Table for sixteen. — Silver epergne with glass
baskets ; branch candlesticks. The glass baskets of
the silver epergne and about ten or twelve small low
glass baskets on the table were filled with the common
field poppies, with ferns and with a few ears of corn.
Table for twelve. — Gold ornaments and gold
candlesticks. A dozen or more glasses of different
heights dressed with bright bunches of the mountain-
ash berries.
Table for tzvelve. — Hunting season. Gold centre-
EXAMPLES OF TABLE DECORATIONS. 43
piece. Long branches of brambles drawn from the
centre out to all the corners and the sides of the
table. These branches were carefully selected, as not
being too strong nor too withered, though they still
had some red and yellow leaves. They had had a
flat iron passed over some of the stems and leaves to
make them manageable.
Table for foiu'teen. — China ornaments and candle-
sticks. Strip of crimson satin down the middle of
the table bordered by feathered moss, into which at
intervals of two inches single blooms of the white
pheasant-eyed narcissus were laid.
Table for ten or twelve. — Centre gold piece ; gold
candlesticks. A dozen small old blue china flower
pots, in rows down both sides of the table, with single
(cut) tritomas, with their leaves in each looking like
small pines.
Table for tzventy-fotir.— A pyramid of ice sur-
rounded by wreaths of water-lilies lying flat on the
cloth.
To some eyes the flowers on a table should be all
of one kind and colour ; to others a mixture of flowers
is agreeable. No absolute rule can be laid down ; at
present, taste inclines to there being one or two kinds
of flowers. Strongly scented flowers are objected to
by many people.
A fashion has sprung up of late years of placing a
strip of satin down the centre of the linen cloth, so as
to give more colour and variety to the table. The
edge of the satin is concealed by a wreath of leaves ;
the colour must therefore be chosen not only to con-
trast with the white cloth, but with the green or
44 EXAMPLES OF TABLE DECORATION.
brown leaves which make its fringe. Instead of
satin, Greek lace lined in colour, or linen embroidered
in colours, is also seen as an embellishment to the
plain table-cloth.
Let it always be remembered that cloths which
will not bear zvashing must not on that account be
used when soiled ; they must be replaced by new
ones, or this mode of decorating a table must not be
attempted.
HOUSE EXPENSES. 45
CHAPTER IX.
EXPENDITURE.
It must be borne in mind by the housewife that
modern luxury exacts a greater number of meals,
a larger number of hot dishes at each meal, the
accompaniment of fruit, flowers, and highly-polished
silver, to an extent unknown in the simple days of
our forefathers. Five meals a day at four or five
tables — schoolroom, dining-room, hall, steward's room
— implies an amount of bringing up trays and oi
clearing away by the men or women servants of
the pantry department, of cooking the food, and of
washing up dishes by the servants of the kitchen and
scullery departments, which must tax their time and
strength severely ; and if the hours kept are late
and irregular, must try their temper also. Breakfast
and luncheon are 'hot meals,' but they are rarely
punctual meals.
Page 20
Presented as published in 1882. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
Table for sixteen. — Silver epergne with glass baskets ; branch candlesticks. The glass baskets of the silver epergne and about ten or twelve small low glass baskets on the table were filled with the common field poppies, with ferns and with a few ears of corn.
Table for twelve. — Gold ornaments and gold candlesticks. A dozen or more glasses of different heights dressed with bright bunches of the mountainash berries.
Table for twelve. — Hunting season. Gold centre-
EXAMPLES OF TABLE DECORATIONS. 43
piece. Long branches of brambles drawn from the centre out to all the corners and the sides of the table. These branches were carefully selected, as not being too strong nor too withered, though they still had some red and yellow leaves. They had had a flat iron passed over some of the stems and leaves to make them manageable.
Table for fourteen. — China ornaments and candlesticks. Strip of crimson satin down the middle of the table bordered by feathered moss, into which at intervals of two inches single blooms of the white pheasant-eyed narcissus were laid.
Table for ten or twelve. — Centre gold piece ; gold candlesticks. A dozen small old blue china flower pots, in rows down both sides of the table, with single (cut) tritomas, with their leaves in each looking like small pines.
Table for twenty-four.— A pyramid of ice surrounded by wreaths of water-lilies lying flat on the cloth.
To some eyes the flowers on a table should be all of one kind and colour ; to others a mixture of flowers is agreeable. No absolute rule can be laid down ; at present, taste inclines to there being one or two kinds of flowers. Strongly scented flowers are objected to by many people.
A fashion has sprung up of late years of placing a strip of satin down the centre of the linen cloth, so as to give more colour and variety to the table. The edge of the satin is concealed by a wreath of leaves ; the colour must therefore be chosen not only to contrast with the white cloth, but with the green or
44 EXAMPLES OF TABLE DECORATION.
brown leaves which make its fringe. Instead of satin, Greek lace lined in colour, or linen embroidered in colours, is also seen as an embellishment to the plain table-cloth.
Let it always be remembered that cloths which will not bear washing must not on that account be used when soiled ; they must be replaced by new ones, or this mode of decorating a table must not be attempted.
HOUSE EXPENSES. 45
CHAPTER IX.
EXPENDITURE.
It must be borne in mind by the housewife that modern luxury exacts a greater number of meals, a larger number of hot dishes at each meal, the accompaniment of fruit, flowers, and highly-polished silver, to an extent unknown in the simple days of our forefathers. Five meals a day at four or five tables — schoolroom, dining-room, hall, steward's room — implies an amount of bringing up trays and oi clearing away by the men or women servants of the pantry department, of cooking the food, and of washing up dishes by the servants of the kitchen and scullery departments, which must tax their time and strength severely ; and if the hours kept are late and irregular, must try their temper also. Breakfast and luncheon are 'hot meals,' but they are rarely punctual meals.