fresh air can be warmed more easily than stale air, and that
fresh air costs nothing. A few growing plants add to the
attractiveness of a dining room, as do clean window panes
and plain white curtains. Let the room in which the whole
family assembles three times a day be as nice as you can
plan and make and keep it.
The Dining Room Table
Some one once remarked facetiously that the best decoration
for a dining room table is a well-cooked dinner, and in this
he was not so far wrong, though he might have gone further
and said that the best dinner might be served in an unappe-
tizing manner, and even a plain meal be made appetizing
by the way it is served. It is a mistake to use nice table
linen and dishes only for very special occasions, or when
entertaining company. Such a system makes everyone, and
especially the children, rather awkward when the special
occasions with their special table display do come along.
It would help wonderfully to induce everyone to use his best
table manners always, if nice table equipment were an every-
day affair — the influence of environment is not a theory, but
a fact.
The table should be spread first with a "silence cloth," made
of two layers of white outing or Canton flannel, and then with
a white table cloth. Even if the latter is not fine linen, as
long as it is clean it will b^ all right, and careful table
manners will make too frequent changes unnecessary. A
little doily in the center, with a small fern or a vase of flow-
ers, adds a bright touch which costs nothing. The table should
be set with care, and no necessary article omitted, so as to
obviate unpleasant excursions to pantry and kitchen during
the progress of the meal. The little son or daughter can
be trained to save the mother considerable work, in setting
and clearing the table, and in serving the meal. Put a
plate at each place, the forks at the left side, and the knives
and spoons (including tea spoons) at the right side. The
napkins may be placed either on the plate or on the left
side, and the water glass should be placed a little to
the right of the plate, at the head of the knives, while the
little bread plates or butter patties are placed in a correspond-
ing position at the left side.
Ihe soup plates should be placed near at hand to the one
who is to serve from the tureen, and each person be served
by a certain member of the family whose duty or turn it is
to play waiter or waitress for that week, the same one also
NO. Ill— WITH BLOSSOMS AND BUTTERFLIES.
NO. IV— CHRYSANTHEMUMS AND "JAP" LANTERNS
TABLE EQUIPMENT AND ETIQUETTE 213
Page 142
Presented as published in 1907. 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
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fresh air can be warmed more easily than stale air, and that
fresh air costs nothing. A few growing plants add to the
attractiveness of a dining room, as do clean window panes
and plain white curtains. Let the room in which the whole
family assembles three times a day be as nice as you can
plan and make and keep it.
The Dining Room Table
Some one once remarked facetiously that the best decoration
for a dining room table is a well-cooked dinner, and in this
he was not so far wrong, though he might have gone further
and said that the best dinner might be served in an unappe-
tizing manner, and even a plain meal be made appetizing
by the way it is served. It is a mistake to use nice table
linen and dishes only for very special occasions, or when
entertaining company. Such a system makes everyone, and
especially the children, rather awkward when the special
occasions with their special table display do come along.
It would help wonderfully to induce everyone to use his best
table manners always, if nice table equipment were an every-
day affair — the influence of environment is not a theory, but
a fact.
The table should be spread first with a "silence cloth," made
of two layers of white outing or Canton flannel, and then with
a white table cloth. Even if the latter is not fine linen, as
long as it is clean it will b^ all right, and careful table
manners will make too frequent changes unnecessary. A
little doily in the center, with a small fern or a vase of flow-
ers, adds a bright touch which costs nothing. The table should
be set with care, and no necessary article omitted, so as to
obviate unpleasant excursions to pantry and kitchen during
the progress of the meal. The little son or daughter can
be trained to save the mother considerable work, in setting
and clearing the table, and in serving the meal. Put a
plate at each place, the forks at the left side, and the knives
and spoons (including tea spoons) at the right side. The
napkins may be placed either on the plate or on the left
side, and the water glass should be placed a little to
the right of the plate, at the head of the knives, while the
little bread plates or butter patties are placed in a correspond-
ing position at the left side.
Ihe soup plates should be placed near at hand to the one
who is to serve from the tureen, and each person be served
by a certain member of the family whose duty or turn it is
to play waiter or waitress for that week, the same one also
NO. Ill— WITH BLOSSOMS AND BUTTERFLIES.
NO. IV— CHRYSANTHEMUMS AND "JAP" LANTERNS
TABLE EQUIPMENT AND ETIQUETTE 213