weib und Geasang," the faithful trio, is all represented. At each place, beside the napkin, is a rich red rose, just large enough to form a dainty boutonniere.

Mounds of red pickled cabbage accompany the oysters, rich tomato soup follows, and the nougat ice cream is decorated with candied cherries.

The introduction of the bonbons in the form of candy cigars, tied in bunches with the familiar yellow bands, causes amusement. Brandy is burned on the coffee, and genuine cigars passed.

A Stag Supper. 2.

Turn the ballroom into a "roof garden" for a bachelor supper. Cover the walls with canvas or grey cartridge paper painted to imitate grey bricks with ivy leaves painted over the surface. In each window arrange a little hedge of plants in pots and use screens of wire covered with vines. Hang many colored lanterns from the roof and at intervals about the room between tables and have tall branching standards with arms[Pg 36] from which hang the lanterns. Tall palms and bay-trees in tubs set about the room add to the effect. Have a hidden orchestra to play airs from the popular operas or have an impromptu vaudeville, the guests furnishing the talent. A band of Gypsy fortune-tellers (men dressed to imitate Gypsy girls) admitted at the close of the feast will furnish fun, especially if they are men knowing the lives of the guests. Serve a beefsteak supper with any kind of beverages you choose. For name cards have steins cut from cardboard and decorated in imitation of the Mettlach steins.

A Bachelor Supper.

Have small mice pins for souvenirs. Decorate the long table in green vines, white flowers and odd candle holders. Creeping in and out of the vines have artificial snakes, frogs, and other reptiles. Have the napkins held by toy spiders and fasten bats over the chandelier globes. If one wishes a plain dinner serve oyster cocktails, tenderloin steak with mushrooms, French fried potatoes, stewed corn, Lima beans, tomato and onion salad with mayonnaise, cheesestraws, Bavarian cream, peach cake, cheese, crackers, coffee. Pass cigars. Have colored waiters who are good singers and between each course have them give a jubilee song. After dinner let them entertain the guests with songs, and banjo and guitar music.

CHAPTER IV.

Suppers for Special Occasions—Danish Valentine Supper—A Hallowe'en Ghost Hunt—A Hallowe'en Supper—Hallowe'en Supper Menus—A Pie Party for Thanksgiving Season—The Pie Shelf—Birthday Suppers—Birthday Party.

In Denmark our well known snowdrop, one of the earliest messengers of spring, has been since olden days held sacred to St. Valentine.

On that auspicious eve the Danish lover sends his lady a bunch of snow-drops (vinter-gjaeks), (winter jokes they are called, because they peep out while it is yet winter and try to hoax people into thinking spring has come), with a card attached bearing a verse or sentiment and as many pin pricks as there are letters in his name. If she cannot guess the name from this clew she is fooled (gjaekket), and at Easter must pay the sender a forfeit of colored eggs.

The invitations, bearing a bunch of painted snow-drops in one corner, invite you to a "Danish Valentine supper."

Cherry and white are the national colors of Denmark, and these should be used in the dining-room. The candles have cherry shades and in the center of the snowy cloth have a square of cherry velvet, on which snow-drops and ferns are banked with dainty effect. The menu cards are[Pg 38] shaped like hearts, tied with a knot of cherry ribbon and edged with painted snow-drops. Across the top in gold letters is the word "welbekomin" (may it agree with you.)

At each place have a tiny heart-shaped cup of cherry crepe paper, holding a little bunch of snow-drops. The ices are in the shape of hearts with a candied cherry in the center of each. Heart-shaped cakes can be iced in pink, and mingled in the salad have tiny hearts cut from slices of red beef.

When all are assembled in the parlor give each guest a square white envelope enclosing a card having a knot of snow-drops in one corner with cherry ribbon, and containing a verse and numerous pin pricks. Each one must guess from these the name of his companion for supper.

"Though a child of winter's cold and storm,
I bring to you love-greetings warm.
From whom? Ah, yes!
That shall you guess!
And that you may the sender surely know,
Count all the little pin-pricks signed below."
.... ......

"Little maiden fair and neat,
Here on stalk so light,
Fine as silk by fairies spun,
Hangs a snowdrop white;
From a friend I come—
Tell me now—from whom?"
.... .. ......

"Love's first kisses are the snow-drops,
Ringing here like fairy bells;
Let thy heart bend low and listen
To the tale their music tells."
...... ......

"Sir Knight, wouldst know thy lady's name?
These pin-pricks tell from whence I came."
.... .. ......

"Love wove the snow-flakes in a flower
To deck his lady's secret bower;
With them my love I now confess—
Thy true knight's name I'd have thee guess."
.... ......

"Farewell to winter! Now farewell—
We snow-bells rang his dying knell,
And had you but a fine, fine ear,
That could our fairy chiming hear,
Then should you know which friend so true
Has sent this vinter-gjaek to you:
For ever softly do we sing
The name of him whose love we bring."
........ .. ......

"Wouldst find the fair lady Fate chooses for you?
Then search ye this line of wee pin-pricks clear through."
.... ........

"For life, as for dinner, chance fixes our mate;
These pin-pricks point you the way to your fate."
........ ..........

A Hallowe'en Ghost Hunt.

Have the above words from James Whitcomb Riley's poem printed in large letters over the entrance, the door of which should open with a rattle[Pg 40] of chains and a creaking. Ask each guest to wear a false face and a red or black domino. When all have assembled in the parlor, where lights are turned low, have a guide in red with a Mephisto make-up or a witch to instruct the party before it starts on the "ghost hunt." Not a word must be spoken no matter what the provocation, not a giggle must be heard, no one must turn his head or eyes, but look straight ahead. Have goblins in red with big eyes painted on their cotton masks, holding clubs, stationed along the route to watch offenders.

Take the party by a circuitous route, upstairs through dark rooms where open windows and doors make the air cold, up into the attic, lighted only by burning alcohol and salt, then down stairs, around the porches and about the yard. If there is an outside cellar-way, take them down that, otherwise inside the house to the cellar. All along the route have imitation "spooks" placed in corners and unexpected places—grinning Jack-o'lantern heads, with ghostly bodies, immense false faces with lights behind them, witches, grotesque animals including black cats, black bears, etc. From cobwebs of grey cotton or wool ropes suspend bats and spiders. Leave objects about for guests to stumble over and have as many terrifying noises as possible.

In a corner of the cellar, screened by canvas and guarded by fierce goblins, have the Great Chief Ghost and his secretary on a throne. Around the corner have a ring of ghosts manufactured from brooms with[Pg 41] sheets and white cowls. The ghost hunters sit on the floor in silence for a few moments. Then the secretary, in terrible tones, calls the name of each guest and gives the list of his pet sins. The secretary should be a person with ready tongue and wit knowing jokes on each individual. When the secretary finishes each case, the Great Chief Ghost asks the defendant what he has to say for himself. If the latter plead his case successfully and solemnly swear that he is prepared to tell a ghost story if called upon, he is allowed to select his own punishment. If, however, he cannot clear himself, the Great Chief Ghost names his punishment. The sentences should be as ridiculous as possible.

The trip back from the cave should be as tantalizing as can be made. Viands should be offered and whisked away. The clever host and hostess can devise many tricks.

The Ghost Hunt should end in a brilliantly lighted dining room with table set for supper and time allowed just before midnight to try the familiar Hallowe'en charms. This party can be given by a club or church using a big house and grounds. Decorate the table in unique arrangement of pumpkins, fruits and candies and serve any preferred menu, or this one:

Oyster Soup, Alphabet Crackers,

Veal or Chicken Patties, Cold Boiled Ham or Tongue,

Potato Salad, Apple Sauce, Dill Pickles,

Hot Gingerbread, Cheese, Coffee.

A Hallowe'en Supper.

Some merry, friendly countra folks
Together did convene,
To burn their nuts, an' pluck their stocks
An' hand their hollowe'en.
—Burns.

"Butter'd Sowens"

Broiled Squirrels, Hot Pocketbooks

Bow-kail Salad

Brownie Cake, Halloween Jelly

Roasted Chestnuts, Apples

Coffee

Buttered Sowens—Oatmeal made into mush and eaten with butter and sugar. The Scotch always have this for their Hallowe'en supper.

Broiled Squirrels—Your squirrels must be young and tender. Clean, and soak to draw out the blood. Wipe dry, and broil over a hot, clear fire, turning often. When done to a golden brown, lay in a hot dish and anoint with melted butter. Season each squirrel with a salt spoon of salt and half spoon of pepper. They are delicious.

Hot Pocketbooks—One pint of sweet milk, brought to boiling point, to which, add one tablespoonful of sugar, half teaspoonful of salt and butter the size of an egg; let cool till luke warm, then add half cake of yeast, two eggs and a quart of flour. Let the dough rise in a warm place until very light, then put down with the hand and let rise again; roll out to about five-eighths of an inch thick, cut in four inch[Pg 43] circles, brush with melted butter and fold over; let rise on tins, bake until a delicate brown, then while warm, go over the surface with melted butter to make the crust tender.

Bow-Kail Salad—Put one-half cup of vinegar and one tablespoonful of butter to heat in a double boiler. Beat yolk of one egg, one spoonful of flour and one of sugar together, add two tablespoonfuls of sour cream and cook in the vinegar until smooth. Just before it boils, stir in the well-beaten white and pour immediately over your cabbage or "bow-kail," which has been shredded and salted.

Brownie Cake—One cup of sugar, one-half cup of butter, one-half cup of sweet milk, two eggs, one teaspoonful of vanilla, one cup and a half of flour, sifted with one teaspoonful of baking powder. Set one square of chocolate on a kettle of boiling water and let it melt. After melting, mix one-half cup of sweet milk slowly in the chocolate, add half-cup of sugar. Pour into batter, mix thoroughly, and bake in layers. Put together with the following filling:

Filling—Four ounces chocolate melted, add one-half cup of cream, two tablespoonfuls of butter and one cup of sugar; boil until it forms a very soft ball when dropped in cold water, then add one cup finely chopped nuts. Spread this very thick between the layers. Ice with plain chocolate icing, which you have reserved, before adding the nuts, and decorate with unbroken halves of English walnuts.

Hallowe'en Jelly—Soften one ounce of gelatine in half a pint of cold[Pg 44] water. When quite soft, add half a pint of hot water and a pint of good sparkling cider. If the cider be very sweet, the juice of a lemon is an improvement. Set on ice until firm, and when ready to serve, turn into a pumpkin shell which has been prettily carved on the edges.

Hallowe'en Supper Menus.

Goblins' Broth, Elves' Fingers

Fairy Rings

Chicken and Celery Salad in Mayonnaise Triangles

Almond Butter Hearts

Strawberry Jelly Crescents with Whipped Cream

Witches' Wands, The Cake of Doom

Fruit, Nuts, Bonbons

Coffee

The goblins' broth is merely a delicious beef or chicken bouillon, the elves' fingers, strips of brown bread and butter, and the fairy rings mushroom patties baked in ring moulds. To make the salad use any favorite recipe for chicken salad, and mix it with a bright golden mayonnaise to which enough aspic jelly has been added to make it quite firm when cold. Pour into a square mould to set, cut into dainty triangles just before it is to be served, and lift carefully with a broad thin-bladed spatula. Serve on crisp lettuce leaves on gilt-edged plates. Spread white bread with almond butter and cut into heart shapes. Mould the strawberry jelly in half moons and serve with a spoonful of[Pg 45] whipped cream (made golden with the yolk of egg) between the "horns."

The witches' wands are most delicious. Roll puff paste thin, sprinkle lightly with finely chopped blanched almonds, press the rolling pin lightly over again, and cut in strips not over two inches wide. Wind from the small end of the pointed tin tubes called lady lock sticks, and have each layer slightly overlay the preceding one. Set the tubes across a baking pan and bake in a good oven to a deep yellow. When done remove from the oven and push the paste from the tube. Just before serving fill with pineapple meringue. Have bonbons in all kinds of suggestive shapes; brownies, witches, brooms, rings, crescents, triangles, et cetera.

A Pie Party for Thanksgiving Season.

Thanksgiving is the pie season par excellence. The very name calls up visions of old fashioned, buttery shelves loaded down with rows upon rows of the flaky wheels and delicious fillings.

A new idea in entertaining for Thanksgiving, "the pie party," makes use of this American product. The scheme is an excellent one for the day itself or for any time during Thanksgiving season.

To prepare for a pie party, get together as many pie plates as you can beg, borrow or buy. A couple of dozen will be needed at least.

Arrange tables along the wall of the room in which the guests are to be received, and place the pie plates upon these tables. Cover the tables[Pg 46] with white paper terminating in paper lace to give the effect of quaint, old-fashioned shelves.

In each pan place a group of articles or pictures which will represent in anagram the filling of a pie. Punning and word stretching of all kinds are allowable, although each puzzle must be simple enough to be readily recognized when guessed.

Here is a rough suggestion to show the plan of the puzzles. The hostess may modify it to suit her own needs.

THE PIE SHELF.

The letters of the word cheese on alphabet cards, jumbled together, with a slice of cake. Cheesecake.

A cigarette case in the form of a coffin (bury) and a scrap of straw. Strawberry.

A paperweight representing a ragged little dog and an entomological photograph of the common ant. Cur(r)ant.

A pot, the letter A from baby's alphabet and the toe of a boot (pot-a-toe), all four articles being sprinkled with granulated sugar. Sweet Potato.

A bicycle pump and a card having the words Father, Mother, Sister, Brother, Uncle, Aunt, Cousin, written upon it. Pump-kin.

Cardboard cut in the shape of a peach with "to inform against," written upon it. Peach.

The guests are invited to inspect the pies and guess the contents. Each player works for himself and consultations are not allowed.

Wee note books, having covers decorated in water color, with picturesque Thanksgiving scenes, are distributed among the guests, for use in writing down guesses.

It is explained that fruits, vegetables and everything of which pies are made, figure in the list.

One hour is the usual time limit. The player, who in that time discovers most of the fillings, carries off first honors. There should be a second award and a couple of laughable boobies in the form of jelly tarts.

The first prize might be a smart silver pie knife, and the second a pretty china pie dish.

Smoking hot roasted oysters, jellied tongue with chopped pickle served in Spanish peppers, little hot rolls in form of balls, a plain tomato salad and slices of delicious home-made pies are among the good things of the menu.

Birthday Supper. 1.

In the cake put a gold penny, a silver four-leaf clover, and a little image or amulet to drive away bad luck. Wrap them in paraffine or waxed paper or coat them with paraffine before putting them in the cake. Ask each one to make some birthday wish as the birthday person cuts his slice of cake. Place the cake on a table wreathed in greens or flowers or on a flower-trimmed tray. As many prefer scarlet carnations, this flower and red candles will make a pretty party. Just after supper pass the loving cup filled with claret, or fruit punch or cider. Each guest takes a sip to the health of the host. If your guests enjoy cards, let them play bridge, euchre, cinch, hearts, or the new card games in which figures are involved. If they do not care for cards a short program of old ballads by a good singer is always liked. As a surprise arrange a little series of funny tableaux showing the different birthdays of the guest of honor. To do this darken a room behind the players, and have a big screen for a background. No special stage properties are needed as the more ludicrous this is the more it will be enjoyed. Have some one at the piano play appropriate music for the different tableaux. For one year old have a baby in a cradle or in its mother's arms; for seventh birthday, a little boy starting to school with books and apple or candy; for the fourteenth birthday have a youth in sweater with football in arms rushing to the goal; have the twenty-first birthday represented by the young man courting, the twenty-eighth by the wedding; and for the[Pg 49] thirty-sixth have someone dressed and made up as nearly like the guest of honor as possible.

For decoration have a frieze of ropes or smilax caught with scarlet ribbon. Cover the chandeliers with the greens and the shades with scarlet tissue paper. Bank the mantels with greens, having a mass of scarlet berries or flowers in the center of each. Red candles and shades on the mantels help the effect. If you have a table in the dining-room make the initials of the guest of honor in candles placed in a large wreath tied with scarlet ribbon. At each corner of the table have a single candle in a smaller wreath.

For supper serve a hot course, creamed oysters, or creamed sweetbreads and mushrooms, tiny hot buttered rolls and tiny pickles, chopped pickle or spiced peach, quince or pear, or brandied quince; chicken salad, or sweetbread salad on a lettuce leaf with cheese straws, stuffed olives, coffee, ice cream frozen in fancy forms, (leaves being a pretty design), and cakes in tiny squares with little red candies like scarlet berries on green or white icing.

Birthday Supper. 2.

Candles may be used for a centerpiece and also to outline the figures representing the number of years. A pretty ceremony, if you use candles on a birthday cake, is to have each guest light a candle with a wish for the guest of honor. When the cake is cut, blow out the candles and lift them off.

For the red color scheme, garnish the dishes with radishes, slices of tomatoes, red peppers, beet rings, candied cherries. Serve cream of[Pg 50] tomato soup, tiny radishes cut in rose forms, wafers, salted almonds. Broiled lobster garnished with slices of fresh tomatoes and cucumbers.

Serve individual chicken pies baked in ramekins and served in red paper cases. In making these pies add mushrooms, potato marbles, white of hard-boiled eggs cut in rings and yolks cut in half. Make the cream sauce by using the liquor from the canned mushrooms, strong chicken stock and milk, thickened with flour. With this course serve a relish in red peppers, creamed peas, tiny hot rolls and a slice of sweet cucumber or watermelon pickle with a candied cherry on top. A beet salad garnished with rings of hard-boiled egg whites and the yolk run through a ricer, or chicken salad served in red peppers, tomato, cucumber and celery salad served in tomato shells, fruit salad served in red apples hollowed out. Serve wafers with the salad course. A pretty idea for the ice cream is to have it moulded in shape of candles with a little wick to be lighted just as it is brought to the table. Serve little square cakes with white icing and red bonbons. This menu gives two hot and two cold courses. Serve coffee or tea. At the close of the supper pass a loving cup of fruit punch, grape juice or wine, and ask each one to drink to the health of the guest of honor.

Birthday Party.

Most of them wear the birth stone suitable to the month which, as old legend tells us, is sure to protect against misfortune, the jewel acting as a talisman.

Some may substitute flowers appropriate to their birth month. A young lady, whose birthday is in January, may wear a string of tiny silver beads which tinkle musically wherever she goes. Another claiming January, also, as her birth month, may wear a brooch showing an old man and an infant, representing the old and new year.

A young girl wearing a white apron, with several bars of music on the hem, represents March.

April is represented by a paper fool's cap, and May by a pretty spring gown, decorated with violets and lilies of the valley.

October's daughter, wears a rich yellow gown, nearly covered with glorious autumn leaves, and a cap of the same brilliant leaves.

November's costume is most striking, being a poster design, representing Thanksgiving.

December's is a picturesque suit of white eider down flannel, ornamented with holly berries and running pine.

Each guest is requested to furnish one dish appropriate to the month in which she was born. In this way the supper is quite out of the ordinary and the only tax on the hostess, with the exception of her one dish, is for coffee, pickles and cake. Below is given the menu:

Oyster Stew,

Butter Wafers,

Fish Souffle,

Potato Balls with Cream Sauce,

Cold Turkey,

Currant Jelly,

Salted Nuts,

Olives,

Salmon Sandwiches,

Orange and Nut Salad,

Wafers,

Strawberries,

Ice Cream and Cake,

Pumpkin Pie and Cheese,

Fruit,

Coffee.

CHAPTER V.

Miscellaneous Suppers—Camping Parties and Clambakes—Nutting Party—Harvest Home Supper—Autumn Suppers—Dickens Supper—Boston Supper Party—Yachting Party—A Butterfly Supper—Young Married Couples Supper—Head Dress Supper Party—Quilting Supper—Wedding Supper—Waffle Supper—The Bohemian Picnic Supper—Railroad Party—Literary Supper—Peanut Party—Folk Lore Supper—Cake Walk Supper—Bridge Whist Supper—After Theatre Menus—A Cold Supper Menu for Hot Weather.

Throughout this broad land of ours, thousands of campers will be folding their white tents into compact rolls, tying gay blankets into portly bundles, investing in mosquito netting and hammocks, packing into boxes their cooking utensils and fishing tackle, and finally loading all into boat or farmer's wagon, to gain health and happiness, and incidentally, to have a royal good time.

Happy the camper who, taking hint from the big lumber camps, ties to his wagon an iron bean pot, and has always on hand for hungry souls a mess of delicious baked beans. Every well-regulated camp should have a bean-hole dug close by the camp fire, and then when guests come out from town, if the camp is near town, a bean bake enlivens things. The[Pg 54] bean-hole is dug three feet square and carefully lined with flat stones or boulders, then it is filled with hard wood which makes fine coals. The wood is fired and burned until there glows a bed of hot coals and the stones are at white heat. A place is scooped out in the center for the bean-pot, and it is placed in this little oven, the coals swept back into place, the hot ashes added, and the hot earth around the fire put over it all. Then, snugly tucked away in their bed so warm, the beans are left alone for four and twenty hours. When taken out, steaming and fragrant, they are perfect in form, brown and crisp, and of flavor so delicious that the mouth waters at the mere recollection. This with brown bread or cone pone, baked in the ashes, and good strong coffee, makes a meal in itself, and if the beans are served hot, the hungry campers feel they have had a feast fit for a king. Those who cling to their bean-pots keep one mess of beans baking all the time and are never without this dish. Even city folks have had royal good times at bean bakes given at some home with large yard, and, with an addition to the beans, salads, sandwiches, cakes, and other frills, generally scorned and passed by for the delicious baked beans.

Naturally digging a hole in the ground and building a fire does not constitute a dish of baked beans; among other things necessary might be mentioned the beans themselves. These are soaked over night and then placed in the iron pot; the best sort is the English kettle with three iron legs and rounding bottom. Right in the center of the beans a place[Pg 55] should be made for the pork. The pork should be pickled pork of a particular kind—fat on top, lean below and scored across the top. One pound of pork to one pound of beans is the allowance. For flavoring use one cookingspoonful of New Orleans molasses; one teaspoonful of mustard, one teaspoonful of salt and one of pepper. Stir into the beans and fill even to the top of the pork with water. Given twenty-four hours of slow baking, with no chance for the moisture to escape, the result is an ideal dish worth trying.

To the camper who comes in when the sun is tinging the western sky with crimson, tired and hungry from carrying a gun or holding a fishing rod all day, there is no dish so appreciated as chowder. This dish is easy of preparation. Take peeled potatoes and parboil them, then add fresh water, and put into the kettle the result of the day's chase. The little birds found along the streams, like squabs and sandpipers, are fat and give the chowder a fine flavor. In go the fish, squirrels and other small game, the fish of course, being boned. Add green corn cut from the cob, salt and pepper, and perhaps a little salt pork, though the little birds furnish fat enough. Serve smoking hot and as you stretch your tired limbs under the camp table, you will thank your stars that some genius invented chowder.

The ideal way to cook fish in camp is to first clean the fish and then stuff it, if one chooses (though he need not stuff the fish unless he like) and then make a stiff mortar of clay and encase the fish. Lay it on the coals and when the clay cracks and peels off the skin of the[Pg 56] fish comes off with it, leaving the pure sweet fresh meat, which retains the juices and delicate aroma of the fish. This way of cooking fish cannot be beaten. This is also a good way to cook corn. Just leave on the husks and lay the ears on the coals and by the time the husks have burned off the corn is cooked deliciously. In the regions where shad abounds, there is nothing to be compared with planked shad, and this is the most popular dish. The shad is fastened on an oak shingle and turned before the fire until it is cooked, when it will be found that the fish has absorbed the aroma of the wood and the result is a flavor that delights epicures.

Clam Bake.

A clam-bake is a delight wherever and whenever partaken of, but when it is prepared in the piney woods of Cape Cod by the inimitable skippers of Buzzards Bay it is something that is not to be forgotten. It is a joy, from the gathering of the first stone to the swallowing of the last possible clam.

The skippers of Onset are particularly noted for their skill in making clam-bakes.

First select the stones, (which must be about the size of large paving blocks,) and arrange them in a circle. Then bring wood and chips and brush and lay them in the center, and thoroughly pile on top other blocks which have been collected.

The pile of stones and wood being completed, the next thing is to set fire to it, and soon a merry blaze rises up, the flames licking around[Pg 57] the stones and forming a pretty picture.

The stones once hot enough the real work of the bake begins. The right amount of heat has been obtained, a barrow load of rockweed is brought—rockweed, not seaweed. As soon as the rockweed is thrown on the red hot stones a salty, savory smelling steam begins to rise.

First and foremost come two great barrow loads of clams which are spread on the steaming rockweed, then follow great piles of blue fish, each fish being stuffed and wrapped in a piece of cheesecloth to prevent coming into contact with the weed.

The blue fish is carefully placed on top of the clams and following that is a heaping load of corn, with a few leaves left on each ear to protect it from the weed. When the corn is piled high a barrow weighed down with live lobsters is brought.

Be particular over the disposition of the lobsters. Each one is placed with care and precision into the precise spot where it will do most good.

A milk pail full of fresh eggs follows the lobsters and the whole mass of food is buried in a stack of rockweed, and to complete the process a sail and a tarpaulin are drawn over the top and battened all down so that not a speck of steam can escape.

While the guests play games or stroll along the shore, the men heat big, round stones in the oven. This is a deep hole lined with stones, and the fire is built in the hole. When the fire dies down the stones are left red hot. Then the chef places dozens of clams in their shells on the[Pg 58] hot rocks. Then a blue fish wrapped in cheesecloth and then half a dozen chickens prepared for broiling and wrapped in a similar way are placed in the hole. Next comes a peck of Irish potatoes with their jackets on, and three dozen ears of sweet corn. Over it all is packed seaweed and then heavy canvas, and then the guests sit patiently for three-quarters of an hour until the steam has thoroughly cooked the supper. When it is done it is fit for a king, and is served on a long table of boards, on wooden platters, with big watermelons for dessert.

Nutting Party.

The invitation may be written on paper, folded neatly and slipped inside an English walnut shell—which is then glued together and sent in a small box, labeled "A Nut to Crack."

Decorations should carry out, as far as possible, the effect of a woodland scene. The walls may be entirely covered with branches of autumn leaves, and mantels and over doorways banked with pine boughs and greenery of all sorts. Rustic tables and chairs, if available, are most appropriate, and lights shaded with red or yellow shades. As the guests arrive, each should be given a peanut shell, glued together or tied with ribbons. On a slip of paper inside is written the number of table and partner. To indicate progressions, ribbons may be glued to nuts of[Pg 59] different kinds and one given for each game won. Or little baskets may be given into which a nut is dropped for each game won. Or if tally cards for finding partners are preferred, they may be painted to represent nuts of different kinds, not more than two being alike.

The nutting game itself is played similarly to that well known children's game, "jackstraws." On each table is placed a pair of bonbon tongs—the kind that come in candy boxes are best—and a tall tumbler heaped full of nuts—peanuts are best for the purpose—with one gilded nut. For the first game, lady No. 1 at all the tables begins play and after the first game the lady begins who lost in the game preceding. The gentleman opposing the lady who begins play, carefully turns out on the table the peanuts and the players proceed as in jackstraws, getting with the tongs as many peanuts as possible, one at a time, without shaking the others. The winners progress and change partners, after the bell rings at the head table. At the head table, as at the other tables, the winners progress and the losing lady remaining begins play for the next game. At the head table each player has two chances at the peanuts and then the bell is rung. The natural-color peanuts count one each and the gilded one ten.

Suitable prizes are: For the ladies, a silver English walnut thimble case; a linen centerpiece in chestnut design; a silver almond charm, "Philopena," which opens with kernel inside; a silver English walnut, exact size, which opens, containing powder puff, mirror, place for miniature, small scent bottle and pin-cushion, "All in a Nut Shell"; a[Pg 60] real English walnut shell containing a fine lace-betrimmed handkerchief, enclosed in a series of boxes, one fitting within the other; a sterling silver almond set or almond scoop; a silver vinaigrette in exact reproduction of a peanut. For the gentlemen, a burnt wood nut bowl, with nut cracker and set of nut picks; a handsome edition of E. P. Roe's "Opening of a Chestnut Burr;" a silver peanut magic pencil, etc. The shops show big paper mache English walnuts, peanuts and almonds, full of sweetmeats in imitation of the real nuts, which make appropriate consolation prizes. French "surprise mottoes" in the shape of walnuts, each containing a hat, make very amusing favors.

Peanut Sandwiches, Walnut Sandwiches,

Chicken and Nut Salad,

Salted Nuts,

Bisque of Almonds or Burnt Almond Ice Cream,

Cocoanut, Hickory Nut, or Pecan Cake,

Nut Bonbons, Festinos,

Cheese Balls with English Walnuts,

Coffee.

For the peanut sandwiches, use the ready-made peanut butter. For walnut sandwiches, chop meats very fine, mix with mayonnaise and spread on buttered bread. Serve salad on lettuce leaf, garnished with a few whole nut meats. In salting mixed nuts, it is not considered necessary to blanch any except almonds and peanuts. The bisque of almonds requires one pound blanched almonds, one heaping cup of sugar and two pints of cream. Pound almonds a few at a time, together with a little sugar and[Pg 61] rosewater, mix with cream and freeze. For burnt almond ice cream use one quart of cream, one-half pound of sugar, four ounces of shelled almonds, one teaspoon of caramel, one tablespoon of vanilla, 4 tablespoons of sherry. Blanch and roast almonds, then pound in a mortar to a smooth paste. Put one-half the cream and the sugar on to boil, stir until the sugar is dissolved, then add the remaining pint of cream and the almonds; stand away to cool; when cold, add the caramel, vanilla and sherry. Freeze and pack. For the nut cake, use two pounds nuts cut fine, eight eggs, one pound sugar, one pound flour, one teacup butter, two heaping teaspoons baking powder, one cup milk, and juice of one lemon. Mould the cheese balls round with the hands, and stick an English walnut meat on either side.

Harvest Home Supper.

The rooms can be trimmed beautifully with corn, asparagus, hops, Jack-o'lanterns, and so on. State in the invitations, which are to be tied in corn husks with grass, that a hay-rack will call for the guests.

On each of the gate posts place huge Jack-o'lanterns. In fact, have these for illumination wherever one can find places to put them. For decoration use autumnal grasses, wheat, oats and corn, and festoon strings of them wherever possible. Make a frieze around the room of ears of corn from which the husks are pulled apart. This will form a festoon from which will hang down like tassels, the ears of white and yellow[Pg 62] corn, and if one can find a few red ears so much the better.

Bank the fire-place and corners with boughs of autumn leaves, and festoon them in garlands wherever there is a vacant place. Scrub the bare floors well, put a little wax on them, and engage one or two musicians to dispense old time melodies.

Carry out the Harvest Home idea in the dining-room. Have most of the decorations, fruits and garlands with graceful sprays of the Virginia creeper in the glory of its autumnal colors, festooned from doors to windows and back again, and have the table decorations the same. Serve the guests sitting around the room, with delicious turkey, ham, bread, sweet and sour pickles, doughnuts, cider, etc. By all means have pumpkin pie, which would be so much in keeping with the occasion.

An Autumn Supper.

Just before closing your cottage for the season, send out invitations to friends, asking them to spend an evening with you at your home. The invitations may be written upon scarlet maple leaves. When the evening for entertaining arrives the cottage should reflect the glory of the woods. Boughs and branches of silver and sugar maples decorate the hall, "den," dining room and kitchen, and berries, vines and burrs fill jars, vases and cornucopias of birch bark. In the rough stone fire-places, log fires burn. The guests go to the kitchen to make maple sugar creams, and while the candy is hardening, games are played and stories told. Each guest, blindfolded, must draw the outline of a maple leaf. Next, leaf[Pg 63] shaped cards are distributed with the names of different trees written upon them, acrostically arranged. A nut race closes the games, and the prizes are then awarded. Then the company may gather around the fire. Bundles of lichen covered twigs, of pine cones and of twisted tree roots are selected according to individual fancy and put on the fire, each person telling a story, original or otherwise, until his bundle is burned away; the changing shapes in the fire suggesting many quaint fancies.

For table decorations have a garland of leaves encircle the polished top just outside the plates. A large wreath and a low bowl of nut burrs and sprays of bright leaves and berries make a gorgeous centerpiece. Have smaller wreaths around the bonbon and nut dishes, and mats of leaves laid under the plates and dishes and used for doilies under the finger bowls. A birch bark cornucopia of maple sugar candy and a droll little nut Indian clad in a scarlet blanket by each plate make pretty souvenirs of the feast. Leaves can be pasted on the candle shades which are made of stiff-buff paper:

Roasted Quail on Toast,

Strawed Potatoes,

Salad Sandwiches, Maple Layer Cake,

Waffles,

Nuts, Coffee.

When the Frost is on the Pumpkin.

The hostess who wants to provide a simple, and at the same time a novel entertainment for her friends should call to her aid the glossy, orange[Pg 64] coated pumpkins. With pumpkins for the motif, so to speak, an evening full of fun may be enjoyed. Decorate square white cards with a huge pumpkin; one who cannot draw can cut a very presentable looking pumpkin from orange paper and paste it on the cards. Then write on each: The Mighty Mammoth Pumpkin will be on exhibition at Mrs. Blanks, from 7 to 11 p. m., next Thursday night. You are cordially invited to come and guess its weight. Get the largest pumpkin you can find and a goodly collection of shapely, medium-sized ones. Make a record of the weight, the length, and the girth of the big pumpkin, then carefully cut open lengthwise and scoop out, and if trouble is no object count the seeds. Fill the pumpkin with sawdust and bury in it the souvenirs, simple little trifles, orange hued penwipers, needlebooks, pincushions, etc. Wrap them up in paper and bury them deep. Set the pumpkin on a mat of leaves on a small table and label "Hands Off." Each guest is given a card with a pencil attached to record his guesses. Little leather covered inkstands, the exact counterpart of tiny pumpkins, and pumpkin paper weights equally as natural in appearance are appropriate for the head prizes, while pumpkin emery bags and pumpkin-shaped blotters will please the winners of the boobies. The rest of the evening may be spent in carving Jack o' Lanterns from, small pumpkins. The guests may be required to write a recipe for pumpkin pie which will bring forth some wonderful flights of fancy. Decorate the rooms with pumpkin vases filled with chrysanthemums and have a bowl of orange fruit cup set inside of a[Pg 65] large pumpkin for the guests' refreshment during the evening. In setting the table have a pumpkin vase of ferns and yellow and white chrysanthemums for the centerpiece. The supper is served from pumpkin dishes. Select round, deep pumpkins with a stem, choosing those of a pretty color and shape. Saw off the tops even, so they may be put back on the pumpkins as lids, scoop out and line with parchment paper. As this supper is very informal, sandwiches with various fillings, a rich chicken salad made with walnut meats and chopped celery, cheese and bread sticks and coffee may form the substantial part. Stuffed figs and dates, bonbons and macaroons are served for the sweet course and an orange ice or snow pudding in little pumpkin paper cases.

A Dickens' Supper.

A happy selection of time for a Dickens party is the Christmas season, which is so peculiarly connected with so many of Dickens' writings.

Have the rooms brilliantly lighted, and the bright berries of the Christmas holly against a background of the "ivy green" which Dickens loved. The hostess might dress in a handsome costume of the time of Edith Dombey.

Little Nell and her grandfather, and so on with the characters which Dickens has made living creatures indeed. Gathered in the reception rooms the group will make a quaint, lovely picture to the entering guest. When all the guests have arrived cards are distributed, on each of which is a water colored sketch of some of Dickens' characters. An English walnut shell tied with pink ribbon and attached to the corner of the card holds a quotation from Dickens, and beneath this nut is the pertinent quotation, "The Dickens to crack." A prize can be awarded to the one answering most correctly from which books the different quotations were taken.

Some of the pathetic scenes from Dombey and Son can be read by some one whose musical voice and gentle face, as well as intelligent reading, make this part especially effective. The hostess can read an extract from verses headed "The Christmas Carol" in Pickwick Papers.

"My song I troll out, for Xmas stout
The hearty, the true and the bold;
A bumper I drain and with might and main
Give three cheers for this Christmas old!
We'll usher him in with a merry din,
That shall gladden his joyous heart,
And we'll keep him up while there's bite or sup,
And in fellowship good we'll part."

For refreshments have delicious oyster and mushroom cream soup, cold wild duck, jelly and celery. A frozen salad after this; it is made of tomatoes (canned) cooked a little, strained, and when cold mixed with a thin mayonnaise, then frozen, making a delight for the palate. The ice is a lemon ice frozen in individual molds very hard and covered with a hot chocolate sauce, making a most delicious blending of hot and cold, sweet and sour. A tiny glass of cordial completes the repast.

For the prize for the quotations have a handsome copy of Christmas Stories tied with red ribbons and ornamented with a bunch of holly. For the booby prize have a bag of the buttons Peggotty burst from her gown when an exuberance of emotion filled her breast.

A Boston Supper Party.

When the guests assemble put them in charge of a man with a megaphone and start them through the rooms on a "Seeing Boston" tour. Have fake tablets and different objects to represent the places of interest. These objects could be numbered and turn the "Seeing Boston" into a guessing contest. Give each guest a note book and pencil to enter the correct name opposite the correct number. This can include side trips to Lexington, Concord, Bedford, etc.

Take the folders and circulars of a trip through Boston, cut out the tiny pictures, mount on grey paper, letter with white ink and give them as souvenirs. Or remove all lettering and use these pictures as a contest, asking the guests to name the pictures correctly. For amusement have "Paul Revere's Ride" acted in pantomine, or charades on the different names. For supper serve pork and baked beans, Boston brown bread, pie, tea, etc. Tiny earthen bean-pots, spectacles, handbags, imitation folders—any of these things would do for souvenirs.

A Yachting Party.

Have a large room fitted up as the deck and after deck of a steam yacht. To reach the room have the guests climb through a hatchway. Steamer chairs and nautical paraphernalia fill the deck and a dozen life preservers hang conveniently near. Have all the necessary rigging and a flag pole floating the yacht flag. The host and his guests should wear yachting costumes and the souvenirs be tiny red and green lanterns for the men and yacht stickpins for the girls. The menu cards are decorated with the insignia of the yacht and couched in nautical terms. Serve the following menu:

Oysters in Block of Ice

Celery, Stuffed Olives, Salted Wafers

Rum Omelet

Cold Ham, Cold Tongue, Olives

Pate de fois gras Sandwiches, Rare Beef Sandwiches

Roquefort Cheese, Hard Crackers

Grape Fruit Salad

Coffee

A Butterfly Supper.

Under the chandeliers, in corners and doorways, have butterflies fluttering from invisible silver wires. These butterflies are made from delicate hued crepe paper, their wings marked with rings of ruby, green, blue, gold and silver. Each guest is offered a butterfly on entering the drawing room; the men wearing them as boutonniers, the women putting them in their hair.

The host fastens a large paper butterfly, minus one wing and the antennæ, to a curtain hung across a window. Each guest, in turn, blindfolded, tests his idea of distance in trying to pin the wing and antennæ on the butterfly. A set of six paper butterfly princess lamp shades is the woman's head prize. A butterfly whisk holder, containing a silver handled brush, is given the equally lucky man. The "boobies" are a miniature lantern and a toy spy-glass.

In the dining room this supper is served. First a fruit drink, lemonade or grape juice. On the plate on which the glass cup rests have a small bunch of purple grapes. Decorate fish plates with lemon baskets holding the sauce tartare. With broiled chops serve stuffed tomatoes and corn pudding moulded in cups with white sauce flavored with onion. Serve raspberry ice. For salad serve pears and German cherries sweetened. For dessert serve the nutmeg muskmelons filled with ice cream or ice.

Have a tin-smith make a butterfly shaped cake cutter, four inches across the wings. Bake these cakes in a quick oven, ice them white, pink and green and then mark with rings of a contrasting color of icing.

The centre scarf and doilies, of fine white linen, for the dining table, have a cut-out butterfly border worked with white silk and gold thread. A fairy rose-tree, trained on a bamboo trellis, the pot dressed in skirts of white and green paper and sash of satin ribbon, makes a most effective centre piece. Paper butterflies shade the candles, and a crepe paper covered box of bonbons, with a butterfly hovering over the top, stands beside each plate. Decorate the name cards with sketches of butterflies.

Young Married Couples' Supper.

For the young married couples' supper carry out the heart-shape idea. Outline large heart in smilax on the table. Have the smilax at least three inches wide. Dot it with clusters of roses, lilies of the valley or any preferred flower. In the center have a mound of the same flowers and between the center and the smilax place individual candlesticks with white candles and shades to match the flowers. A few single flowers may be scattered over the cloth. For a menu serve a fruit cup in the parlor before asking the guests to the dining room. At the table have first hot bouillon with a bit of lemon in it. Have the main course fried chicken and rice with shoestring potatoes, tiny red radishes, creamed cauliflower, pickles and hot rolls. Creamed sweetbreads on toast may be used for a course if wished. Serve salmon salad on a lettuce leaf and with it reception flakes on which grated cheese has been sprinkled and[Pg 71] the wafers put in the oven just long enough to melt the cheese. To serve the chicken take a large chop plate, pile the rice in a snowy mound in the center and place the pieces of chicken around it, serving a spoonful of rice with each piece of chicken.

A Head-Dress Supper Party.

For a head-dress party ask each guest to dress the hair in some fancy way. The men dressing in Washington, Jefferson and other wigs noted in history, while the ladies fix their locks according to noted beauties, queens, and others. Strings of pearls, tiaras, and jewels make a beautiful display. Conventional evening dress is worn in most instances, save where a ruff or frill is added to heighten the effect of the headgear. A prize is offered for the best head-dress. The minuet makes a pretty dance to finish the evening.

For refreshments serve chicken salad in tomatoes hollowed out or cucumber boats, cheese wafers, stuffed olives, tiny pickles and squares of jelly, strawberries and plain vanilla ice cream, chocolate cake, coffee or chocolate. Serve fruit punch during the evening.

A Quilting Supper.

Build a little log cabin of twigs for the center of the supper table and arrange stick candy, bread sticks, celery, cheesesticks and other viands, log-cabin style, on pretty plates. Light the table by candles in old-fashioned candlesticks. Serve a hot course, oyster patties, sandwiches, potato salad, hot gingerbread, apple sauce, tea and coffee.

Wedding Supper.

First serve an orange or lemon ice. Serve this in tall glasses and decorate the top of the glass with a sprig of mint. Have the ice served from a tray decorated with a wreath of green or green and white. For the green have mint leaves, lemon verbena or geranium leaves or ferns. Then serve chicken salad made of the breast of chicken cut in dice, celery cut coarse, and large nut meats. Add sweetbreads and cucumbers to the salad if desired. Mix with a white mayonnaise and serve in white head lettuce, using the cup-like outside leaves. Use the tiny lettuce heart for a crown, and garnish with white radishes cut into roses, and olives cut in fancy shapes. Serve plain white bread and butter sandwiches cut in hearts and rings or salted wafers. Have the salad on white plates and passed from a tray trimmed in ferns or white sweet peas. Have the ice cream in any fancy shape. Pink hearts dotted with pink candied roseleaves makes a very pretty course. Lay a pink rose on each plate. If one cannot get fancy shapes from their caterer, use the cone shaped spoon and dish the cream in shape of cones. Then surmount each cone with a pink candy heart. For cakes, serve cocoanut balls or squares of white cake covered with pink or green icing. Serve these from a tray or platter covered with pink and white sweet peas, putting the cakes in among the flowers. Have the wedding cake on a flower trimmed table under a gay little canopy and have the bride cut it the last thing, after coffee is passed.

A Waffle Supper.

Let us have a waffle party and introduce some of the men to more intimate acquaintance with the mysteries of the cuisine.

Flat dwellers (the word always reminds me of "Cliff dwellers") seem to consider that the propinquity of the kitchen makes entertaining a difficult matter, but if the truth were known, it makes possible many a winter evening's jollity.

The invitations are made of cream white satin, fashioned in the exact shape and size of a waffle section, padded with white cotton wadding and tacked to simulate the meeting place of the irons. They are then scorched to the right color with a hot iron and on them is printed in sepia tints

Use the abbreviated forms for this lettering on account of the difficulty encountered from limited space and the writing on satin.

Before the evening arrives prepare cards about four by six inches, in the center of which print a much praised recipe for waffles, reading as follows: Six cups flour; three teaspoonfuls baking powder; four cups milk; three tablespoonfuls butter; one and one-half teaspoonfuls salt; nine eggs beaten separately. Mix flour, baking powder and salt, yolks with milk, then melted butter, flour and last the beaten whites.

In the upper left hand corner of the card have a small pen and ink[Pg 74] sketch of some cooking utensil and in the right hand corner a number. In the center a ribbon for fastening. The utensils are as follows: 1. Waffle irons. 2. Mixing bowl. 3. Milk bottle. 4. Salt box. 5. Eggs. 6. Egg beater. 7. Butter. 8. Flour sieve.

It is possible to introduce as many different cooking utensils as there are guests.

After half an hour's visit let the guests all repair to the kitchen where the numbered articles are to be found. No. 1, to whom is apportioned the two waffle irons, lights the gas under them, greases the irons when hot with a square of salt pork on the end of a fork and—later—cooks the first waffle, but that comes later on. Each secures his special utensil.

The Master of Ceremonies takes charge and calls off the various ingredients in proper order. Number 2 warms the mixing bowl slightly, Number 3 unstoppers the milk and measures it, Number 4 measures the salt, Number 5 breaks the eggs and beats the yolks, Number 6 beats the whites, Number 7 melts the butter, Number 8 measures the flour, Number 9 produces and measures the baking powder, etc.

Finally, when all is ready and the Master of Ceremonies has superintended the proper mixing, the rest adjourn to the dining room, leaving numbers one and two to bake the first waffles.

The Master of Ceremonies sits at the head and the numbers run consecutively from his right. The swinging doors through the butler's pantry are propped open so as not to isolate the cooks and the supper begins.

At one end of the table have a medium sized veal loaf, at the other a mould of tongue jellied with hard boiled eggs. Chocolate is poured at one side of the table, coffee at the other. Marmalade, pickles and graham bread cut thin and made into sandwiches are placed in small dishes. Two large bowls of whipped cream with small bowls of powdered sugar, two pitchers of maple syrup boiled down and beaten until thick as batter, are for service with the waffles.

By the time the meats are served, the first sets of waffles are ready and the cooks pass them around. The next couple then pass to the kitchen to bake the next sets and so on until all are served.

The Bohemian Picnic Supper.

An indoor moonlight picnic is a new diversion. The lights should be hidden by soft white silk shades, giving a moonlight effect, and the rooms decorated with foliage plants. A fishpond with grotesque objects, including a live mermaid, (a man in startling costume), is one feature. In one room is a "merry-go-round." The chairs are placed in a circle and a graphaphone in the center plays popular tunes. At 10 o'clock the doors to the dining room are opened. The table cloth is spread on the floor, surrounded by cushions. In one corner of the room are the baskets containing the supper of sandwiches, olives, pickles, baked beans, cake, pie and other picnic favorites. The girls take the viands from the baskets and arrange them on the floor, while the men serve coffee from a coffee boiler on a small table. During the meal each guest is obliged[Pg 76] to describe some picnic he has attended or pay a forfeit.

A Railroad Party.

Have a "railroad party" if you like the refreshing flavor of informality at your social functions.

Have the invitations read, "an excursion on the Funville, Frolictown & Featherbrain Railway."

To begin with, the rapidly gathering guests "getting aboard" are greeted by the hostess and her receiving party, who cover their evening attire with spic-and-span linen dusters and caps. Down the line are distributed a miscellaneous collection of peregrinating paraphernalia from the red and white cotton umbrella, which the hostess resolutely grasps in the middle, to the omnipresent hand-box and the traditional bird cage.

With a final "all aboard" from a bustling man in regulation railway uniform, accompanied by the clanging of a bell, the trip to interesting cities begins. The conductor, in blue coat and brass buttons, promptly appears, to distribute tickets to the animated tourists. These tickets are in booklet form, inside the covers being an eighteen-inch pink paper ticket. At the top is a space for the excursionist's name, and further down a series of spaces where the excursionist is to write the names of the various stations at which the train is to stop. The name of the station is suggested by a preceding statement. This ticket, including[Pg 77] "rules and regulations," as well as correct insertions for the stations, reads as follows:

The Funville, Frolictown & Featherbrain Railway.

Rules and Regulations.

This Ticket is not transferable, reversible, or salable. It must be signed by the person to whom it is assigned.

The Company will not be responsible for cattle killed by the carelessness of the passengers who throw crackers out of the window.

Doctors are not provided on this train, but if you have the grip it can be checked by the baggage master.

An ancient city whose downfall, after a long siege, avenged the abduction of a woman.

Appropriate prizes—leather traveling bags—are awarded to excursionists who have done the most sight seeing—that is, who have guessed the names of most of the stations. In the mean time small boys in uniform pass through the "parlor cars" dispensing to the passengers such train delectables as popcorn and peanuts, while other uniformed youths pass[Pg 80] lemonade in the time-honored tin receptacle with glasses in openings at the side.

Suddenly the station supper gong is sounded and the brisk announcement made, "Twenty minutes for refreshments." Thereupon the lively excursionists proceed in sections to the dining room where the novel feature of the railroad party is cleverly carried out. Along one end of the room is constructed a high lunch counter with every equipment of the metropolitan station. There is the steaming coffee urn, the familiar glass covers under which repose pumpkin pie and doughnuts, old-fashioned cake-stands with fruit, and so on. Bright colored placards on the wall announce the eatables, including chicken and ham sandwiches, stuffed eggs, hokey-pokey ice cream, assorted cakes, coffee, chocolate and milk.

The floral decorations in this "buffet car" are effective. The white cloth that covers the counter and extends to the floor is festooned with strings of smilax and spotted with sprays of fern. On top of the counter is a huge bowl of scarlet roses, and two immense palms behind the lunch counter make a pleasing background. In all the coaches, in fact, flowers and foliage are used in profusion.

Literary Supper.

Give each guest a card numbered, and ask him to draw thereon a picture which shall illustrate some well-known novel. When all have finished[Pg 81] have them pass the cards and on a second numbered list write the titles of the books illustrated. Give a prize for the most perfect list and the best illustration. Let the guests vote on the best illustration.

Or, pin on the back of a guest the name of a character in a book, or the name of an author, and let him by questions discover his own identity. If he fails to guess and has to be told, he sits down. If he guesses correctly, another name is pinned on his back, and another, and so on. The one guessing the greatest number of names receives the prize, which may be simply a bunch of flowers.

Ask each guest to wear something representing the title of a book. Give each a number as he enters and a list of numbers and let all place correct names opposite the numbers on their lists. Write a simple love story, leaving blanks to be filled with names of books. This may be written on a large sheet of paper or on a blackboard, the blanks numbered and each guest given a numbered list to place words intended to fill blanks, or enough copies may be made for each guest to have a copy.

Partners for supper may be found by cutting quotations in half and matching them again. Or one guest may be given the name of a book to find his partner in the author; or he may receive a slip containing the name of some man character in fiction, to find his partner in the corresponding woman character, as "David Copperfield" would seek "Dora," "Mr. Micawber" would seek "Mrs. Micawber," etc.

Serve pressed chicken or veal cut in squares resting on cress;[Pg 82] sandwiches of white grapes and nuts, chopped pickle; fruit salad served in white lettuce leaves, cheese crackers, ice cream or ices, cake, coffee or chocolate. Make the cheese crackers by spreading a thin layer of cheese on the crackers and toasting them in the oven.

A Peanut Party.

Have them read, "Won't you come next Tuesday night at 7 o'clock and help me gather my peanut crop? Cordially yours,"

When the guests assemble the night of the party, give each one a gay calico bag and a large wooden spoon. Then explain that they are to hunt for the peanuts on the lower floor of the house, and that the peanuts can only be taken up with the aid of the spoons. Half an hour is allowed to gather the peanut crop, and then the bags are marked with the gatherer's name and dropped into a large straw basket—the bag containing the largest number of peanuts receives a prize. This hunt causes much merriment.

When the time has expired and the bags are all in the basket, a large bowl of peanuts is put on a table and each guest given a needle and thread and told to make a necklace and pair of bracelets,—the best made set of peanut jewelry to be awarded a prize. The next feature of the evening's fun is making and dressing quaint little Chinese figures of peanuts. Crepe paper of various hues is provided for the costumes, and[Pg 83] black thread for the queues. First the peanuts are strung to form the little manikins, then eyes, nose and mouth are marked on with ink. Jackets and trousers are next cut and made, and the little Ching-Changs are dressed. Pigtails are plaited and sewed on to the tops of the heads, then the hats go on and the little celestials are ready to be inspected by the judges. These dolls the guests keep as souvenirs of their skill.

In the dining room have a small evergreen tree planted in a china jardiniere in the center of the supper table with little peanut owls perched on the branches of the tree. These owls have wings of light manila paper and are marked with ink to represent feathers. Big, staring eyes add a touch of realism. The owls are attached to the branches, singly and in groups, with glue.

For supper serve creamed chicken patties, tiny hot rolls, brandied peaches or sweet watermelon pickle; salad of cucumbers and mayonnaise served on lettuce leaves or cress, peanut butter, and chopped smoked tongue sandwiches, ice cream served in sherbet glasses, assorted cakes, coffee or chocolate.

Folk Lore Supper.

Engage real colored singers to give a program of songs of the Southland, the old-time plantation melodies. Arrange the stage with a log cabin surrounded by sunflowers in the background and a cotton field in foreground, and have the singers costumed as field hands. Some of the[Pg 84] best known and best liked songs include "Old Black Joe," "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot," "Nobody Knows the Trouble I Am Seeing," "Nellie Gray," "Suawanee River," "Way Over Jordan," "Ride up in the Chariot," "Massa's in the Cold, Cold Ground," "Dixie." Serve a fried chicken supper with rice, hot biscuits, syrup, cornpone, ice cream and cake and coffee. The program can end with buck and wing dancing, jigs and cakewalks.

Cake Walk Supper.

At this cake walk there is no walking for the cake. The cakes themselves walk for prizes.

Ask each guest to dress representing a certain variety of cake, but concealing the name of the particular cake represented.

One girl representing Wedding Cake can come with bridal veil, orange blossom wreath and shower bouquet.

Fruit Cake may be suggested by a girl carrying a graceful basket of fruit which she distributes to the company. In her hair she may wear a crown of artificial grapes and grape leaves.

A woman of very diminutive size who might be thought to be almost ineligible for the gathering because she came without insignia of any kind might represent short cake.

And these are but a few of the ingenuities. The entire list is too long to give here, but each repetition is sure to call forth new ideas.

The winner of the first prize receives a pretty china cake dish, while[Pg 85] the second prize is a dainty cake knife in silver. There is a booby, too—a small cook book giving twenty-five choice recipes for cakes.

Chicken Mousse with Lettuce and Nut Salad

Brown Bread and Butter Sandwiches

Olives, Salted Almonds

Peach Bavarian Cream, Fancy Cakes

Coffee

Menu and Service for Bridge Supper Party.

If one wishes a dainty and appetizing menu for a card supper serve sweetbread and celery salad, stuffed olives and tiny pickles, assorted sandwiches and plain vanilla ice cream with hot chocolate sauce, fruit cake, white cake and coffee.

While the judges are counting the points for game, have the maid lay a lunch cloth on each table. Serve the sweetbread salad either in cucumbers hollowed out or in red or green pepper shells, resting on a wreath of watercress. A pretty effect is secured by using alternate green and red peppers and leaving the tops with the stem for covers. Tie the tiniest of red peppers to the stems with narrow green ribbon for decoration. The sweetbread salad is made of cold cooked sweetbreads and celery cut into dice and covered with mayonnaise. If one adds a few sliced almond meats and mushrooms the flavor is improved. Serve ham sandwiches cut in shape of playing cards and decorated with bits of pickled beets to simulate card spots, heart shaped sandwiches of[Pg 86] chopped green peppers and mayonnaise, cucumbers and watercress mixed with mayonnaise, plain bread and butter sandwiches, using brown and white bread. If one wishes a hot course, serve oyster or cream chicken patties and tiny hot rolls. The fork is brought on the plate with the salad or hot course.

Serve ice cream in the sherbet glasses with stems. Place a lace paper doily on the plate, stand the glass on this and lay a pink rose on the plate. Pass the hot chocolate sauce in a silver or pretty china pitcher, or have it poured over the ice cream before it is brought in. Pass the coffee in after dinner coffee cups, the maid bringing in a tray full of the cups followed by an assistant with sugar, cream and after dinner coffee spoons.

Cut the cake into squares and pass in silver basket or handsome plate with doily.

"After the Theatre" Menus.

Cold Chicken in Cranberry Jelly Cups

Celery and Oyster Patties

Bread and Butter Sandwiches

Lemon Jelly with Whipped Cream

Ice Cream, Lady Fingers, Cocoanut

Macaroons

Bonbons, Coffee

Mushroom Patties

Turkey and Celery Salad in Lettuce Cups

Cheese and Nut Sandwiches

Pineapple Jelly with Whipped Cream

Vanilla Ice Cream

Small Sponge Cakes

Coffee with Whipped Cream

Oyster Crabs on Steak.

Since dealers do not sell oyster crabs at reasonable rates where they know their value or have a fashionable trade, if economical, one has to find a modest oyster house where they do not bring a cent and more apiece, but are for sale in bulk. A few dozen at least are needed for the steak. Oyster crabs are tiny things and they shrink in cooking.

The pan must be hot with plenty of butter in it Throw in the crabs whole of course, for they are wee things, clean as an oyster, and let them cook to a turn. Salt and pepper them and turn them over the steak which has been broiled exactly right. The oyster crabs must be cooked so as to be ready when the steak is done.

A Cold Supper Menu for Hot Weather.

Iced Consomme

Celery, Salted Wafers

Lobster en Mayonnaise, Brown Bread Sandwiches

Cold Filet of Beef

Saratoga Potatoes, Jelly, Brandied Cherries

Tomatoes Stuffed with Celery, Green Peppers and Cucumbers

Chicken Salad

Roquefort Cheese, Toasted Crackers

Ice Cream in Canteloupes

Fruits, Crystallized Candies

CHAPTER VI.

Toasts and Stories for Suppers.

Here's to man, God's first thought,
Here's to woman, God's second thought;
As second thoughts are best, "Here's to woman."
—Detroit Free Press.

A health to the man on trail this night; may his grub hold out; may his dogs keep their legs; may his matches never miss fire.

To "One of the Boys."

Here's to a jolly fellow,
Who is one of the boys,
And stays till he gets mellow,
Sharing the drinks and joys.

His glass he'll fill to the rim,
And dash it out of sight,
We can all tie to him,
You bet, "he's all right!"

Here's to you, as good as you are,
And here's to me, as bad as I am;
But as good as you are, and as bad as I am,
I'm as good as you are as bad as I am!
—An Old Scotch Toast

Here's to the maiden of bashful fifteen
Here's to the widow of fifty;
Here's to the flaunting, extravagant queen,
And here's to the housewife that's thrifty!
Let the toast pass;
Drink to the lass;
I'll warrant she'll prove an excuse for the glass.
—Sheridan.

"The women, God bless them, we toast them alway,
Lest the women, God bless them, roast us every day."

While there's life on the lip, while there's warmth in the wine,
One deep health I'll pledge, and that health shall be thine.
Lucille—Owen Meredith.

Crown high the goblets with a cheerful draught;
Enjoy the present hour; adjourn the future thought.
—Dryden's Virgil.

Here's to Love, a thing so divine,
Description makes it but the less;
'Tis what we feel but cannot define,
'Tis what we know but cannot express.

"To the Salad of Life.

"With its laughter and tears, its blessings and joys,
Its mixture of peace and of strife.
And may it be seasoned to each man's taste,
With plenty of love for its dressing,
And when we have eaten the last on the dish,
Let us hope it has proven a blessing."

"Clink, clink your glasses and drink!
Why should we trouble borrow?
Care not for sorrow,
A fig for the morrow!
Tonight let's be merry and drink!"

Here's to the prettiest,
Here's to the wittiest,
Here's to the truest of all who are true.
Here's to the neatest one,
Here's to the sweetest one,
Here's to them all in one—here's to you.

"Laugh at all things,
Great and small things,
Sick or well, at sea or shore;
While we're quaffing,
Let's have laughing—
Who the devil cares for more."
—Lord Byron.

A toast to your hair, my loved one,
A toast to your beautiful hair!
It rests like a crown
Of unmatchable brown
On your brow so pure and fair.
There's a charm in its lightness,
An air in its brightness,
That tangled my heart in its snare.
Then pledge me, my fair one,
My loved one, my rare one,
A toast to your beautiful hair!
—Bayard Bacon.

Woman. The fairest work of the great Author. The edition is large and no man can afford to be without a copy.

He is the half part of a blessed man,
Left to be finished by such as she.
—Shakespeare.

To Friendship—it improves happiness and abates misery, by the doubling of our joy and the dividing of our grief.—Cicero.

Ho gentlemen! lift your glasses up—
Each gallant, each swain and lover—
A kiss to the beads that brim in the cup
A laugh for the foam spilt over!
For the soul is a-lift and the heart beats high,
And care has unloosened its tether;
"Now drink," said the sage, "for tomorrow we die!"
So let's have a toast together.

Swing the goblet aloft; to the lips let it fall;
Then bend you the knee to address her;
And to drink gentle sirs, to the queen of us all—
To the Woman that's Good—God bless her!—
And I pledge my last toast, ere I go to my rest—
O fortunate earth to possess her!—
To the dear tender heart in the little white breast
Of the Woman that's Good—God bless her!

Here's to the girl that's good and sweet
Here's to the girl that's true,
Here's to the girl that rules my heart—
In other words, Here's to you.

Here's to the land of the shamrock so green,
Here's to each lad and his darling coleen
Here's to the ones we love dearest and most
And may God save old Ireland,—that's an Irishman's toast.

A toast to Thanksgiving,
A Pæan of Praise,
A health to our forefathers brave;
May we honor the deeds
They have done in the past,
Hold sacred all that they gave.
—Estelle Foreman.

An Englishman's Frank Toast.

In cosmopolitan Los Angeles there are five gentlemen companions, each representing a different nationality, who from frequent association have become intimate friends. One is a Russian, one a Turk, one a Frenchman, one an American and one an Englishman. These five frequently assemble together and tell of the comparative merits of the respective countries they represented and thus their companionship is a source of instruction as well as entertainment. Recently they gave a champagne supper to which[Pg 92] a few friends were invited. During the course of this dinner it was proposed that each of the five give a toast to his native country, the one giving the best toast to be at no expense for the feast. The result was these toasts:

The Russian—"Here's to the stars and bars of Russia, that were never pulled down."

The Frenchman—"Here's to the cock of France, whose feathers were never picked."

The American—"Here's to the Stars and Stripes of America, never trailed in defeat."

The Englishman—"Here's to the rampin' roarin' lion of Great Britain, that tore down the stars and bars of Russia, clipped the wings of Turkey, picked the feathers off the cock of France, and ran like h—l from the Stars and Stripes of the United States of America."

"Why, Patrick, you seem to be in great pain—you have taken something that disagrees with you." "Yes, doctor, I swallowed a potato bug be accident, and although I took some Paris green a minute after it don't quiet the disgraceful little baste. He's racing up and down and all round inside of me."

"If you would refuse occasionally when those hateful men ask you to drink," said Mrs. Booce, "you would not be coming home in this condition. You lack firmness of character."

"Don't you b'leeve nossin' of the sort," said Mr. Booce, with much dignity. "The fellers tried to start me home more'n two hours ago."

At a dinner given in a home that was marked for the literary acquirements of its members the conversation naturally turned to books and their authors. This was not much to the liking of one young woman, who was more noted for her skill at golf and kindred sports than for her knowledge of romance and history. From time to time she attempted to start a discussion of outdoor games, but to no avail. At last her companion at the table turned to her with the inquiry:

The fair young thing knitted her brows in thought for a moment, then answered blithely:

"Kipling? I don't believe it has been introduced in our set yet. How do you kipple, anyway?"

Cook—"We're all ladies here, yez moonkey-faced divil! If yez mane the mishtress, say so!"

A Sunday-school teacher recently told her class about the cruelty of docking horses, says Our Dumb Animals. "Can any little girl tell me," she said, "of an appropriate verse of Scripture referring to such treatment?" A small girl rose and said solemnly, "What God hath joined together, let no man put asunder."

I am reminded of a sick man who had a talking wife. A doctor was sent for to prescribe for the husband. When he left he said to the wife: "Your husband is not dangerously ill. All he needs is rest, so I have prescribed this opiate."

Scene: The bar parlour of the Prince George, Brighton. Pipes and beer all round. An old salt saying:—

"I've got a riddle to ask you chaps. If a 'erring and a 'alf cost three farthings 'ow many could you buy for sixpence?"

Profound silence, and much puffing of pipes. Presently a voice from the corner:—

A story is told of a man who, having submitted himself to the manipulation of a venerable barber was told: "Do you know, sah, you remind me so much of Dan'l Webster?"

This staggered the aged colored man somewhat. He had not expected that there would be a call for an explanatory superstructure. "No, sah," he stammered in reply; "not yo' head, sah, it's yo' breff."

"Speaking of mushrooms and toadstools, gentlemen," chimed in Dumley, "a friend of mine not long ago gathered a quantity of what he supposed were mushrooms, and took 'em home. His wife cooked 'em and the whole family ate heartily of 'em."

"No, they happened to be mushrooms, you see," replied Dumley with a far-a-away look in his eye, "but it was a narrow escape."

He was enjoying an ear of corn in the good, old-fashioned way. "You look as if you were playing the flute," his hostess remarked, smiling. "Oh, no," was the amiable retort; "It's a cornet I'm playing, by ear."

London Landlady (to shivering lodger).—No, sir, I don't object to your dining at a restorong, nor to taking an 'apenny paper, but I must resent your constant 'abit of locking up your whiskey, thereby himplying that me, a clergyman's daughter, is prone to larceny.

"Pat," said his young wife, "I wish you wouldn't put your knife in your mouth when you eat." "An' phwere would yez hev me put it," said Pat, in astonishment, "in me eyes?"

Second Lady—"Oh, nothing! For the last few months I have taken one or two out of his box every day. He hasn't noticed it, and will be pleased with my little present and the fine quality of the cigars."

Arabella (scared)—"Oh, mammy! Miss Smiff say her ole man gits fits eb'ry time he come home drunk an' I's 'fraid I done cotch 'um."

Mistress (greatly scandalized)—"Is it possible, Hannah, you are making bread without having washed your hands?"

Family Physician—"I'm afraid you have been eating too much cake and candy. Let me see your tongue."

"Patrick, you told me you needed the alcohol to clean the mirrors with, and here I find you drinking it."

A clergyman was being shaved by a barber who had evidently become unnerved by the previous night's dissipation. Finally he cut the clergyman's chin. The latter looked up at the artist reproachfully and said, "You see, my man, what comes of hard drinking." "Yes, sir," replied the barber, consolingly, "it makes the skin tender."

They began by making much of his office, and the great qualities necessary to properly fill it. They laid stress upon the decay of the standard of fitness, and congratulated themselves that they had at last met with an instance where the man did honor to the office.

"You make me more worthy, gentlemen, than I really am. I am not a genius, nor yet am I a sot or a simpleton, but rather, if you will permit such self measurement, something between the two."

Second Quick Lunch Waitress (enviously)—"Ain't he? When he orders 'beans and draw one and sinkers' from her he puts such love in it that it sounds like 'Paddy defoy grass, coffee o'lay and Parker House rolls.'"

"Will you have a piece of the pie, Mr. Goodman?" asked Bobby's mother of the minister.

"They are," replied Bobby. "I could eat that hull pie, but ma said if you didn't take any I mustn't, and she'd save it for tomorrow."

Suppers

NOVEL SUGGESTIONS FOR SOCIAL

OCCASIONS

Compiled by

PAUL PIERCE

CHICAGO

BREWER, BARSE & CO.

To the Aristocracy of America.

Publisher's Announcement.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I.

Chafing Dish Suppers—Chafing Dish Cooking and Serving—Chafing Dish Chat—A Chafing Dish Supper—A Chafing Dish Party—Over the Chafing Dish.

Chafing Dish Chat.

A Chafing Dish Supper.

A Chafing Dish Party.

Over the Chafing Dish.

Sweetbreads with Peas.

Lobster a la Newberg.

Welsh Rarebit.

CHAPTER II.

German, Dutch and Bohemian Suppers—Some Queer German Suppers—A Dutch Supper—Bohemian Supper for Men—The Dutch Supper.

Some Queer German Suppers.

A Dutch Supper.

Bohemian Supper for Men.

The Dutch Supper.

CHAPTER III.

Entertaining in the Modern Apartment—A Little Sunday Night Supper—Stag Suppers—A Bachelor Supper.

A Little Sunday Night Supper.

A Stag Supper. 1.

A Stag Supper. 2.

A Bachelor Supper.

CHAPTER IV.

Suppers for Special Occasions—Danish Valentine Supper—A Hallowe'en Ghost Hunt—A Hallowe'en Supper—Hallowe'en Supper Menus—A Pie Party for Thanksgiving Season—The Pie Shelf—Birthday Suppers—Birthday Party.

A Hallowe'en Ghost Hunt.

A Hallowe'en Supper.

Hallowe'en Supper Menus.

A Pie Party for Thanksgiving Season.

THE PIE SHELF.

Birthday Supper. 1.

Birthday Supper. 2.

Birthday Party.

CHAPTER V.

Clam Bake.

Nutting Party.

Harvest Home Supper.

An Autumn Supper.

When the Frost is on the Pumpkin.

A Dickens' Supper.

A Boston Supper Party.

A Yachting Party.

A Butterfly Supper.

Young Married Couples' Supper.

A Head-Dress Supper Party.

A Quilting Supper.

Wedding Supper.

A Waffle Supper.

The Bohemian Picnic Supper.

A Railroad Party.

The Funville, Frolictown & Featherbrain Railway.

Rules and Regulations.

Literary Supper.

A Peanut Party.

Folk Lore Supper.

Cake Walk Supper.

Menu and Service for Bridge Supper Party.

"After the Theatre" Menus.

Oyster Crabs on Steak.

A Cold Supper Menu for Hot Weather.

CHAPTER VI.

Toasts and Stories for Suppers.

To "One of the Boys."

"To the Salad of Life.

An Englishman's Frank Toast.