In disposing the guests about the table the pleasantest results will follow if each person is "sandwiched" between a new acquaintance and an old one. Having selected our guests, we should send the invitations two weeks in advance of the time set for the dinner during "the season," The unless our friends are persons of many invitations engagements, when they may be asked a few days earlier. The motive being explained, that the early notification is to spare ourselves disappointment, our friends cannot but be flattered. If we do not take this precaution, guests fail us and the whole scheme has to be reconstructed. A little dinner being friendly and informal, the notes of invitation should give a foretaste of these pleasures. The usual hour is at seven or half after seven, and for a more ceremonious dinner eight or half after eight o'clock is the fashionable hour. The hour One must think of many things, for nothing must be left to chance. One young hostess last winter issued twelve invitations for a dinner of twelve, quite forgetting herself and her husband until she was placing the name-cards. As plates, glasses, wines, etc., all come in dozens, she was much embarrassed. The household of her parents, those bankers provided by nature, fortunately supplied all that she lacked. The dinner itself is the next thing to be decided upon, and the choice of dishes must depend upon one's cook and one's The cook pocketbook. In large cities we may be independent of the lady who rules our kitchens, and purchase success and the most serene peace of mind with a single five-dollar bill. There are cooks whose business it is to prepare dinners and luncheons at the houses of their patrons. They call upon the lady of the house a few days before the entertainment to discuss the menu. The cook will make all necessary purchases or give the lady a list of all that will be required. Her technical knowledge often spares the hostess considerable expense. If one be dependent upon one's own cook and she has not much experience, it is wiser not to attempt anything that cannot be readily accomplished. To do herself credit when under the excitement of preparing a "company" dinner, it is well for her to rehearse the "entrées once or twice for private family consumption, or these may be sent from a reliable caterer's and warmed over hot water. A good cook, however, is an economy, if one entertains often. For a ceremonious dinner of eighteen covers or more, three persons would be required. to serve it with elegance and promptness. In large houses these would be a butler, footman, and maid, or two footmen. The servants A dinner of twelve persons may be well served by a butler and maid or by two capable maids. It requires an exceptional servant to do justice to a company of more than six persons, unassisted. An intelligent maid may easily be taught to serve "à la Russe" (the servant passing everything), which is at once the simplest and most elegant form of service. When well trained she may serve a dinner of ten covers with the help of an assistant who need only be agile, quiet, and obedient to her superior's gesture of direction. An extra servant in the butler's pantry is almost a necessity to insure promptness and ease in serving. The butler wears evening livery, of course; the footmen, full house livery. The maids should wear black gowns with ample white aprons, caps, and broad linen collars and cuffs, the woman's equivalent for the butler's dress livery. In giving small dinners where ceremony is somewhat relaxed, it is well to remember that to be well served when guests are present, it is necessary to be well served every day in private. Scarcely inferior in importance to the other essentials of a charming dinner are the setting Laying the and decoration of the table, for the eye table must be pleased as well as the palate. Nothing is prettier than a round table, nor is any other shape as conducive to general and sympathetic conversation. It also obviates the necessity for a head and foot at table, if for any reason the seating of the guests offer a difficulty. An adjustable round top, to be placed on a table of any form, may be made by an ordinary carpenter with room for as many covers as one please, allowing two and a half feet of space to each. If made in two parts, it will be found more convenient to handle and to dispose of when not in use. In arranging a square table for eight persons it is well to seat two at each end and two at each side, which makes the men and women alternate properly. Under the table-cloth, which should be of heavy damask, carefully laundered and ample enough for its four corners to almost reach the floor, a cover of felt or very heavy canton flannel should be laid. In the exact centre of the table it is usual to have a centrepiece of lace, embroidered bolting cloth or linen, upon which the flowers stand. The flowers Nothing gives so festal an air and withal such refinement and grace as flowers in the centre of a table, or four slender vases holding a few choice blossoms flanking a jardinière of delicate ferns. Smilax disposed about the table, wreathing the dishes with an art that conceals art, is effective in decoration. They of plethoric purses may have gorgeous centrepieces of American Beauty roses in combination with white lilacs or bride roses with maidenhair fern and white orchids; but any one may have a modest centrepiece of flowers by making first a foundation of solid green (geranium slips are best for the purpose) and then introducing the blossoms. Every flower is seen to advantage and is held in place by the stout foliage of the geranium. The old fashion of composing the flower-piece of small bouquets, which, after dinner, the servant passes on a tray so that each lady may select her own, was a graceful one and always welcomed with pleasure. One rarely sees flowers at the guests' places, except occasionally a long-stemmed rose for each lady, and more unfrequently buttonhole bonquets for the men. These are sometimes left in the men's dressing-room. The lights Candelabra should flank the centrepiece of flowers opposite the host and hostess, and smaller candlesticks on either side, or four single ones may stand at equal distances from the flowers and from each other, with or without shades—they are rarely used in France. Candles are conceded to furnish the most becoming light, but they should be sufficiently numerous to make gas or electric light unnecessary, which is incongruous and inartistic in combination with candlelight, neutralizing all its advantages. The uneven burning of the candles may be obviated by keeping them on ice two or three hours before using, and they should be lighted long enough before dinner to test their condition. As candle shades are apt to catch fire, a pair of sugar-tongs within reach will be found convenient with which to grasp them and throw them harmlessly into the grate. All annoyances of the kind are obviated |