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diff --git a/41632-0.txt b/41632-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f4cac99 --- /dev/null +++ b/41632-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,12356 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 41632 *** + +Note: Images of the original pages are available through + Internet Archive. See + http://archive.org/details/artofentertainin00sher + + +Transcriber's note: + + Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_). + + + + + +THE ART OF ENTERTAINING + +by + +M. E. W. SHERWOOD + + This night + Beneath my roof my dearest friends I entertain + HOMER + + + + + + + +New York +Dodd, Mead and Company +1893 + +Copyright, 1892, +by Dodd, Mead and Company. + +All rights reserved. + +University Press: +John Wilson and Son, Cambridge. + + + + + _With a grateful recognition of his services to_ + "The Art of Entertaining," + + _Both at home and abroad, and with a profound respect for his wit, + eloquence, and learning, this book is dedicated_ + + TO + THE HON. CHAUNCEY M. DEPEW, + + BY HIS FRIEND, THE AUTHOR. + + + + +PREFACE. + + +In America the art of entertaining as compared with the same art in +England, in France, in Italy and in Germany may be said to be in its +infancy. But if it is, it is a very vigorous infant, perhaps a little +overfed. There is no such prodigality of food anywhere nor a more +genuinely hospitable people in the world than those descendants of the +Pilgrims and the Cavaliers who peopled the North and South of what we +are privileged to call the United States. Exiles from Fatherland +taught the Indians the words "Welcome!" and "What Cheer?"--a beautiful +and a noble prophecy. Well might it be the motto for our national +shield. We, who welcome to our broad garden-lands the hungry and the +needy of an overcrowded old world, can well appropriate the legend. + +No stories of that old Biblical world of the patriarchs who lived in +tents have been forgotten in the New World. The Western settler who +placed before his hungry guest the last morsel of jerked meat, or +whose pale, overworked wife broiled the fish or the bird which had +just fallen before his unerring gun,--these people had mastered in +their way the first principle in the art of entertaining. They have +the hospitality of the heart. From that meal to a Newport dinner what +an infinite series of gradations! + +Perhaps we may help those on the lower rungs of the ladder to mount +from one to the other. Perhaps we may hint at the poetry, the romance, +the history, the literature of entertaining; perhaps with practical +hints of how to feed our guests we may suggest where meat faileth to +feed the soul, and where intellect, wit, and taste come in. + +American dinners are pronounced by foreign critics as overdone. The +great _too much_ is urged against us. We are a wasteful people as to +food; we should learn an elegant and a wise economy. In a French +family, eggs and lumps of sugar are counted. Economy is a part of the +art of entertaining; if judiciously studied it is far from +niggardliness. Such economy leads to judicious selection. + +One has but to read the Odes of Horace to learn how much of the mind +can be appropriately devoted to the art of entertaining. Milton does +not disdain, in Paradise Lost, to give us the _menu_ of Eve's dinner +to the Angel. We find in all great poets and historians stories of +great feasts. And with us in the nineteenth century, dinner is not +alone a thing of twelve courses, it is the bright consummate flower of +the day, which brings us all together from our various fields of work. +It is the open sesame of the soul, the hour of repose, of amusement, +of innocent hilarity,--the hour which knits up the ravelled sleeve of +care. The body is carefully apparelled, the mind swept and garnished, +the brain prepared for fresh impress. It is said that no important +political movement was ever inaugurated without a dinner, and we may +fancifully state that no great poem, no novel, no philosophical +treatise, but has been made or marred by a dinner. + +There is much entertaining, however, which is not eating. We do not +gorge ourselves, as in the days of Dr. Johnson, until the veins in the +forehead swell to bursting, but perhaps we are just as far from those +banquets which Horace describes,--a glass of Falernian, a kid roasted, +a bunch of grapes, and a rose, with good talk afterward. We have not +mingled enough of the honey of Hymettus with our cookery. + +Lady Morgan described years ago a dinner at Baron Rothschild's in +Paris where the fineness of the napery, the beauty of the porcelain +and china, the light, digestible French dishes, seemed to her a great +improvement on the heaviness of an English dinner. That one paper is +said to have altered the whole fabric of English dinner-giving. +English dinners of to-day are superlatively good and agreeable in the +best houses, and although national English cookery is not equal to +that on the other side of the Channel, perhaps we could not have a +better model to follow. We can compass an "all round" mastery of the +art of entertaining if we choose. + +It is not alone the wealth of America which can assist us, although +wealth is a good thing. It is our boundless resource, and the +capability, spirit, and generosity of our people. Venice alone at one +imperial moment of her success had such a chance as we have; she was +free, she was industrious, she was commercial, she was rich, she was +artistic. All the world paid her tribute. And we see on her walls +to-day, fixed there by the pencils of Tintoretto and Titian, what was +her idea of the art of entertaining. Poetry, painting, and music were +the hand-maidens of plenty; they wait upon those Godlike men and those +beautiful women. It is a saturnalia of colour, an apotheosis of plenty +with no vulgar excess, with no slumberous repletion. "'Tis but the +fool who loves excess," says our American Horace in his "Ode to an Old +Punch Bowl." + +When we read Charles Lamb's "Essay on Roast Pig," Brillat Savarin's +grave and witty "Physiologie du Gout," Thackeray's "Fitz Boodle's +Professions," Sydney Smith's poetical recipe for a salad; when we read +Disraeli's description of dinners, or the immortal recipes for good +cheer which Dickens has scattered through his books, we learn how much +the better part of dinner is that which we do not eat, but only think +about. What a liberal education to hear the late Samuel Ward talk +about good dinners! Variety not vegetables, manners not meat, was his +motto. He invested the whole subject with a sort of classic elegance +and a humorous sense of responsibility. Anacreon and Charles Delmonico +seemed to mingle in his brain, and one would gladly now be able to +dine with him and Longfellow at their yearly Christmas dinner. + +Cookery books, receipts, and _menus_ are apt to be of little use to +young housekeepers before they have mastered the great art of +entertaining. Then they are like the system of logarithms to the +mariner. Almost all young housekeepers are at sea without a chart. A +great, turbulent ocean of butchers, bakers and Irish servants swim +before their eyes. How grapple with that important question, "How +shall I give a dinner?" Who can help them? Shall we try? + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + PAGE + + OUR AMERICAN RESOURCES AND FOREIGN ALLIES 13 + + THE HOSTESS 22 + + BREAKFAST 35 + + THE LUNCH 49 + + AFTERNOON TEA 59 + + THE INTELLECTUAL COMPONENTS OF A DINNER 68 + + CONSCIENTIOUS DINERS 79 + + VARIOUS MODES OF GASTRONOMICAL GRATIFICATION 94 + + SOUPS 105 + + FISH 113 + + SALAD 124 + + DESSERTS 134 + + GERMAN EATING AND DRINKING 143 + + THE INFLUENCE OF GOOD CHEER ON AUTHORS + AND GENIUSES 152 + + BONBONS 162 + + FAMOUS MENUS AND RECEIPTS 176 + + COOKERIES AND WINES OF SOUTHERN EUROPE 185 + + SOME ODDITIES IN THE ART OF ENTERTAINING 197 + + THE SERVANT QUESTION 206 + + SOMETHING ABOUT COOKS 221 + + FURNISHING A COUNTRY HOUSE 233 + + ENTERTAINING IN A COUNTRY HOUSE 241 + + A PICNIC 253 + + PASTIMES OF LADIES 260 + + PRIVATE THEATRICALS 271 + + HUNTING AND SHOOTING 280 + + GOLF 288 + + GAMES 299 + + ARCHERY 313 + + THE SEASON--BALLS AND RECEPTIONS 321 + + WEDDINGS 331 + + HOW ROYALTY ENTERTAINS 340 + + ENTERTAINING AT EASTER 353 + + HOW TO ENTERTAIN CHILDREN 361 + + CHRISTMAS AND CHILDREN 371 + + CERTAIN PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS 381 + + THE COMPARATIVE MERITS OF AMERICAN AND + FOREIGN MODES OF ENTERTAINING 389 + + + + +THE ART OF ENTERTAINING. + + + + +OUR AMERICAN RESOURCES, AND FOREIGN ALLIES. + + "Let observation, with extensive view, + Survey mankind from China to Peru." + + +The amount of game and fish which our great country and extent of +sea-coast give us, the variety of climate from Florida to Maine, from +San Francisco to Boston, which the remarkable net-work of our railway +communication allows us to enjoy,--all this makes the American market +in any great city almost fabulously profuse. Then our steamships bring +us fresh artichokes from Algiers in mid-winter, and figs from the +Mediterranean, while the remarkable climate of California gives us +four crops of delicate fruits a year. + +There are those, however, who find the fruits of California less +finely flavoured than those of the Eastern States. The peaches of the +past are almost a lost flavour, even at the North. The peach of Europe +is a different and far inferior fruit. It lacks that essential flavour +which to the American palate tells of the best of fruits. + +It may be well, for the purposes of gastronomical history, to narrate +the variety of the larder in the height of the season, of a certain +sea-side club-house, a few years ago: + +"The season lasted one hundred and eighty days, during which time from +eighty thousand to ninety thousand game-birds, and eighteen thousand +pounds of fish were consumed, exclusive of domestic poultry, steaks +and chops. On busy days twenty-four kinds of fish, all fit for +epicures, embracing turbot, Spanish mackerel, sea trout; the various +kinds of bass, including that gamest of fish the black bass, bonito +from the Gulf of Mexico, the purple mullet, the weakfish, chicken +halibut, sole, plaice, the frog, the soft crab from the Chesapeake, +were served. Here, packed tier upon tier in glistening ice, were some +thirty kinds of birds in the very ecstasy of prime condition, and all +ready prepared for the cook. Let us enumerate 'this royal fellowship +of game.' There were owls from the North (we might call them by some +more enticing name), chicken grouse from Illinois, chicken partridge, +Lake Erie black and summer ducks and teal, woodcock, upland plover (by +many esteemed as the choicest of morsels), dough-birds, brant, New +Jersey millet, godwit, jack curlew, jacksnipe, sandsnipe, rocksnipe, +humming-birds daintily served in nut-shells, golden plover, +beetle-headed plover, redbreast plover, chicken plover, seckle-bill +curlew, summer and winter yellow-legs, reed-birds and rail from +Delaware (the latter most highly esteemed in Europe, where it is known +as the ortolan), ring-neck snipe, brown backs, grass-bird, and peeps." + +Is not this a list to make "the rash gazer wipe his eye"? + +And to show our riches and their poverty in the matter of game, let us +give the game statistics of France for one September. There are thirty +thousand communes in France, and in each commune there were killed on +the average on September 1, ten hares,--total, three hundred thousand; +seventeen partridges,--total, five hundred and ten thousand; fourteen +quail,--total, four hundred and twenty thousand; one rail in each +commune,--thirty thousand total as to rails. That was all France could +do for the furnishing of the larder; of course she imports game from +Savoy, Germany, Norway, and England. And oh, how she can cook them! + +Woodcock, it is said, should be cooked the day it is shot, or +certainly when fresh. Birds that feed on or near the water should be +eaten fresh; so should snipe and some kinds of duck. The canvasback +alone bears keeping, the others get fishy. + +Snipe should be picked by hand, on no account drawn; that is a +practice worthy of an Esquimaux. Nor should any condiment be cooked +with woodcock, save butter or pork. A piece of toast under him, to +catch his fragrant gravy, and the delicious trail should alone be +eaten with the snipe; but a bottle of Chambertin may be drunk to wash +him down. + +The plover should be roasted quickly before a hot fire; nor should +even a pork jacket be applied if one wishes the delicious juices of +the bird alone. This bird should be served with water-cresses. + +Red wine should be drunk with game,--Chambertin, Clos de Vougeot, or a +sound Lafitte or La Tour claret. Champagne is not the wine to serve +with game; that belongs to the filet. With beef _braisé_ a glass of +good golden sherry is allowable, but not champagne. The deep purple, +full-bodied, velvety wines of the Côte d'Or,--the generous vintages of +Burgundy,--are in order. Indeed these wines always have been in high +renown. They are passed as presents from one royal personage to +another, like a _cordon d'honneur_. Burgundy was the wine of nobles +and churchmen, who always have had enviable palates. + +Chambertin is a lighter kind of Volnay and the _vin velouté par +excellence_ of the Côte d'Or. It was a great favourite with Napoleon +I. To considerable body it unites a fine flavour and a _suave bouquet_ +of great _finesse_, and does not become thin with age like other +Burgundies. As for the Clos de Vougeot, its characteristics are a rich +ruby colour, velvety softness, a delicate bouquet, which has a slight +suggestion of the raspberry. It is a strong wine, less refined in +flavour than the Chambertin, and with a suggestion of bitterness. It +was so much admired by a certain military commander that while +marching his regiment to the Rhine he commanded his men to halt before +the vineyard and salute it. They presented arms in its honour. + +Château Lafitte, renowned for its magnificent colour, exquisite +softness, delicate flavour, and fragrant bouquet, recalling almonds +and violets, is one of the wines of the Gironde, and is supposed of +late to have deteriorated in quality; but it is quite good enough to +command a high price and the attention of _connoisseurs_. + +Château La Tour, a grand Médoc claret, derives its name from an +existing ancient, massive, round tower, which the English assailed and +defended by turns during the wars in Guienne. It has a pronounced +flavour, and a powerful bouquet, common to all wines of the Gironde. +It reminds one of the odour of almonds, and of Noyau cordials. + +These vineyards were in great repute five centuries ago; and it would +be delightful to pursue the history of the various _crûs_, did time +permit. The Cos d'Estoumet of the famous St. Estephe _crûs_ is still +made by the peasants treading out the grapes, _foule à pied_, to the +accompaniment of pipes and fiddles as in the days of Louis XIV. + +We will mention the two _premiers grands crûs_ of the Gironde, the +growth of the ancient vineyards of Leoville and the St. Julian wines, +distinguished by their odour of violets. + +Thackeray praises Chambertin in verse more than once:-- + + "'Oui, oui, Monsieur,' 's the waiter's answer; + 'Quel vin Monsieur desire-t-il?' + 'Tell me a good one.'--'That I can, sir: + The Chambertin, with yellow seal.'" + +Then again he speaks of dipping his gray beard in the Gascon wine 'ere +Time catches him at it and Death knocks the crimson goblet from his +lips. + +In countries where wine is grown there is little or no drunkenness. It +is to be feared that drunkenness is increased by impure wines. It is +shocking to read of the adulterations which first-class wines are +subjected to, or rather the adulterations which are called first-class +wines. + +Wilkie Collins has a hit at this in his "No Name," where he makes the +famous Captain Wragge say, "We were engaged at the time in making, in +a small back parlour in Brompton, a fine first-class sherry, sound in +the mouth, tonic in character, and a great favourite with the Court of +Spain." + +Our golden sherry, our Chambertin, our Château Lafitte is said often +to come from the vineyards of Jersey City and the generous hillsides +of Brooklyn; and we might perhaps quote from the famous song of "The +Canal":-- + + "The tradesmen who in liquor deal, + Of our Canal good use can make; + And when they mean their casks to fill, + They oft its water freely take. + + By this device they render less + The ills that spring from drunkenness; + For harmless is the wine, you'll own, + From vines that in canals is grown." + +A large proportion of the so-called foreign wines sold in America are +of American manufacture. The medium grade clarets and so-called +Sauternes are made in California, in great quantities. Our Senator, +Leland Stanford, makes excellent wines. On the islands of Lake Erie, +the lake region of Central New York, and along the banks of the Ohio +and Missouri Rivers, are vineyards producing excellent wines. An +honest American wine is an excellent thing to drink; and yet it +disgusted Commodore McVicker, who was entertained in London as +President of our Yacht Club, to be asked to drink American wines. Yet +the Catawbas, "dulcet, delicious and creamy," are not to be despised; +neither are the sweet and dry California growths. + +The indigenous wines which come from Ohio, Iowa, Missouri and +Mississippi are likely to be musty and foxy, and are not pleasant to +an American taste. The Catawbas are pleasant, and are of three +colours,--rose colour, straw colour, and colourless, if that be a +colour. In taste they are like sparkling Moselle, but fuller to the +palate. + +The wine produced from the Isabella grape is of a decided raspberry +flavour. The finest American wines are those produced from the vines +known as Norton's Virginia and the Cynthiana. The former produces a +well-blended, full-bodied, deep-coloured, aromatic, and almost +astringent wine; the second,--probably the finer of the two,--is a +darker, less astringent, and more delicate product. + +Among the American red wines may be mentioned the product of the +Schuylkill Muscadel, which was the only esteemed growth in the country +previous to the cultivation of the Catawba grape, being in fact +ambitiously compared to the _crûs_ of the Gironde. It was a bitter, +acidulous wine, little suited to the American palate, and invariably +requiring an addition of either sugar or alcohol. + +Longfellow sings of the wine of the Mustang grape of Texas and New +Mexico:-- + + "The fiery flood + Of whose purple blood + Has a dash of Spanish bravado." + +The Carolina Scuppernong is detestable, reminding us of the sweet and +bitter medicines of childhood. The Herbemont, a rose-tinted wine is +very like Spanish Manganilla. + +Longfellow says of sparkling Catawba, that it "fills the room with a +benison on the giver." It has, indeed, a charming bouquet, as says the +poet. + +The name of Nicholas Longworth is intimately connected with the +subject of American wines. To him will ever be given all honour, as +being the father of this industry in the New World; but the superior +excellence of the California wines has driven the New York and Ohio +wines, it is said, to a second place in the market. + +In the expositions of 1889 at Paris, and in Melbourne, silver medals +were awarded to the Inglenook wines, which are of the red claret, +burgundy and Médoc type; also white wines,--Sauterne Chasselas, and +Hock, Chablis, Riesling, etc. + +The right soil for the cultivation of the grape is a hard thing to +find; but Captain Niebaum, a rich California grower, has hit the +key-note, when he says, "I have no wish to make any money out of my +vineyard by producing a large quantity of wine at a cheap or moderate +price. I am going to make a California wine which, if it can be made, +will be worthily sought for by _connoisseurs_; and I am prepared to +spend all the money needed to accomplish that result." He says frankly +that he has not yet produced the best wine of which California is +capable, but that he has succeeded in producing a better wine than +many of the foreign wines sold in America. He might have added that +hogsheads of California grape-juice are sent annually to Bordeaux to +be doctored, and returned to America as French claret. + +The misfortunes of the vine-grower in Europe, the ruin of acres of +grape-producing country by the phyloxera, should be the opportunity +for these new vine-growers in the United States. It is only by travel, +experiment, and by a close study of the methods of the foreign +wine-growers that a Californian can possibly make himself a vineyard +which shall be successful. He must induce Nature to sweeten his wines, +and he can then laugh at the chemist. + +Of vegetables we have not only all that Europe can boast, excepting +perhaps the artichoke, but we have some in constant use and of great +excellence which they have not. For instance, sweet corn boiled or +roasted and eaten from the cob with butter and salt is unknown in +Europe. They have not the sweet potato, so delicious when baked. They +have not the pumpkin-pie although they have the pumpkin. They have +egg-plant and cauliflower and beans and peas, but so have we. They +have bananas, but never fried, which is a negro dish, and excellent. +They have not the plantain, good baked, nor the avocado or alligator +pear, which fried in butter or oil is so admirable. They have not the +ochra, of which the negro cooks make such excellent gumbo soup. They +have all the salads, and use sorrel much more than we do. They do not +cook summer squash as we do, nor have they anything to equal it. They +use vegetables always as an _entrée_, not served with the meat, unless +the vegetable is cooked with the meat, like beef stewed in carrots, +turnips, and onions, veal and green peas, veal with spinach, and so +on. The peas are passed as an _entrée_, so is the cauliflower, the +beet-root, and the turnips. They treat all vegetables as we do corn +and asparagus, as a separate course. For asparagus we must give the +French the palm, particularly when they serve it with Hollandaise +sauce; and the Italians cook cauliflower with cheese, _à ravir_. + + + + +THE HOSTESS. + + "A creature not too bright or good + For human nature's daily food; + For transient sorrow, simple wiles, + Praise, blame, love, kisses, tears, and smiles." + + +The "house-mother,"--the mistress of servants, the wife, the mother, +the hostess,--is the first person in the art of entertaining; and +considering how busy, how hard worked, how occupied, are American men, +she is generally the first person singular. In nine cases out of ten, +American men neither know nor care much about the conduct of the house +if the wife will assume it; they only like to be made comfortable, and +to find a warm, clean home, with a good dinner awaiting them. It is +the wife who must struggle with the problems of domestic defeat or +victory. + +When Washington Irving was presented at the Court of Dresden his Saxon +Majesty remarked, "Mr. Irving, with a republic so liberal, you can +have no servants in America." + +"Yes, Sire, we have servants, such as they are," said the amiable +author of the "Sketchbook;" "but we do not call them servants, we call +them help." + +"I cannot understand that," said the king. + +The king's mental position was not illogical; for, with his experience +of the servile position of the domestic in Europe, he could not +reconcile to his mind the declaration of social equality in America. + +The American hostess must, it would seem, for many centuries if not +forever, have to struggle against this difficulty. As some writer said +twenty years ago, of this question: "Rich as we are in money, profuse +in spending it to heighten the enjoyment of life, the good servant, +that essential of comfort and luxury, seems beyond our reach. +Superfine houses we have, and superfine furniture, and superfine +ladies, and all the other superfineties to excess, but the skilful +cook, the handy maid, and the trusty nurse we rarely possess." + +Thus, afar from the great cities and even in them, we must forge the +instruments with which we work, instead of finding them ready to hand, +as in other countries. That is to say, the mistress of a household +must teach her cook to cook, her waiter to wait, her laundress to get +up fine linen. She is happy if she can get honest people and willing +hands, but trained servants she durst not expect away from the great +centres of life. + +Considering what has been expected of the American woman, has she not +done rather well? That she must be first servant-trainer, then +housekeeper, wife, mother, and conversationist, that she must keep up +with the always advancing spirit of the times, read, write, and +cipher, be beautifully dressed, play the piano, make the wilderness to +blossom as the rose, be charitable, thoughtful, and good, put the mind +at its ease, strive to learn how to do all things in the best way, be +a student of good taste and good manners, make a house luxurious, +ornamental, cheerful, and restful, have an inspired sense of the +fitness of things, dress and entertain in perfect accord with her +station, her means, and her husband's ambition, master, unassisted, +all the ins and outs of the noble art of entertaining,--has not this +been something of the nature of a large contract? + +She must go to the cooking-lecture, come home and visit the kitchen, +go to the intelligence office, keeping her hand on all three. She must +be the mind, while the Maggies and Bridgets furnish the hands. She +must never be fussy, never grotesque; she must steer her ship through +stormy seas, and she must also learn to enjoy Wagner's music. There is +proverbially no sea so dangerous to swim in as that tumultuous one of +a new and illy regulated prosperity; and in the changeful, uncertain +nature of American fortunes an American woman must be ready to meet +any fate. + +Judging from many specimens which we have seen, may we not claim that +the American woman must be stamped with an especial distinction? Has +she not conquered her fate? + +Curiously enough, fashion and good taste seem to lackey to the +American woman, no matter where she was born or where educated. In +spite of all drawbacks, and the counter-currents of destiny, she is a +well bred and tasteful woman. No matter what the American woman has to +fight against, poverty or lack of opportunities, she is likely, if she +is called upon to do so, to administer gracefully the hospitalities of +the White House or to fill the difficult _rôle_ of an ambassadress. + +Some of them have bad taste perhaps. "What is good taste but an +instantaneous, ready appreciation of the fitness of things?" To most +of us who observe it in others, it seems to be an instinct. We envy +those few who are always well dressed, who never buy unbecoming +stuffs, who have the gift to make their clothes look as if they had +simply blossomed out of their inner consciousness, as a rose blossoms +out of its calyx. Some women always dress their hair becomingly; +others, even if handsome, look like beautiful frights. Some wear their +clothes as if they had been hurled at them by a tornado, and remind +one of the poor husband's remark, "I feel as if I had married a +hurricane." The same exceptions, which only prove the rule, because +you notice them, may extend to the housewives who aim at more than +they can accomplish, who make their house an anguish to look at, +pretentious without beauty, overloaded or incorrect, who have not +tact, who say the awkward thing. Such people exist sometimes, sinning +from ignorance, but they are decidedly in the minority. The American +woman is generally a success. She has fought a hard battle, but she +has won. She has had her defeats, however. + +Who does not remember the failure of that first dinner-party?--when +the baby began to cry so loud; when the hostess was not dressed when +the bell rang; when the cook spilled the soup all over the range and +filled the house with a bad odour; when the waitress, usually so cool, +lost all her presence of mind and fell on the basement stairs, +breaking all the plates; when one failure succeeded another until the +husband looked reproachfully at his wife, who, poor creature, had been +working day and night to get up this dinner, who was responsible for +none of the failures, and who had an attack of neuralgia afterward +which lasted all winter. + +Who has not read Thackeray's witty descriptions of the dinners, poor +and pretentious, ordered in from the green-grocer's, and +uneatable,--in London? "If they would have a leg of mutton and an +apple pudding and a glass of sherry, they could do well; but they must +shine, they must outdo their neighbours." And that is the first +mistake. People with three thousand a year should not try to emulate +those who have fifty thousand a year. + +And Thackeray says again: "But there is no harm done, not as regards +the dinner-givers, though the dinner-eaters may have to suffer. It +only shows that the former are hospitably inclined, and wish to do the +very best in their power. If they do badly, how can they help it? They +know no better." + +The first thing at which a young housekeeper must aim is to live well +every day. Her tablecloth must be fresh, her glass and silver clean; a +few flowers must be on her table to make it dainty, a few dishes well +cooked,--such a table as will be well for her children and acceptable +to her husband; and then she has but to add a little more and it is +fit for any guest, and any guest will be glad to join such a +dinner-party. + +But here I am met by the almost unanswerable argument that the +simplest dinner is the most difficult to find. Who knows how to cook a +beefsteak, to roast a piece of mutton so that its natural juices are +retained,--to roast it so that the blood shall follow the knife; to +mash potatoes and brown them; to make a perfect rice-pudding that is +said to "deserve that _cordon bleu_ which Vatel, Ude, and Bechamel +craved"? + +The young housekeeper of to-day with very modest means has, however, +now to meet a condition of prosperity which even twenty-five years ago +was unknown. All extremes of luxury and every element of profusion is +now fashionable,--one may say expected. + +But agreeable young people will be entertained by the man who is worth +fifty thousand dollars a day, and they will wish to return the +civility. Herein lie the difficulties in the art of entertaining; but +let them remember that there is one simple dinner which covers the +whole ground, which the poor gentleman may aspire to give, and to +which he might invite a prince. The essentials of a comfortable dinner +are but few. The beauty of a Grecian vase without ornament is perfect. +You may add cameo and intaglio, vine, acanthus leaf, satyrs, and +fauns, handles of ram's horns and circlet of gems to your vase if you +wish, and are rich enough, but unless the outline is perfect the +splendour and the arabesque but render the vase vulgar. So with the +simple dinner; it is the Grecian vase unadorned. + +Remember that rich people, stifled with luxury at home, like to be +asked to these dinners. A lady in England, very much admired for her +witty conversation, said she intended to devote herself to the +amelioration of the condition of the upper classes, as she thought +them the most bored and altogether the least attended to of any +people; and we have heard of the rich man in New York who complained +that he was no longer asked to the little dinners. There is too much +worship and fear of money in our country. In England and on the +Continent there is no shame in acknowledging, "I cannot afford it." I +have been asked to a luncheon in England where a cold joint of mutton, +a few potatoes, and a plate of peaches constituted the whole repast; +and I have heard more delightful conversation and have met more +agreeable people than at more expensive feasts. Who in America would +dare to give such a lunch? + +The simple dinner might be characterized, giving the essentials, as a +soup, a fish, a roast, one _entrée_, and a salad, an ice and fruit +(simply the fruit in season), a cup of coffee afterward, with a glass +of sherry, claret, or champagne. Such a dinner is good enough for +anybody, and is possible to the person of moderate means. + +From this up to the splendid dinners of millionnaires, served on gold +and silver and priceless Sèvres, Dresden, Japanese, and Chinese +porcelain, with flagons of ruby glass bound in gold, with Benvenuto +Cellini vases, and silver candelabra, the ascent may be gradual. In +the one the tablecloth is of spotless damask; in the other it may be +of duchesse lace over red. The very mats are mirrors, the crystal +drops of the epergne flash like diamonds. It may be served in a +picture-gallery. Each lady has a bouquet, a fan, a ribbon painted with +her name, a basket or _bonbonnière_ to take home with her. The courses +are often sixteen in number, the wines are of fabulous value, +antiquity, and age. Each drop is like the River Pactolus, whose sands +were of gold. The viands may come from Algiers or St. Petersburg; +strawberries and peaches in January, the roses of June in February, +fruit from the Pacific, from the Gulf, artichokes from Marseilles, +oranges and strawberries from Florida, game from Arizona and +Chesapeake Bay, mutton and pheasants from Scotland, luxury from +everywhere. The primal condition of this banquet is, that everything +should be unusual. + +But remember that, after all, it is only the Grecian vase heavily +ornamented. No one person can taste half the dishes; it takes a long +time, and the room may be too hot. The limitations of a dinner should +be considered. It is a splendid picture, no doubt, but it need not +appall the young hostess who desires to return the civility. + +A vase of flowers or a basket of growing plants can replace the +epergne. Some pretty dinner-cards may be etched by herself, with a +Shakspearean quotation showing a personal thought of each guest. Her +spotless glass and silver, her good soup, her fresh fish, the haunch +of venison roasted before a wood fire, the salad mixed by her own fair +hands, perhaps a dessert over which she has lingered, a bit of cheese, +a cup of coffee, a smiling host, a composed hostess, a congenial +company, and wit withal,--who shall say that the little dinner is not +as amusing as the big dinner? To be composed: yes, that is the first +thing to be remembered on the part of a young hostess. She may be +essentially nervous and anxious, particularly if she is just beginning +to entertain, but here she must resolutely put on a mask of composure, +and assume a virtue if she have it not. Nothing is of much importance, +excepting her own demeanor. A fussy hostess who scolds the servants, +wrinkles her brow, or even forgets to listen to the man who is talking +to her is the ruin of a dinner. The author of "Cecil" tells his niece +that if stewed puppy-dog is brought to the table she must not notice +it. Few hostesses are subjected to so severe an ordeal as this, but +the remark contains a goodly hint. + +As, however, it is a great intellectual feat to achieve a perfect +little dinner with a small household and small means, perhaps that +form of entertaining may be postponed a few years. Never attempt +anything which cannot be well done. There is the afternoon tea, the +musical evening, the reception, the luncheon; they are all easier to +give than the dinner. The young hostess ambitious to excel in the art +of entertaining can choose a thousand ways. Let her alone avoid +attempting the impossible; and let her remember that no success which +is not honestly gained is worth a pin. If it is money, it stings; if +it is place and position, it becomes the shirt of Nessus. + +But for the well mannered and well behaved American woman what a noble +success, what a perfect present, what a delightful future there is! +She is the founder of the American nobility. All men bow down to her. +She is the queen of the man who loves her; he treats her with every +respect. She is to teach the future citizen honour, loyalty, duty, +respect, politeness, kindness, the law of love. Such a man could read +his Philip Sidney and yet not blush to find himself a follower. An +American woman wields the only rod of empire to which American men +will bow. She should try to be an empress in the best sense of the +word; and to a young woman entering society we should recommend a +certain exclusiveness. Not snobbish exclusiveness; but it is always +well to choose one's friends slowly and with due consideration. We are +not the most perfect beings in all the world; we do not wish to be +intimate with too much imperfection. A broken friendship is a very +painful thing. We should think twice before we give an intimate +friendship to any one. No woman who essays to entertain should ask +everybody to her house. The respect she owes to herself should prevent +this; her house becomes a camp unless she has herself the power of +putting a coarse sieve outside the door. + +We have no such inviolable virtue that we can as yet rate Dives and +Lazarus before they are dead. Very rich people are apt to be very good +people; and in the realms of the highest fashion we find the simplest, +best, and purest of characters. It is therefore of no consequence as +to the shade of fashion and the amount of the rent-roll. It must not +be supposed because some leaders of fashion are insolent that all are. +A young hostess must try to find the good, true, honourable, generous, +well bred, well educated member of society, no matter in what +conditions of life. Read character first, and hesitate before drawing +general deductions. + +A hostess is the slave of her guests after she has invited them; she +must be all attention, and all suavity. If she has nothing to offer +them but a small house, a cup of tea, and a smile, she is just as much +a hostess as if she were a queen. If she offers them every luxury and +is not polite, she is a snob and a vulgarian. There is no such +detestable use of one's privileges as to be rude on one's ground. "The +man who eats your salt is sacred." To patronize is a great necessity +to some natures. There is little opportunity for it in free, brave +America, but some mistaken hostesses have gone that way. Every one +feels pleasantly toward the woman who invites one to her house; there +is something gracious in the act. But if, after opening her doors, the +hostess refuses the welcome, or treats her guests with various degrees +of cordiality, why did she ask at all? Every young American can become +a model hostess; she can master etiquette, and create for herself a +polite and cordial manner. She should be as serene as a summer's day; +she should keep all her domestic troubles out of sight. If she +entertains, let her do it in her own individual way,--a small way if +necessary. There was much in Touchstone's philosophy,--"a poor thing, +but mine own." She must have the instinct of hospitality, which is to +give pleasure to all one's guests; and it seems unnecessary to say to +any young American hostess, _Noblesse oblige_. She should be more +polite to the shy, ill-dressed visitor from the country--if indeed +there is such a thing left in America, where, as Bret Harte says, "The +fashions travel by telegraph"--than to the sweeping city dame, that +can take care of herself. A kindly greeting to a gawky youth will +never be forgotten; and it is to the humblest that a hostess should +address her kindest attentions. + +There are born hostesses, like poets, but a hostess can also be made, +in which she has the advantage of the poets; and to the very wealthy +hostess we should quote this inestimable advice:-- + + Si tibi deficiant medici, medici tibi fiant + Hæc tria: mens hilaris, requies, moderata diæta. + HORACE. + +Do not over-feed people. Who is it that says, "If simplicity is +admirable in manners and in literary style, in the matter of dinners +it becomes exalted into one of the cardinal virtues"? + +The ambitious housewife would do well to remember this when she +cumbers herself, and thinks too much about her forthcoming banquet. If +she ignores this principle of simplicity and falls into the opposite +extreme of ostentation and pretentiousness, she may bore her guests +rather than entertain them. + +It is an incontestable fact that dinners are made elaborate only at a +considerable risk; as they increase in size and importance, their +character is likely to deteriorate. This is true not only with regard +to the number of guests, but with reference to the number of dishes +that go to make up a bill-of-fare. + +In fact we, as Americans, generally err on the side of having too much +rather than too little. The terror of running short is agony to the +mind of the conscientious housewife. How much will be enough and no +more? It stands to reason that the fewer the dishes, the more the cook +can concentrate her attention upon them; and here is reason for +reducing the _menu_ to its lowest terms. Then to consult the proper +gradation. + +Brillat Savarin recounts a rather cruel joke perpetrated on a man who +was a well-known gourmand. The idea was that he should be induced to +satisfy himself with the more ordinary viands, and that then the +choicest dishes should be presented in vain before his jaded appetite. +This treacherous feast began with a sirloin of beef, a fricandeau of +veal, and a stewed carp with stuffing. Then came a magnificent turkey, +a pike, six _entremets_, and an ample dish of macaroni and Parmesan +cheese. Nor was this all. Another course appeared, composed of +sweetbread, surrounded with shrimps in jelly, soft roes, and partridge +wings, with a thick sauce or _purée_ of mushrooms. Last of all came +the delicacies,--snipes by the dozen, a pheasant in perfect order, and +with them a slice of tunny fish, quite fresh. Naturally, the gourmand +was _hors du combat_. As a joke, it was successful; as an act of +hospitality, it was a cruelty; as pointing a moral and adorning a +tale, it may be useful. + +This anecdote has its historical value as showing us that the present +procession of soup, fish, roast, _entrée_, game, and dessert was not +observed one hundred years ago, as a fish was served after beef and +after turkey. + +Dr. Johnson describes a dinner at Mrs. Thrales which shows us what was +considered luxurious a hundred years ago. "The dinner was excellent. +First course: soups at head and foot, removed by fish and a saddle of +mutton. Second course: a fowl they call galenan at head, a capon +larger than our Irish turkeys at foot. Third course: four different +ices,--pineapple, grape, raspberry, and a fourth. In each remove four +dishes; the first two courses served on massive plate." + +These "gentlemen of England who live at home at ease," these earls by +the king's grace, viceroys of India, clerks and rich commoners, would +laugh at this dinner to-day; so would our clubmen, our diners at +Delmonico's, our millionnaires. Imagine the feelings of that _chef_ +who received ten thousand a year, with absolute power of life or +death, with a wine-cellar which is a fortress of which he alone knows +the weakest spot,--what would he say to such a dinner? + +But there are dinners where the gradation is perfect, where luxury +stimulates the brain as Château Yquem bathes the throat. It would seem +as if the Golden Age, the age of Leo X. had come back; and our +nineteenth century shows all the virtues of the art of entertaining +since the days of Lucullus, purified of the enormities, including +dining at eleven in the morning, of the intermediate ages. + +It must not be forgotten that this simplicity which is so commended +can only be obtained by the most studied, artful care. As Gray's Elegy +reads as the most consummately easy and plain poetry in the world, so +that we feel that we have but to sit down at the writing-desk and +indite one exactly like it, we learn in giving a little, simple, +perfect dinner that its combinations must be faultless. Gray wrote +every verse of his immortal poem over many times. The hostess who +learns enough art to conceal art in her simple dinner has achieved +that perfection in her art which Gray reached. Perfect and simple +cookery are, like perfect beauty, very rare. + +However, if the art of entertaining makes hostesses, hostesses must +make the art of entertaining. It is for them to decide the _juste +milieu_ between the _not enough_ and the great _too much_. + + + + +BREAKFAST. + + Before breakfast a man feels but queasily, + And a sinking at the lower abdomen + Begins the day with indifferent omen. + BROWNING.--_The Flight of the Duchess._ + + And then to breakfast with what appetite you have. + SHAKSPEARE. + + +Breakfast is a hard thing to manage in America, particularly in a +country-house, as people have different ideas about eating a hearty +meal at nine o'clock or earlier. All who have lived much in Europe are +apt to prefer the Continental fashion of a cup of tea or coffee in +one's room, with perhaps an egg and a roll; then to do one's work or +pleasure, as the case may be, and to take the _déjeûner à la +fourchette_ at eleven or twelve. To most brain-workers this is a +blessed boon, for the heavy American breakfast of chops, steaks, eggs, +forcemeat balls, sausages, broiled chicken, stewed potatoes, baked +beans, and hot cakes, good as it is, is apt to render a person stupid. + +It would be better if this meal could be rendered less heavy, and that +a visitor should always be given the alternative of taking a cup of +tea in her room, and not appearing until luncheon. + +The breakfast dishes most to be commended may begin with the omelet. +This the French make to perfection. Indeed, Gustav Droz wrote a story +once for the purpose of giving its recipe. The story is of a young +couple lost in a forest, who take refuge in a wood-cutter's hut. They +ask for food, and are told that they can have an omelet: + +"The old woman had gone to fetch a frying-pan, and was then throwing a +handful of shavings on the fire. + +"In the midst of this strange and rude interior Louise seemed to me so +fine and delicate, so elegant, with her long _gants de Suède_, her +little boots, and her tucked-up skirts. With her two hands stretched +out she sheltered her face from the flames, and from the corner of her +eye, while I was talking with the splitters, she watched the butter +that began to sing in the frying-pan. + +"Suddenly she rose, and taking the handle of the frying-pan from the +old woman's hand, 'Let me help you make the omelet,' she said. The +good woman let go the pan with a smile, and Louise found herself alone +in the position of a fisherman at the moment when his float begins to +bob. The fire hardly threw any light; her eyes were fixed on the +liquid butter, her arms outstretched, and she was biting her lips a +little, doubtless to increase her strength. + +"'It is a bit heavy for Madame's little hands,' said the old man. 'I +bet that it is the first time you ever made an omelet in a +wood-cutter's hut, is it not, my little lady?' + +"Louise made a sign of assent without removing her eyes from the +frying-pan. + +"'The eggs! the eggs!' she cried all at once, with such an expression +of alarm that we all burst out laughing. 'The eggs! the butter is +bubbling! quick, quick!' + +"The old woman was beating the eggs with animation. 'And the herbs!' +cried the old man. 'And the bacon, and the salt,' said the young man. +Then we all set to work, chopping the herbs and cutting the bacon, +while Louise cried, 'Quick! quick!' + +"At last there was a big splash in the frying-pan, and the great act +began. We all stood around the fire watching anxiously, for each +having had a finger in the pie, the result interested us all. The good +old woman, kneeling down by the dish, lifted up with her knife the +corners of the omelet, which was beginning to brown. + +"'Now Madame has only to turn it,' said the old woman. + +"'A little sharp jerk,' said the old man. + +"'Not too strong,' said the young man. + +"'One jerk! houp! my dear,' said I. + +"'If you all speak at once I shall never dare; besides, it is very +heavy, you know--' + +"'One little sharp jerk--' + +"'But I cannot--it will all go into the fire--oh!' + +"In the heat of the action her hood had fallen; she was red as a +peach, her eyes glistened, and in spite of her anxiety, she burst out +laughing. At last, after a supreme effort, the frying-pan executed a +rapid movement and the omelette rolled, a little heavily I must +confess, on the large plate which the old woman held. + +"Never was there a finer-looking omelet." + +This is an excellent description of the dish which is made for you at +every little _cabaret_ in France, as well as at the best hotels. That +dexterous turn of the wrist by which the omelet is turned over is, +however, hard to reach. Let any lady try it. I have been taken into +the kitchen in a hotel in the Riviera to see a cook who was so +dexterous as to turn the frying-pan over entirely, without spilling +the omelet. + +However, they are innumerable, the omelet family, plain, and with +parsley, the fancy omelet, and the creamy omelet. Learn to make every +sort from any cooking-book, and your family will never starve. + +Conquer the art of toasting bacon with a fork; it is a fine relish for +your egg, no matter how cooked. To fry good English bacon in a pan +until it is hard, is to disfigure one of Fortune's best gifts. + +Study above all things to learn how to produce good toast; not all the +cooks in the great kingdom or empire or republic of France (whatever +it may be at this minute) can produce a good slice of toast. They call +it _pain rôti_, and well they may; for after the poor bread has been +burned they put it in the oven and roast it. No human being can eat +it. It is taken away and grated up for sawdust. + +They make delicious toast in England, and in a few houses in America. +The bread should be a little stale, the slice cut thin, the fire +perfect, a toasting-fork should hold it before coals, which are as +bright as Juno's eyes. It should be a delicate brown, dropped on a hot +plate, fresh butter put on at once, and then, ah! 't would tempt the +dying anchorite to eat. Then conquer cream toast; and there is an +exalted substance called Boston brown bread which is delicious, +toasted and boiled in milk. + +Muffins are generally failures in these United States. Why, after +conquering the English, we cannot conquer their muffins, I do not +know. They are well worth repeated efforts. We make up on our hot +biscuits and rolls; and as for our waffles, griddle-cakes, and Sally +Lunns, we distance competition. Do not believe that they are +unhealthy! Nothing that is well cooked is unhealthy to everybody; and +all things which are good are unhealthy to somebody. Every one must +determine for himself what is healthy and unhealthy. + +A foreign breakfast in France consists of eggs in some +form,--frequently _au beurre noir_, which is butter melted in a little +vinegar and allowed to brown,--a stew of vegetables and meat, a little +cold meat (tongue, ham, or cold roast beef,) a very good salad, a +small dish of stewed fruit or a little pastry, cheese, fruit, and +coffee, and always red wine. + +Or perhaps an omelet or egg _au plat_ (simply dropped on a hot plate), +mutton cutlets, and fried potatoes, perhaps stewed pigeons, with +spinach or green peas, or trout from the lake, followed by a +beefsteak, with highly flavoured Alpine strawberries or fresh apricots +or figs, then all eating is done for the day, until seven o'clock +dinner. This is of course the mid-day _déjeûner à la fourchette_. At +the earlier breakfast a Swiss hotel offers only coffee, rolls, butter, +and honey. + +All sorts of stews--kidney, liver, chicken, veal, and beef--are good, +and every sort of little pan-fish. In our happy country we can add the +oyster stew, or the lobster in cream, the familiar sausage, and the +hereditary hash; if any one knows how to make good corned-beef hash +she need not fear to entertain the king. + +There are those who know how to broil a chicken, but they are +few,--"Amongst the few, the immortal names which are not born to die." +There are others, also few, who know how to broil ham so that it will +not be hard, and on it to drop the egg so that it be like Saturn,--a +golden ball in a ring of silver. + +Amongst the good dishes and cheap dishes which I have seen served in +France for a breakfast I recommend lambs' feet in a white sauce, with +a suspicion of onion. + +All sorts of fricassees and warmed over things can be made most +deliciously for breakfast. Many people like a salt mackerel or a +broiled herring for breakfast; these are good _avant goûts_, +stimulating the appetite. The Danes and Swedes have every form of +dried fish, and even some strange fowl served in this way. Dried beef +served up with eggs is comforting to some stomachs. Smoked salmon +appeals to others; and people with an ostrich digestion like toasted +cheese or Welsh rarebits. The fishball of our forefathers is a supreme +delicacy if well made, as is creamed codfish; but warmed over pie, or +warmed over mutton or beef, are detestable. The appetite is in a +parlous state at nine o'clock and needs to be tempted; a bit of +breakfast bacon, a bit of toast, an egg, and a fresh slice of melon or +a cold sliced tomato in summer, _voilà tout!_ as the French say. Begin +with the melon or a plate of strawberries. These early breakfasts at +nine o'clock may be followed by the hot cake, but later on the +_déjeûner à la fourchette_, which with us becomes luncheon, demands +another order of meal, as we have seen, more like a plain dinner. + +It is a great comfort to the housekeeper, or to the lady who has been +imprisoned behind the tea and coffee pot that she may serve thence a +large family, to sometimes escape and have both tea and coffee served +from the side tables. Of course, for a small and intimate breakfast +there is nothing like the "steaming urn," and the tea made by the lady +at the table; and the Hon. Thomas H. Benton declared that he "liked to +drink his tea from a cup which had been washed by a lady." Woman is +the genius of the tea-kettle. + +To make a good cup of coffee is a rare accomplishment. Perhaps the old +method is as good as any: a small cupful of roasted and ground +coffee, one third Mocha and two thirds Java, a small egg, shell and +all, broken into the pot with the dry coffee. Stir well with a spoon +and then pour on three pints of boiling water; let it boil from five +to ten minutes, counting from the time it begins to boil. Then pour in +a cupful of cold water, and turn a little of the coffee into a cup to +see that the nozzle of the pot is not filled with grounds. Turn this +back, and let the coffee stand a few minutes to settle, taking care +that it does not boil again. The advantages of boiled egg with coffee +is, that the yolk gives a rich flavour and good colour; also the +shells and the white keep the grounds in order, settling them at the +bottom of the pot. + +But the most economical and the easiest way of making coffee is by +filtering. The French coffee biggin should be used. It consists of two +cylindrical tin vessels, one fitting into the other, the bottom of the +upper being a fine strainer. Another coarser strainer, with a rod +coming from the centre, is placed on this. Then the coffee, which must +be finely ground, is put in, and another strainer is placed on the top +of the rod. The boiling water is poured on, and the pot set where it +will keep hot, but not boil, until the water has gone through. This +will make a clear, strong coffee with a rich, smooth flavour. + +The advantage of the two strainers is, that the one coming next to the +fine strainer prevents the grounds from filling up the fine holes, and +so the coffee is clear,--a grand desideratum. Boiled milk should be +served with coffee for an early breakfast. Clear coffee, _café noir_, +is served after dinner, and in France, always after the twelve o'clock +breakfast. + +For a nine o'clock breakfast the hostess should also serve tea, and +perhaps chocolate, if she has a large family of guests, as all cannot +drink coffee for breakfast. + +Pigs' feet _à la poulette_ find favour in Paris, and are delicious as +prepared there; also calf's liver _à l'Alsacienne_. Chicken livers are +very nice, and cod's tongues with black butter cannot be surpassed. +Mutton kidneys with bacon are desirable, and all the livers and +kidneys _en brochette_ with bacon, empaled on a spit, are excellent. +Hashed lamb _à la Zingara_ is highly peppered and very good. + +Broiled fish, broiled chicken, broiled ham, broiled steak and chops +are always good for breakfast. The gridiron made Saint Lawrence fit +for heaven, and its qualities have been elevating and refining ever +since. + +The summer breakfast can be very nice. Crab, clam, lobster,--all are +admirable. Fresh fish should be served whenever one can get it. +Devilled kidneys and broiled bones do for supper, but fresh fish and +easily digested food should replace these heavier dainties for +breakfast. + +Stewed fruit is much used on the Continent at an early breakfast. It +is thought to avert dyspepsia. Americans prefer to eat fruit fresh, +and therefore have not learned to stew it. Stewing is, however, a +branch of cookery well worth the attention of a first-class +housekeeper. It makes canned fruit much better to stew it with sugar. +Stewed cherries are delicious and very healthy; and all the berries, +even if a little stale, can be stewed into a good dish, as can the +dried fruits, like prunes, etc. + +Stewed pears make an elegant dessert served with whipped cream; but +this is too rich for breakfast. Baked pears with cream are sometimes +offered, and eggs in every form,--scrambled, dropped, boiled, stuffed, +and even boiled hard, sliced and dressed as a salad. "What is so good +as an egg salad for a hungry person?" asked a hostess in the +Adirondacks who had nothing else to offer! Eggs are the staple for +breakfast. + +Ham omelet with a little parsley, lamb chops with green peas, tripe _à +la Bourdelaise_, hashed turkey, hashed chicken with cream, and breaded +veal with tomato sauce, calf's brains with a black butter, stewed veal +_à la Chasseur_, broiled shad's roe, broiled soft-shell clams, minced +tenderloin with Lyonnaise potatoes, blue-fish _au gratin_, broiled +steak with water-cress, picked-up codfish, and smoked beef in cream +are of the thousand and one delicacies for the early breakfast,--if +one can eat them. + +It is better to eat a saucer of oatmeal and cream at nine o'clock, +take a cup of tea, and do one's work; then at twelve to sit down to as +good a breakfast as possible,--a regular _déjeuner à la fourchette_. +The digestion is then active; the brain after several hours work needs +repose, and at one or two o'clock can go to work again like a giant +refreshed. + +An early breakfast with meat is thought by foreign doctors not to +be good for children. But in France they give children wine at +a very early age, which is rarely done in this country. At all +boarding-schools and hospitals wine is given to young children. +Certainly there are fewer drunkards and fewer dyspeptics in France +than in America. + +Brillat Savarin says of coffee, "It is beyond doubt that coffee acts +upon the functions of the brain as an excitant." Voltaire and Buffon +drank a great deal of coffee. If it deprives persons of sleep it +should never be taken. It is to many a poison; and hospitals are full +of men made cripples by the immoderate stimulus of coffee. The Spanish +people live and flourish on chocolate; introduced into Spain during +the seventeenth century, it crossed the Pyrenees with Anne of Austria, +daughter of Philip II. and wife of Louis XIII., and at the +commencement of the Regency was more in vogue than coffee. + +Many modern writers advise a good cup of chocolate at breakfast as +wholesome and easily digested, and it is good for clergymen, lawyers, +and travellers. In America it is considered heavy and headachy; and +doubtless the climate has something to do with this. Cocoa and the +lighter preparations of chocolate are good at sea, and very comforting +to those who find their nerves too much on the alert to stand coffee +or tea. Every one must consult his own health and taste in this as in +all matters. + +The boldest attempts to increase the enjoyments of the palate, or to +tell people what they shall eat or drink, are constantly overthrown by +some subtile enemy in the stomach; and breakfasts should especially be +so light that they can tickle the palate without disturbing the brain. +A red herring is a good appetizer. + + "Meet me at breakfast alone, + And then I will give you a dish + Which really deserves to be known, + Though 'tis not the genteelest of fish. + You must promise to come, for I said + A splendid red herring I'd buy. + Nay, turn not aside your proud head; + You'll like it, I know, when you try. + + "If moisture the herring betray, + Drain till from the moisture 'tis free. + Warm it through in the usual way, + Then serve it for you and for me. + A piece of cold butter prepare, + To rub it when ready it lies; + Egg sauce and potatoes don't spare, + And the flavour will cause you surprise." + +It is not only the man who has eaten a heavy supper the night before; +it is not only the heavy drinker, although brandy and soda are not the +best of appetite provokers, so they say; but it is also the +brainworker who finds it impossible to eat in the morning. For sleep +has the effect of eating. Who sleeps, eats, says the French proverb; +and we often find healthy children unwilling to eat an early +breakfast. Appetites vary both in individuals and at various seasons +of the year. Nothing can be more unwise than to make children eat when +they do not wish to do so. During the summer months we are all of us +less inclined for food than when sharp set by hard exercise in the +frosty air; and we loathe in July what we like in winter. + +The heavy domestic breakfast of steak and mutton-chops in summer is +often repellent to a delicate child. The perfection of good living is +to have what you want exactly when you want it. A slice of fresh +melon, a plate of strawberries, a thin slice of bread and butter may +be much better for breakfast in summer than the baked beans and stewed +codfish of a later season. Do not force a child to eat even a baked +potato if he does not like it. + +It is maintained by some that a strong will can keep off sea-sickness +or any other malady. This is a fallacy. No strong will can make a +delicate stomach digest a heavy breakfast at nine o'clock. Therefore +we begin and end with the same idea,--breakfast is a hard thing to +manage in America. + +In England, however, it is a very happy-go-lucky meal; and although +the essentials are on the table, people are privileged to rise and +help themselves from the sideboard. I may say that I have never seen a +fashionable English hostess at a nine o'clock breakfast, although the +meal is always ready for those who wish it. + +For sending breakfasts to rooms, trays are prepared with teapot, +sugar, and cream, a plate of toast, eggs boiled, with cup, spoon, salt +and pepper, a little pat of butter, and if desired a plate of chops or +chicken, plates, knives, forks, and napkins. For an English +country-house the supply of breakfast trays is like that of a hotel. +The pretty little Satsuma sets of small teapot, cream jug, and +sugar-bowl, are favourites. + +When breakfast is served in the dining-room, a white cloth is +generally laid, although some ladies prefer variously coloured linen, +with napkins to match. A vase of flowers or a dish of fruit should be +placed in the centre. The table is then set as for dinner, with +smaller plates and all sorts of pretty china, like an egg dish with a +hen sitting contentedly, a butter plate with a recumbent cow, a +sardine dish with fishes in Majolica,--in fact, any suggestive fancy. +Hot plates for a winter breakfast in a plate-warmer near the table add +much to the comfort. + +Finger bowls with napkins under them should be placed on the sideboard +and handed to the guest with the fruit. It is a matter of taste as to +whether fruit precedes or finishes the breakfast; and the servant must +watch the decision of the guest. + +A grand breakfast to a distinguished foreigner, or some great home +celebrity at Delmonico's for instance, would be,-- + + A table loaded with flowers. + Oysters on the half-shell. Chablis. + Eggs stuffed. Eggs in black butter, (_au beurre noir_). + Chops and green peas. Champagne. + Lyonnaise potatoes. + Sweetbreads. Spinach. + Woodcock. Partridges. + Salad of lettuce. Claret. + Cheese _fondu_. + DESSERT: + Charlotte Russe. Fruit Jelly. Ices. + Liqueurs. + Grapes. Peaches. Pears. + Coffee. + +A breakfast even at twelve o'clock is thus made noticeably lighter +than the meal called lunch. It may be introduced by clam juice in +cups, or bouillon, but is often served without either. These +breakfasts are generally prefaced by a short reception, where all the +guests are presented to the foreigner of distinction. There is no +formality about leaving. Indeed, these breakfasts are given in order +to avoid that. + +For an ordinary breakfast at nine o'clock in a family of ten, we +should say that the _menu_ should be something as follows: The host +and hostess being present, the lady makes the tea. Oatmeal and cream +would then be offered; after that a broiled chicken would be placed +before the host, which he carves if he can. An omelet is placed before +the lady or passed; stewed potatoes are passed, and toast or muffins. +Hot cakes finish this breakfast, unless fruit is also added. It is +considered a very healthful thing to eat an orange before breakfast. +But who can eat an orange well? One must go to Spain to see that +done. The señorita cuts off the rind with her silver knife. Then +putting her fork into the peeled fruit, she gently detaches small +slices from the pulp, leaving the core and seeds untouched; passing +the fork upward, she detaches every morsel with her pearly teeth, +looking very pretty the while, and contrives to eat the whole orange +without losing a drop of the juice, and lays down the core with the +fork still in it. + +It seems hardly necessary to say to an American lady that she should +be neatly dressed at breakfast. The pretty white morning dresses which +are worn in America are rarely seen in Europe, perhaps because of the +difference of climate. In England elderly ladies and young married +women sometimes appear in very smart tea gowns of dark silk over a +colour; but almost always the young ladies come in the yachting or +tennis dresses which they will wear until dinner-time, and almost +always in summer, in hats. In America the variety of morning dresses +is endless, of which the dark jacket over a white vest, the +serviceable merino, the flannel, the dark foulards, are favourites. + +In summer, thin lawns, percales, Marseilles suits, calicos, and +ginghams can be so prettily made as to rival all the other costumes +for coquetry and grace. + + "Still to be neat, still to be drest + As she were going to a feast," + +such should be the breakfast dress of the young matron. It need not be +fine; it need not be expensive; but it should be neat and becoming. +The hair should be carefully arranged, and the feet either in good, +stout shoes for the subsequent walk, or in the natty stocking and well +fitting slipper, which has moved the poet to such feeling verses. + + + + +THE LUNCH. + + "A Gothic window, where a damask curtain + Made the blank daylight shadowy and uncertain; + A slab of agate on four eagle-talons + Held trimly up and neatly taught to balance; + A porcelain dish, o'er which in many a cluster + Plump grapes hung down, dead ripe, and without lustre; + A melon cut in thin, delicious slices, + A cake, that seemed mosaic-work in spices; + Two china cups, with golden tulips sunny, + And rich inside, with chocolate like honey; + And she and I the banquet scene completing + With dreamy words, and very pleasant eating." + + +If all lunches could be as poetic and as simple and as luxurious as +this, the hostess would have little trouble in giving a lunch. But, +alas! from the slice of cold ham, or chicken, and bread and butter, +has grown the grand hunt breakfast, and the ladies' lunch, most +delicious of luxurious time-killers. The lunch, therefore, has become +in the house of the opulent as elaborate as the dinner. + +Twenty years ago in England I had the pleasure of lunching with Lord +Houghton, and I well remember the simplicity of that meal. A cup of +bouillon, a joint of mutton, roasted, and carved by the host, a tart, +some peaches, very fine hot-house fruit, and a glass of sherry was all +that was served on a very plain table to twenty guests. But what a +company of wits, belles, and beauties we had to eat it! I once lunched +with Browning on a much simpler bill of fare. I have lunched at the +beautiful house of Sir John Millais on what might have been a good +family dinner with us. And I have lunched in Hampton Court, in the +apartments of Mr. Beresford, now dead, who was a friend of George the +Fourth and an old Tory whipper-in, on a slice of cold meat, a cutlet, +a gooseberry tart, and some strawberries as large as tomatoes from the +garden which was once Anne Boleyn's. + +What a great difference between these lunches and a ladies' lunch in +New York, which, laid for twenty-eight people, offers every kind of +wine, every luxury of fish, flesh, and fowl, flowers which exhibit the +most overwhelming luxury of an extravagant period, fruits and bonbons +and _bonbonnières_, painted fans to carry home, with ribbons on which +is painted one's monogram, etc. + +I have seen summer wild-flowers in winter at a ladies' lunch, as the +last concession to a fancy for what is unusual. The order having been +given in September, the facile gardener raised these flowers for this +especial lunch. Far more expensive than roses at a dollar apiece is +this bringing of May into January. It is impossible to say where +luxury should stop; and, if people can afford it, there is no +necessity for its stopping. It is only to be regretted that luxury +frightens those who might like to give simple lunches. + +A lunch-party of ladies should not be crowded, as handsome gowns take +up a great deal of room; and therefore a lunch for ten ladies in a +moderate house is better than a larger number. As ladies always wear +their bonnets the room should not be too hot. + +The menu is very much the same as a dinner, excepting the soup. In its +place cups of bouillon or of clam juice, boiled with cream and a bit +of sherry, are placed before each plate. There follows presumably a +plate of lobster croquettes with a rich sauce, _filet de boeuf_ +with truffles and mushrooms, sweetbread and green peas, perhaps +asparagus or cauliflower. + +Then comes _sorbet_, or Roman punch, much needed to cool the palate +and to invigorate the appetite for further delicacies. The Roman punch +is now often served in very fanciful frozen shapes of ice, resembling +roses, or fruit of various kinds. If a lady is not near a confectioner +she should learn to make this herself. It is very easy, if one only +compounds it at first with care, Maraschino cordial or fine old +Jamaica rum being mixed with water and sugar as for a punch, and well +frozen. + +The game follows, and the salad. These two are often served together. +After that the ices and fruit. Cheese is rarely offered at a lady's +lunch, excepting in the form of cheese straws. Château Yquem, +champagne, and claret are the favourite wines. Cordial is offered +afterward with the coffee. A lady's lunch-party is supposed to begin +at one o'clock and end at three. + +It is a delightful way of showing all one's pretty things. At a +luncheon in New York I have seen a tablecloth of linen into which has +been inserted duchesse lace worth, doubtless, several hundred dollars, +the napkins all trimmed with duchesse, worth at least twenty dollars +apiece. This elegant drapery was thrown over a woollen broadcloth +underpiece of a pale lilac. + +In the middle of the table was a grand epergne of the time of Louis +Seize; the glass and china were superb. At the proper angle stood +silver and gold cups, ornamental pitchers, and claret jugs. At every +lady's plate stood a splendid bouquet tied with a long satin ribbon, +and various small favours, as fans and fanciful _menus_ were given. + +As the lunch went on we were treated to new surprises of napery and +of Sèvres plates. The napkins became Russian, embroidered with gold +thread, as the spoons and forks were also of Russian silver and gold, +beautifully enamelled. Then came those embroidered with heraldic +animals,--the lion and the two-headed eagle and griffin,--the monogram +gracefully intertwined. + +Plates were used, apparently of solid gold and beautiful workmanship. +The Roman punch was hidden in the heart of a water lily, which looked +uncommonly innocent with its heart of fire. The service of this lunch +was so perfect that we did not see how we were served; it all moved as +if to music. Pleasant chat was the only addition which our hostess +left for us to add to her hospitality. I have lunched at many great +houses all over the world, but I have never seen so luxurious a +picture as this lunch was. + +It has been a question whether oysters on the half-shell should be +served at a lady's lunch. For my part I think that they should, +although many ladies prefer to begin with the bouillon. All sorts of +_hors d'oeuvres_, like olives, anchovies, and other relishes, are in +order. + +In summer, ladies sometimes serve a cold luncheon, beginning with iced +bouillon, salmon covered with a green sauce, cold birds and salads, +ices and strawberries, or peaches frozen in cream. Cold asparagus +dressed as a salad is very good at this meal. + +In English country-houses the luncheon is a very solid meal, beginning +with a stout roast with hot vegetables, while chicken salad, a cold +ham, and various meat pies stand on the sideboard. The gentlemen get +up and help the ladies; the servants, after going about once or twice, +often leave the room that conversation may be more free. + +It might well improve the young housekeeper to study the question of +potted meats, the preparation of Melton veal, the various egg salads, +as well as those of potato, of lobster and chicken, so that she may be +prepared with dishes for an improvised lunch. Particularly in the +country should this be done. + +The etiquette of invitations for a ladies' lunch is the same as that +of a dinner. They are sent out a fortnight before; they are carefully +engraved, or they are written on note paper. + + MRS. SOMERVILLE + Requests the pleasure of + MRS. MONTGOMERY'S + Company at lunch on Thursday, 15th, + at 1 o'clock. + R. S. V. P. + +This should be answered at once, and the whole engagement treated with +the gravity of a dinner engagement. + +These lunch-parties are very convenient for ladies who, from illness +or indisposition to society, cannot go out in the evening. It is also +very convenient if the lady of the house has a husband who does not +like society and who finds a dinner-party a bore. + +The usual custom is for ladies to dress in dark street dresses, and +their very best. That with an American lady means much, for an +American husband stops at no expense. Worth says that American women +are the best customers he has,--far better than queens. The latter ask +the price, and occasionally haggle; American women may ask the price, +but the order is, the very best you can do. + +Luncheons are very fashionable in England, especially on Sunday. These +lunches, although luxurious, are by no means the costly spreads which +American women indulge in. They are attended by gentlemen as well as +ladies, for in a land where a man does not go to the House of Commons +until five in the afternoon he may well lunch with his family. What +time did our forefathers lunch? In the reign of Francis the First the +polite French rose at five, dined at nine, supped at five, and went to +bed at nine. Froissart speaks of "waiting upon the Duke of Lancaster +at five in the afternoon after he had supped." If our ancestors dined +at nine, when did they lunch? + +After some centuries the dinner hour grew to be ten in the morning, by +which time they had besieged a town and burned up a dozen heretics, +probably to give them a good appetite, a sort of _avant goût_. The +later hours now in vogue did not prevail until after the Restoration. + +Lunch has remained fastened at one o'clock, for a number of years at +least. In England, curiously enough, they give you no napkins at this +meal, which certainly requires them. + +A hunt breakfast in America is, of course, a hearty meal, to which the +men and women are asked who have an idea of riding to hounds. It is +usually served at little tables, and the meal begins with hot +bouillon. It is a heartier meal than a lady's lunch, and as luxurious +as the hostess pleases; but it does not wind up with ices and fruits, +although it may begin with an orange. Much more wine is drunk than at +a lady's lunch, and yet some hunters prefer to begin the day with tea +only. Everything should be offered, and what is not liked can be +refused. + + "What is hit, is History, + And what is missed is Mystery." + +There are famous breakfasts in London which are not the early morning +meal, neither are they called luncheons. It is the constant habit of +the literary world of London to have reunions of scientific and +agreeable people early in the day, and what would be called a party in +the evening, is called a breakfast. We should call it a reception, +except that one is asked at eleven o'clock. But the greatest misnomer +of all is the habit in London of giving a dinner, a ball, and a supper +out of doors at five o'clock, and calling that a "breakfast." Except +that the gentlemen are in morning dress and the ladies in bonnets this +has no resemblance to what we call breakfast. + +Breakfast at nine, or earlier, is a solemn process. It has no great +meaning for us, who have our children to send to school, our husbands +to prepare for business, ourselves for a busy day or a long journey. +For the very luxurious it no longer exists. + +Luncheon on the contrary is apt to be a lively and exhilarating +occasion. It is the best moment in the day to some people. A thousand +dollars is not an unusual sum to expend on a lady's lunch in New York +for eighteen or twenty-five guests, counting the favours, the flowers, +the wines, and the viands, and even then we have not entered into the +cost of the china, the glass, porcelain, _cloisonné_, Dresden, Sèvres, +and silver, which make the table a picture. The jewelled goblets from +Carlsbad, the knives and forks with crystal handles, set in silver, +from Bohemia, and the endless succession of beautiful plates,--who +shall estimate the cost of all this? + +As to the precedence of plates, it is meet that China, oldest of +nations, should suffice for the soup. The oysters have already been +served on shell-like Majolica. England, a maritime nation surrounded +by ocean, must furnish the plates for the fish. For the roast, too, +what plates so good as Doulton, real English, substantial _faïence_? + +For the _Bouchers à la Reine_ and all the _entrées_ we must have +Sèvres again. + +Japanese will do for the _filet aux champignons_, the venison, the +_pièces de resistance_, as well as English. Japanese plates are +strong. But here we are running into dinner; indeed, these two feasts +do run into each other. + +One should not have a roast at ladies' lunch, unless it be a roast +pheasant. + +Dresden china plates painted with fruits and flowers should be used +for the dessert. On these choice plates, with perforated edges marked +"A R" on the back, should lie the ices frozen as natural fruits. We +can scarcely tell the frozen banana or peach before us, from the +painted banana on our plate. + +For the candied fruit, we must again have Sèvres. Then a gold dish +filled with rose-water must be passed. We dip a bit of the napkin in +it, for in this country we do have napkins with our luncheon, and wipe +our lips and fingers. This is called a _trempoir_. + +The cordials at the end of the dinner must be served in cups of +Russian gold filagree supporting glass. There is an analogy between +the rival, luscious richness of the cordial and the cup. + +The coffee-cups must be thin as egg-shells, of the most delicate +French or American china. We make most delicate china and porcelain +cups ourselves nowadays, at Newark, Trenton, and a dozen other places. + +There is a vast deal of waste in offering so much wine at a ladies' +lunch. American women cannot drink much wine; the climate forbids it. +We have not been brought up on beer, or on anything more stimulating +than ice-water. Foreign physicians say that this is the cause of all +our woes, our dyspepsia, our nervous exhaustion, our rheumatism and +hysteria. I believe that climate and constitution decide these things +for us. We are not prone to over-eat ourselves, to drink too much +wine; and if the absence of these grosser tastes is visible in pale +cheeks and thin arms, is not that better than the other extreme? + +All entertaining can go on perfectly well without wine, if people so +decide. It would be impossible, however, to make many poetical +quotations without an allusion to the "ruby," as Dick Swiveller called +it. Since Cleopatra dissolved the pearl, the wine-cup has held the +gems of human fancy. + + _Champagne Cup_: One pint bottle of soda water, one quart dry + champagne, one wine-glass of brandy, a few fresh strawberries, + a peach quartered, sugar to taste; cracked ice. + + _Another recipe_: One quart dry champagne, one pint bottle of + Rhine wine, fruit and ice as above; cracked ice. Mix in a + large pitcher. + + _Claret Cup_: One bottle of claret, one pint bottle of soda + water, one wine-glass brandy, half a wine-glass of + lemon-juice, half a pound of lump sugar, a few slices of fresh + cucumber; mix in cracked ice. + + _Mint Julep_: Fresh mint, a few drops of orange bitters and + Maraschino, a small glass of liqueur, brandy or whiskey, put + in a tumbler half full of broken ice; shake well, and serve + with fruit on top with straws. + + _Another recipe for Mint Julep_: Half a glass of port wine, a + few drops of Maraschino, mint, sugar, a thin slice of lemon, + shake the cracked ice from glass to glass, add strawberry or + pineapple. + + _Turkish Sherbets_: Extract by pressure or infusion the rich + juice and fine perfume of any of the odouriferous flowers or + fruits; mix them in any number or quantity to taste. When + these essences, extracts, or infusions are prepared they may + be immediately used by adding a proper proportion of sugar or + syrup; and water. Some acid fruits, such as lemon or + pomegranate, are used to raise the flavour, but not to + overpower the chief perfume. Fill the cup with cracked ice and + add what wine or spirit is preferred. + + _Claret Cobbler_: One bottle wine, one bottle Apollinaris or + Seltzer, one lemon, half a pound of sugar; serve with ice. + + _Champagne Cobbler_: One bottle of champagne, one half bottle + of white wine, much cracked ice, strawberries, peaches or + sliced oranges. + + _Sherry Cobbler_: Full wine-glass of sherry, very little + brandy, sugar, sliced lemon, cracked ice. This is but one + tumblerful. + + _Kümmel_: This liqueur is very good served with shaved ice in + small green claret-cups. + + _Punch_: One bottle Arrack, one bottle brandy, two quart + bottles dry champagne, one tumblerful of orange curaçoa, one + pound of cracked sugar, half a dozen lemons sliced, half a + dozen oranges sliced. Fill the bowl with large lump of ice and + add one quart of water. + + _Shandygaff_: London porter and ginger ale, half and half. + + + + +AFTERNOON TEA. + + "And while the bubbling and loud-hissing urn + Throws up a steamy column, and the cups + That cheer but not inebriate wait on each, + So let us welcome peaceful evening in." + + +Whatever objections can be urged against all other systems of +entertaining, including the expense, the bore it is to a gentleman to +have his house turned inside out, the fatigue to the lady, the +disorganization of domestic service, nothing can be said against +afternoon tea, unless that it may lead to a new disease, the _delirium +teamens_. There is danger to nervous women in our climate in too great +indulgence in this delicious beverage. It sometimes murders sleep and +impairs digestion. We cannot claim that it is always safer than opium. +It was very much abused in England in 1678, ten years after Lords +Arlington and Ossory brought it over from the meditative Dutchman, who +was the first European to appreciate it. It was then called a "black +water with an acrid taste." It cost, however, in England sixty +shillings a pound, so that it must have been fashionable. Pepys in his +diary records that he sent for a cup of tea, a "China drink which he +had not used before." He did not like it, but then he did not like the +"Midsummer Night's Dream." "The most insipid, ridiculous play I ever +saw in my life," he writes; so we do not care what he thought about a +blessed cup of tea. + +In the middle of the sixteenth century, with pasties and ale for +breakfast, with sugared cakes and spiced wines at various hours of the +day, with solid "noonings," and suppers with strong potations of sack +and such possets as were the ordinary refreshments, it is not probable +that tea would have been appreciated. The Dutch were crafty, however; +they saw that there was a common need of a hot, rather stimulating +beverage, which had no intoxicating effects. They exported sage enough +to pay for the tea, and got the better of even the wily Chinaman, who +avowed some time after, in their trade with America, "That spent +tea-leaves, dried again, were good enough for second-chop Englishmen." + +Jonas Haunay wrote a treatise against tea-drinking in Johnson's time, +and that vast, insatiable, and shameless tea-drinker took up the +cudgels for tea, settling it as a brain-inspirer for all time, and +wrote Rasselas on the strength of it. Cobbett wrote against its use by +the labouring classes, and the "Edinburgh Review" endorsed his +arguments, stating that a "prohibition absolute and uncompromising of +the noxious beverage was the first step toward insuring health and +strength for the poor," and asserting that when a labourer fancied +himself refreshed with a mess of this stuff, sweetened with the +coarsest brown sugar and diluted by azure-blue milk, it was only the +warmth of the water which consoled him for the moment. Cobbett claimed +that the tea-table cost more to support than would keep two children +at nurse. + +The "Quarterly Review" in an article written perhaps by the most +famous chemist of the day, said, however, that "tea relieves the pains +of hunger rather by mechanical distention than by supplying the waste +of nature by adequate sustenance," but claimed for it the power of +calm, placid, and benignant exhilaration, greatly stimulating the +stomach, when fatigued by digestive exertion, and acting as an +appropriate diluent of the chyle. More recent inquiries into the +qualities of the peculiar power of tea have tended to raise it in +popular esteem, although no one has satisfactorily explained _why_ it +has become so universally necessary to the human race. + +An agreeable little book called "The Beverages We Indulge In," "The +Herbs Which We Infuse," or some such title, had a great deal to do +with the adoption of tea as a drink for young men who were training +for a boat-race, or who desired to economize their strength for a +mountain climb. But every one, from the tired washerwoman to the +student, the wrestler, the fine lady, and the strong man, demands a +cup of tea. + +To the invalid it is the dearest solace, dangerous though it may be. +Tannin, the astringent element in tea, is bad for delicate stomachs +and seems to ruin appetite. Tea, therefore, should never be allowed to +stand. Hot water poured on the leaves and poured off into a cup can +hardly afford the tannin time to get out. Some tea-drinkers even put +the grounds in a silver ball, perforated, and swing this through a cup +of boiling water, and in this way is produced the most delicate cup of +tea. + +The famous Chinese lyric which is painted on almost all the teapots of +the Empire is highly poetical. "On a slow fire set a tripod; fill it +with clear rain-water. Boil it as long as it would be needed to turn +fish white and lobsters red. Throw this upon the delicate leaves of +choice tea; let it remain as long as the vapour rises in a cloud. At +your ease drink the pure liquor, which will chase away the five causes +of trouble." + +The "tea of the cells of the Dragons," the purest Pekoe from the +leaf-buds of three-year-old plants, no one ever sees in Europe; but we +have secured many brands of tea which are sufficiently good, and the +famous Indian tea brought in by the great Exposition in Paris in 1889 +is fast gaining an enviable reputation. It has a perfect bouquet and +flavour. Green tea, beloved by our grandmothers and still a favourite +with some connoisseurs, has proved to have so much theine, the element +of intoxication in tea, that it is forbidden to nervous people. Tea +saves food by its action in preventing various wastes to the system. +It is thus peculiarly acceptable to elderly persons, and to the tired +labouring-woman. Doubtless Mrs. Gamp's famous teapot with which she +entertained Betsy Prig contained green tea. + +There is an unusually large amount of nitrogen in theine, and green +tea possesses so large a proportion of it as to be positively +dangerous. In the process of drying and roasting, this volatile oil is +engendered. The Chinese dare not use it for a year after the leaf has +been prepared, and the packer and unpacker of the tea suffer much from +paralysis. The tasters of tea become frequently great invalids, unable +to eat; therefore our favourite herb has its dangers. + +More consoling is the legend of the origin of the plant. A drowsy +hermit, after long wrestling with sleep, cut off his eyelids and cast +them on the ground. From them sprang a shrub whose leaves, shaped like +eyelids and bordered with a fringe of lashes, possessed the power of +warding off sleep. This was in the third century, and the plant was +tea. + +But what has all this to do with that pleasant visage of a steaming +kettle boiling over a blazing alcohol lamp, the silver tea-caddy, the +padded cozy to keep the teapot warm, the basket of cake, the thin +bread and butter, the pretty girl presiding over the cups, the +delicate china, the more delicate infusion? All these elements go to +make up the afternoon tea. From one or two ladies who stayed at home +one day in the week and offered this refreshment, to the many who came +to find that it was a very easy method of entertaining, grew the +present party in the daytime. The original five o'clock tea arose in +England from the fact that ladies and gentlemen after hunting required +some slight refreshment before dressing for dinner, and liked to meet +for a little chat. It now is used as the method of introducing a +daughter, and an ordinary way of entertaining. + +The primal idea was a good one. People who had no money for grand +spreads were enabled to show to their more opulent neighbours that +they too had the spirit of hospitality. The doctors discovered that +tea was healthy. English breakfast tea would keep nobody awake. The +cup of tea and the sandwich at five would spoil nobody's dinner. The +ladies who began these entertainments, receiving modestly in plain +dresses, were not out of tone with their guests who came in +walking-dress. + +But then the other side was this,--ladies had to go to nine teas of an +afternoon, perhaps taste something everywhere. Hence the new disease, +_delirium teamens_. It was uncomfortable to assist at a large party in +a heavy winter garment of velvet and fur. The afternoon tea lost its +primitive character and became an evening party in the daytime, with +the hostess and her daughters in full dress, and her guests in +walking-costume. + +The sipping of so much tea produces the nervous prostration, the +sleeplessness, the nameless misery of our overwrought women; and thus +a healthful, inexpensive and most agreeable adjunct to the art of +entertaining grew into a thing without a name, and became the large, +gas-lighted ball at five o'clock, where half the ladies were in +_decolleté_ dresses, the others in fur tippets. It was pronounced a +breeder of influenzas, and the high road to a headache. + +If a lady can be at home every Thursday during the season, and always +at her position behind the blazing urn, and will have the firmness to +continue this practice, she may create a _salon_ out of her teacups. + +In giving a large afternoon tea for which cards have been sent out, +the hostess should stand by the drawing-room door and greet each +guest, who, after a few words, passes on. In the adjoining room, +usually the dining-room, a large table is spread with a white cloth; +and at one end is a tea service with a kettle of water boiling over an +alcohol lamp, while at the other end is a service for chocolate. There +should be flowers on the table, and dishes containing bread and butter +cut as thin as a shaving. Cake and strawberries are always +permissible. One or two servants should be in attendance to carry away +soiled cups and saucers, and to keep the table looking fresh; but for +the pouring of the tea and chocolate there should always be a lady, +who like the hostess should wear a gown closed to the throat; for +nothing is worse form now-a-days than full dress before dinner. The +ladies of the house should not wear bonnets. + +When tea is served every afternoon at five o'clock, whether or no +there are visitors, as is often the case in many houses, the +servant--who, if a woman, should always in the afternoon wear a plain +black gown, with a white cap and apron--should place a small, low +table before the lady of the house, and lay over it a pretty white +cloth. She should then bring in a large tray, upon which are the tea +service, and a plate of bread and butter, or cake, or both, place it +upon the table, and retire,--remaining within call, though out of +sight, in case she should be needed. The best rule for making tea is +the old-fashioned one: "one teaspoonful for each person and one for +the pot." The pot should first be rinsed with hot water, then the tea +put in, and upon it should be poured enough water, actually boiling, +to cover the leaves. This decoction should stand for five minutes, +then fill up the pot with more boiling water, and pour it immediately. +Some persons prefer lemon in their tea to cream, and it is a good plan +to have some thin slices, cut for the purpose, placed in a pretty +little dish on the tray. A bowl of cracked ice is also a pleasant +addition in summer, iced tea being a most refreshing drink in hot +weather. Neither plates nor napkins need appear at this informal and +cosey meal. A guest arriving at this time in the afternoon should +always be offered a cup of tea. + +Afternoon tea, in small cities or in the country, in villages and +academic towns, can well be made a most agreeable and ideal +entertainment, for the official presentation of a daughter or for the +means of seeing one's friends. In the busy winter season of a large +city it should not be made the excuse for giving up the evening party, +or the dinner, lunch, or ball. It is not all these, it is simply +itself, and it should be a refuge for those women who are tired of +balls, of over dressing, dancing, visiting, and shopping. It is also +very dear to the young who find the convenient tea-table a good arena +for flirtation. It is a form of entertainment which allows one to +dispense with etiquette and to save time. + +Five-o'clock teas should be true to their name, nor should any other +refreshment be offered than tea, bread and butter, and little cakes. +If other eatables are offered the tea becomes a reception. + +There is a high tea which takes the place of dinner on Sunday evenings +in cities, which is a very pretty entertainment; in small rural +cities, in the country, they take the place of dinners. They were +formerly very fashionable in Philadelphia. It gave an opportunity to +offer hot rolls and butter, escalloped oysters, fried chicken, +delicately sliced cold ham, waffles and hot cakes, preserves--alas! +since the days of canning, who offers the delicious preserves of the +past? The hostess sits behind her silver urn and pours the hot tea or +coffee or chocolate, and presses the guest to take another waffle. It +is a delightful meal, and has no prototype in any country but our own. + +It is doubtful, however, whether the high tea will ever be popular in +America, in large cities at least, where the custom of seven-o'clock +dinners prevails. People find in them a violent change of living, +which is always a challenge to indigestion. Some wit has said that he +always liked to eat hot mince-pie just before he went to bed, for then +he always knew what hurt him. If anyone wishes to know what hurts him, +he can take high tea on Sunday evening, after having dined all the +week at seven o'clock. A pain in his chest will tell him that the hot +waffle, the cold tongue, the peach preserve, and that "last cup of +tea" meant mischief. + +Oliver Cromwell is said to have been an early tea-drinker; so is Queen +Elizabeth,--elaborate old teapots are sold in London with the cipher +of both; but the report lacks confirmation. We cannot imagine Oliver +drinking anything but verjuice, nor the lion woman as sipping anything +less strong than brown stout. Literature owes much to tea. From Cowper +to Austin Dobson, the poets have had their fling at it. And what could +the modern English novelist do without it? It has been in politics, as +all remember who have seen Boston Harbor, and it goes into all the +battles, and climbs Mt. Blanc and the Matterhorn. The French, who +despised it, are beginning to make a good cup of tea, and Russia +bathes in it. The Samovar cheers the long journeys across those dreary +steppes, and forms again the most luxurious ornament of the palace. On +all the high roads of Europe one can get a cup of tea, except in +Spain. There it is next to impossible; the universal chocolate +supersedes it. If one gets a cup of tea in Spain, there is no cream to +put in it; and to many tea drinkers, tea is ruined without milk or +cream. + +In fact, the poor tea drinker is hard to please anywhere. There are to +the critic only one or two houses of one's acquaintance where five +o'clock tea is perfect. + + + + +THE INTELLECTUAL COMPONENTS OF DINNER. + + "Lend me your ears." + + +"It has often perplexed me to imagine," writes Nathaniel Hawthorne, +"how an Englishman will be able to reconcile himself to any future +state of existence from which the earthly institution of dinner is +excluded. The idea of dinner has so imbedded itself among his highest +and deepest characteristics, so illuminated itself with intellect, and +softened itself with the kindest emotions of his heart, so linked +itself with Church and State, and grown so majestic with long +hereditary custom and ceremonies, that by taking it utterly away, +Death, instead of putting the final touch to his perfection, would +leave him infinitely less complete than we have already known him. He +could not be roundly happy. Paradise among all its enjoyments would +lack one daily felicity in greater measure than London in the season." + +No dinner would be worth the giving that had not one witty man or one +witty woman to lift the conversation out of the commonplace. As many +more agreeable people as one pleases, but one leader is absolutely +necessary. + +Not alone the funny man whom the _enfant terrible_ silenced by asking, +"Mamma would like to know when you are going to begin to be funny," +but those men who have the rare art of being leaders without seeming +to be, who amuse without your suspecting that you are being amused; +for there never should be anything professional in dinner-table wit. + +The dinner giver has often to feel that something has been left out of +the group about the table; they will not talk! She has furnished them +with food and wine, but can she amuse them? Her witty man and her +witty woman are both engaged elsewhere,--they are apt to be,--and her +room is too warm, perhaps. She determines that at the next dinner she +will have some mechanical adjuncts, even an empirical remedy against +dulness. She tries a dinner card with poetical quotations, conundrums, +and so on. The Shakspeare Club of Philadelphia inaugurated this +custom, and some very witty results followed:-- + + "Enter Froth" (before champagne). + "What is thine age?" (_Romeo and Juliet_) brings in the Madeira. + + LOBSTER SALAD. + "Who hath created this indigest?" + + Pray you bid these unknown friends welcome, for it is a way to + make us better friends.--_Winter's Tale._ + + ROAST TURKEY. + See, here he comes swelling like a turkey cock.--_Henry IV._ + + YORK HAMS. + Sweet stem from York's great stock.--_Henry VI._ + + TONGUE. + Silence is only commendable in a neat's tongue dried-- + _Merchant of Venice._ + + BRAISED LAMB AND BEEF. + What say you to a piece of lamb and mustard?--a dish that I do + love to feed upon.--_Taming of the Shrew._ + + LOBSTER SALAD. + Sallat was born to do me good.--_Henry IV._ + +And so on. The Bible affords others, well worth quoting:-- + + OYSTERS. + He brought them up out of the sea.--_Isaiah._ + And his mouth was opened immediately.--_Luke_ i. 64. + + BEAN SOUP. + "Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentils." + + FISH, STRIPED BASS. + We remember the fish we did eat freely.--_Numbers._ + These with many stripes.--_Deuteronomy._ + + STEINBERGER CABINET. + Thou hast kept the good wine until now.--_John_ ii. 10. + + BOILED CAPON. + Accept it always and in all places.--Acts xxiv. 3. + + PIGEON BRAISE. + Pigeons such as he could get.--_Leviticus._ + + SUCCOTASH. + They brought corn and beans.--_Samuel._ + + QUAIL LARDED. + Even quail came.--_Exodus._ + Abundantly moistened with fat.--_Isaiah._ + + LETTUCE SALAD. + A pleasant plant, green before the sun.--_Isaiah._ + Pour oil upon it, pure oil, olive.--_Leviticus._ + Oil and salt, without prescribing how much.--_Ezra_ vii. 22. + + ICE CREAM. + Ice like morsels.--_Psalms._ + + CHEESE. + Carry these ten cheeses unto the captain.--_Samuel._ + + FRUITS. + All kind of fruits.--_Eccles._ + + COFFEE. + Last of all.--_Matthew_ xxi. 37. + They had made an end of eating.--_Amos_ vii. 2. + + CIGARS. + Am become like dust and ashes.--_Job_ xxx. 19. + +And so on. Written conundrums are good stimulants to conversation, and +dinner cards might be greatly historical, not too learned. A legend of +the day, as Lady Day, or Michaelmas, is not a bad promoter of talk. Or +one might allude to the calendar of dead kings and queens, or other +celebrities, or ask your preferences, or quote something from a +memoir, to find out that it is a birthday of Rossini or Goethe. All +these might be written on a dinner card, and will open the flood gates +of a frozen conversation. + +Let each dinner giver weave a net out of the gossamer threads of her +own thoughts. It will be the web of the Lady of Shalott, and will bid +the shadows of pleasant memory to remain, not float "forever adown the +river," even toward "towered Camelot" where they may be lost. + +Some opulent dinner giver once made the dinner card the vehicle of a +present, but this became rather burdensome. It was trying and +embarrassing to carry the gifts home, and the poorer entertainer +hesitated at the expense. The outlay had better come out of one's +brain, and the piquing of curiosity with a contradiction like this +take its place:-- + + "A lady gave me a gift which she had not, + And I received the gift, which I took not, + And if she take it back I grieve not." + +But there is something more required to form the intellectual +components of a dinner than these instruments to stimulate curiosity +and give a fillip to thought. We must have variety. + +Mrs. Jameson, the accomplished author of the "Legends of the Madonna" +gives the following description of an out-of-door dinner, which should +embolden the young American hostess to go and do likewise:-- + +"Yesterday we dined _al fresco_ in the Pamfili Gardens, in Rome, and +although our party was rather too large, it was well assorted, and the +day went off admirably. The queen of our feast was in high good humour +and irresistibly charming, Frattino very fascinating, T. caustic and +witty, W. lively and clever, J. mild, intelligent and elegant, V. as +usual quiet, sensible, and self-complacent, L. as absurd and assiduous +as ever. + +"Everybody played their part well, each by a tacit convention +sacrificing to the _amour propre_ of his neighbour, each individual +really occupied with his own peculiar _rôle_, but all apparently happy +and mutually pleased. Vanity and selfishness, indifference and _ennui_ +were veiled under a general mask of good humour and good breeding, and +the flowery bonds of politeness and gallantry held together those who +knew no common tie of thought or interest. + +"Our luxurious dinner, washed down by a competent proportion of +Malvoisie and champagne, was spread upon the grass, which was +literally the flowery turf, being covered with violets, iris, and +anemones of every dye. + +"For my own peculiar taste there were too many servants, too many +luxuries, too much fuss; but considering the style and number of our +party, it was all consistently and admirably managed. The grouping of +the company, picturesque because unpremeditated, the scenery around, +the arcades and bowers and columns and fountains had an air altogether +poetical and romantic, and put me in mind of some of Watteau's +beautiful garden pieces." + +Now in this exquisite description Mrs. Jameson seems to me to have +given the intellectual components of a dinner. "The hostess, +good-humoured and charming, Frattino very fascinating, T. caustic and +witty, W. lively and clever, J. mild, intelligent, and elegant, V. as +usual quiet, sensible, and self-complacent, L. as absurd and as +assiduous as ever." + +There was variety for you, and the three last were undoubtedly +listeners. In the next paragraph she covers more ground, and this is +most important:-- + +"Each by a tacit convention sacrificing to the _amour propre_ of his +neighbour." + +That is an immortal phrase, for there can be no pleasant dinner when +this unselfishness is not shown. It was said by a witty Boston hostess +that she could never invite two well-known diners-out to the same +dinner, for each always silenced the other. You must not have too many +good talkers. The listeners, the receptive listeners, should outnumber +the talkers. + +In England, the land of dinners, they have, of course, no end of +public, semi-official, and annual dinners,--as those of the Royal +Literary Fund, the Old Rugbians, the Artists Benevolent Fund, the +Regimental dinners, the banquets at the Liberal and the Cobden Club, +and the nice little dinners at the Star and Garter, winding up with +the annual fish dinner. + +Now of all these the most popular and sought after is the annual +dinner of the Royal Academy. Few gratifications are more desired by +mortals than an invitation to this dinner. The president, Sir Frederic +Leighton, is handsome and popular. The dinner is representative in +character; one or more members of the Royal Family are present; the +Church, the Senate, the Bar, Medicine, Literature and Science, the +Army, the Navy, the City,--all these have their representatives in the +company. + +Who would not say that this would be the most amusing dinner in +London? Intellect at its highest water mark is present. The _menu_ is +splendid. But I have heard one distinguished guest say that the thing +is over-freighted, the ship is too full, and the crowd of good things +makes a surfeit. + +Dinners at the Lord Mayor's are said to be pleasant and fine specimens +of civic cheer, but the grand nights at the Middle Temple and others +of the Inns of Court are occasions of pleasant festivity. + +We have nothing to do with these, however, except to read of them, and +to draw our conclusions. I know of no better use to which we can put +them than the same rereading which we gave Mrs. Jameson's +well-considered _menu_: "Each individual really occupied with his own +_rôle_, but all apparently happy and mutually pleased. Variety and +selfishness or indifference or _ennui_ well veiled under a general +mask of good humour and good breeding, and the flowery bands of +politeness and gallantry holding together those who knew no common tie +of thought and interest." It requires very civilized people to veil +their indifference and _ennui_ under a general mask of good humour. + +To have unity, one must first have units; and to make an agreeable +dinner-party the hostess should invite agreeable people, and her +husband should be a good host; and here we must again compliment +England. An Englishman is churlish and distant, self-conscious and +prejudiced everywhere else but at his own table. He is a model host, +and a most agreeable guest. He is the most genial of creatures after +the soup and sherry. Indeed the English dinner is the keynote to all +that is best in the English character. An Englishman wishes to eat in +company. + +How unlike the Spaniard, who never asks you to dinner. However +courtly and hospitable he may be at other times and other hours of the +day, he likes to drag his bone into a corner and gnaw it by himself. + +The Frenchman, elegant, _soigné_, and economical, invites you to the +best-cooked dinner in the world, but there is not much of it. He +prefers to entertain you at a café. Country life in France is +delightful, but there is not that luxurious, open-handed entertaining +which obtains in England. + +In Italy one is seldom admitted to the privacy of the family dinner. +It is a patriarchal affair. But when one is admitted one finds much +that is _simpatica_. The cookery is good, the service is perfect, the +dinner is short, the conversation gay and easy. + +In making up a dinner with a view to its intellectual components, +avoid those tedious talkers who, having a theme, a system, or a fad to +air, always contrive to drag the conversation around to their view, +with the intention of concentrating the whole attention upon +themselves. One such man, called appropriately the Bore Constrictor of +conversation in a certain city, really drove people away from every +house to which he was invited; for they grew tired of hearing him talk +of that particular science in which he was an expert. Such a talker +could make the planet Jupiter a bore, and if the talker were of the +feminine gender how one would shun her verbosity. + +"I called on Mrs. Marjoribanks yesterday," said a free lance once, +"and we had a little gossip about Copernicus." We do not care to have +anything quite so erudite, for if people are really very intimate with +Copernicus they do not mention it at dinner. + +It is as impossible to say what makes the model diner-out as to +describe the soil which shall grow the best grapes. We feel it and we +enjoy it, but we can give no receipt for the production of the same. + +As history, with exemplary truthfulness, has always painted man as +throwing off all the trouble of giving a dinner on his wife, why have +not our clever women appreciated the power of dinner-giving in +politics? Why are not our women greater politicians? Where is our Lady +Jersey, our Lady Palmerston, our Princess Belgioso? The Princess +Lieven, wife of the Russian Ambassador in London, was said to have +held the peace of Europe in the conduct of her _entrées_; and a +country-woman of our own is to-day supposed to influence the policy of +Germany largely by her dinners. From the polished and versatile +memoirs of the Grammonts, Walpoles, D'Azelios, Sydney Smith, and Lord +Houghton, how many an anecdote hinges on the efficacy of a dinner in +reconciling foes, and in the making of friends. How many a conspiracy +was hatched, no doubt, behind an aspic of plover's eggs or a _vol au +vent de volaille_. How many a budding ministry, according to Lord +Lammington, was brought to full power over a well-ordered table-cloth. +How many a war cloud dispelled by the proper temperature of the +Burgundy. It is related of Lord Lyndhurst that when somebody asked him +how to succeed in life, he answered, "Give good wine." A French +statesman would have answered, "Give good dinners." Talleyrand kept +the most renowned table of his day, quite as much for political as +hygienic reasons. At eighty years of age he still spent an hour every +morning with his _chef_, discussing the dishes to be served at dinner. +The Emperor Napoleon, who was no epicure, nor even a connoisseur, was +nevertheless pleased with Talleyrand's luxurious and refined +hospitality, in consequence of the impression it made on those who +were so fortunate as to partake of it. On the other hand, one +hesitates to contemplate the indigestions and bad English cooking +which must have hatched an Oliver Cromwell, or still earlier that +decadence of Italian cookery which made a Borgia possible. + +Social leaders in all ages and countries have thus studied the tastes +and the intellectual aptitudes and capabilities of those whom they +have gathered about their boards; and Mythology would suggest that the +_petits soupers_ on high Olympus, enlivened by the "inextinguishable +laughter of the gods," had much to do with the politics of the Greek +heaven under Jupiter. Reading the Northern Saga in the same +connection, may not the vague and awful conceptions of cookery which +seem to have filled the Northern mind have had something to do with +the opera of Siegfried? Even the music of Wagner seems to have been +inspired by a draught from the skull of his enemy. It has the +fascination of clanging steel, and the mighty rustling of armour. The +wind sighs through the forest, and the ice-blast freezes the hearer. +The chasms of earth seem to open before us. But it has also the terror +of an indigestion, and the brooding horror of a nightmare from +drinking metheglia and eating half-roasted kid. The political aspect +of a Scandinavian heaven was always stormy. Listen to the Trilogy. + +In America a hostess sure of her soups and her _entrées_, with such +talkers as she could command, could influence American political +movements--she might influence its music--by her dinners, and become +an enviable Lady Palmerston. + +Old people are apt to say that there is a decay in the art of +conversation, that it is one of the lost arts. No doubt this is in a +measure true all over the world. A French _salon_ would be to-day an +impossibility for that very reason. It is no longer the fashion to +tell anecdotes, to try to be amusing. A person is considered a prig +who sits up to amuse the company. All this is bad; it is reactionary +after the drone of the Bore Constrictor. It is going on all over the +world. It is part of that hurry which has made us talk slang, the +jelly of speech, speech condensed and boiled down, easily transported, +and warranted to keep in all climates. + +But there is a very pleasant _juste milieu_ between the stately, +perhaps starchy, anecdotist of the past and the easy and witty talker +of to-day, who may occasionally drop into slang, and what is more, may +permit a certain slovenliness of speech. There are certain mistakes in +English, made soberly, advisedly, and without fear of Lindley Murray, +which make one sigh for the proprieties of the past. The trouble is we +have no standard. Writers are always at work at the English language, +and yet many people say that it is at present the most irregular and +least understood of all languages. + +The intellectual components of a successful dinner, should, if we may +quote Hawthorne, be illuminated with intellect, and softened by the +kindest emotions of the heart. To quote Mrs. Jameson, they must +combine the caustic and the witty, the lively and the clever, and even +the absurd, and the assiduous above all. Everybody must be unselfish +enough not to yawn, and never seem bored. They must be self-sacrificing, +but all apparently well-pleased. The intellectual components of a +dinner, like the condiments of a salad, must be of the best; and it is +for the hostess to mix them with the unerring tact and fine +discrimination of an American woman. + + + + +CONSCIENTIOUS DINERS. + + It is chiefly men of intellect who hold good eating in honour. + The head is not capable of a mental operation which consists in + a long sequence of appreciations, and many severe decisions of + the judgment, which has not a well-fed brain. + BRILLAT SAVARIN. + + +A good dinner and a pretty hostess,--for there are terms on which +beauty and beef can meet much to the benefit of both,--one wit, +several good talkers, and as many good listeners, or more of the +latter, are said to make a combination which even our greatest +statesmen do not despise. Man wants good dinners. It is woman's +province to provide them; but nature and education must make the +conscientious diner. + +It is to be feared that we are too much in a hurry to be truly +conscientious diners. Our men have too many school-tasks +yet,--politics, money-making, science, mental improvement, charities, +psychical research, building railroads, steam monitors, colleges, and +such like gauds,--too many such distractions to devote themselves as +they ought to the question of _entrées_ and _entremets_. They should +endeavour to give the dinner a fitting place. Just see how the noble +language of France, which Racine dignified and Molière amplified, +respectfully puts on its robes of state which are lined with ermine +when it approaches the great subject of dinner! + +It is to be feared that we are far off from the fine art of dining, +although many visits to Paris and much patronage of Le Doyon's, the +Café Anglais, and the Café des Ambassadeurs, may have prepared us for +the _entremet_ and the _pièce de résistance_. We are improving in this +respect and no longer bolt our dinners. The improvement is already +manifest in the better tempers and complexions of our people. + +But are we as conscientious as the gentleman in "Punch" who rebuked +the giddy girl who would talk to him at dinner? "Do you remember, my +dear, that you are in the house of the best _entrées_ in London? I +wish to eat my dinner." + +That was a man to cook for! He had his appropriate calm reserve of +appreciation, for the _suprême de volaille_. He knew how to watch and +wait for the sweetbreads, and green peas. Not thrown away upon him was +that last turn which makes the breast of the partridge become of a +delicate Vandyck brown. How respectful was he to that immortal art for +which the great French cook died, a suicide for a belated turbot. + +"Ah," said Parke Godwin once, when in one of his most brilliant +Brillat Savarin moods, "how it ennobles a supper to think that all +these oysters will become ideas!" + +But if a dinner is not a cookery book, neither is it a matter of +expense alone, nor a payment of social debts. It is a question of +temperature, of the selection of guests, of the fitness of things, of +a proper variety, and of time. The French make their exquisite dinners +light and short. The English make theirs a trifle long and heavy. + +The young hostess, to strike the _juste milieu_, must travel, reflect, +and go to a cooking-school. She must buy and read a library of +cooking-books. And when all is done and said, she must realize that a +cookery-book is not a dinner. There are some natures which can absorb +nothing from a cookery-book. As Lady Galway said that she had put all +her wits into Bradshaw's "Railway Guide" and had never got them out +again, so some amateur cook remarked that she had tested her recipes +with the "cook-book in one hand and the cooking-stove in the other," +yet the wit had stayed away. All young housekeepers must go through +the discipline--in a land where cooks are as yet scarce--of trying and +failing, of trying and at length succeeding. They must go to _La Belle +France_ to learn how to make a soup, for instance. That is to say, +they must study the best French authorities. + +The mere question of sustenance is easy of solution. We can stand by a +cow and drink her milk, or we can put some bread in our pockets and +nibble it as we go along; but dinner as represented by our complicated +civilization is a matter of interest which must always stand high +amongst the questions which belong to social life. It is a very +strange attendant circumstance that having been a matter of profound +concern to mankind for so many years, it is now almost as easy to find +a bad dinner as a good one, even in Paris, that headquarters of +cookery. + +There would be no sense in telling a young American housekeeper to +learn to make sauces and to cook like a French _chef_, for it is a +profession requiring years of study and great natural taste and +aptitude. A French _chef_ commands a higher salary than a secretary of +state or than a civil engineer. As well tell a young lady that she +could suddenly be inspired with a knowledge of the art of war or of +navigation. She would only perhaps learn to do very badly what they in +ten years learn to do so well. She would say in her heart, "For my +part I am surfeited with cookery. I cry, something _raw_ if you please +for me,--something that has never been touched by hand except the one +that pulled it off the blooming tree or uprooted it from the honest +ground. Let me be a Timon if you will, and eat green radishes and +cabbages, or a Beau Brummel, asphyxiated in the consumption of a green +pea; but no _ragoût_, _côtelette_, _compote_, _crème_, or any hint or +cooking till the remembrance of all that I have seen has faded and the +smell of it has passed away!" + +Thus said one who attended a cooking-school, had gone through the +mysteries of soup-making, had learned what _sauté_ means; had mastered +_entremets_, and _entrées_, and _plats_, and _hors d'oeuvres_; had +learned that _boudins de veau_ are simply veal puddings, something a +little better than a veal croquette made into a little pie; and had +found that all meats if badly cooked are much alike. There is a great +deal of nonsense talked about making good dishes out of nothing. A +French cook is very economical, he uses up odds and ends, but he must +have something to cook with. + +Stone broth does not go down with a hungry man, nor bad food, however +disguised with learned sauces. A little learning is a dangerous thing, +and one who attempts too much will fail. But one can read, and +reflect, and get the general outlines of cultivated cookery. As to +cultivated cookery being necessarily extravagant, that is a mistake. A +great, heavy, ill-considered dinner is no doubt costly. Almost all +American housekeeping is wasteful in the extreme, but the modern +vanities which depend on the skill of the cook and the arranging mind +of the housekeeper, all these are the triumphs of the present age, and +worthy of deep thought and consideration. Let the young housekeeper +remember that the pretty _entrées_ made out of yesterday's roast +chicken or turkey will be a great saving as well as a great luxury, +and she will learn to make them. + +Amongst a busy people like ourselves, from poorest to the richest, +dinners are intended to be recreations, and recreations of inestimable +value. The delightful contrast which they offer to the labours of the +day, the pleasant, innocent triumph they afford to the hostess, in +which all may partake without jealousy, the holiday air of guests and +of the dining-room, which should be fresh, well aired, filled with +flowers, made bright with glass and silver,--all this refreshes the +tired man of affairs and invigorates every creature. As far as +possible, the discussion of all disagreeable subjects should be kept +from the dinner-table. All that is unpleasant lowers the pulse and +retards digestion. All that is cheerful invigorates the pulse and +helps the human being to live a more brave and useful life. No one +should bring an unbecoming grumpiness to the dinner-table. Be grumpy +next day if you choose, when the terrapin may have disagreed with you, +but not at the feast. Bring the best bit of news and gossip, not +scandal, the choicest critique of the last novel, the cream of your +correspondence. Be sympathetic, amiable, and agreeable at a feast, +else it were better you had stayed away. The last lesson of luxury is +the advice to contribute of our very best to the dinners of our +friends, while we form our own dinners on the plane of the highest +luxury which we can afford, and avoid the great _too much_. Remember +that in all countries the American lavish prodigality of feasting, +and the expensive garniture of hothouse flowers, are always spoken of +as vulgar. How well it will be for us when our splendid array of fish, +flesh, and fowl shall have reached the benediction of good cookery; +when we know how to serve it, not with barbaric magnificence and +repletion, but with a delicate sense of fitness. + +Mr. Webster, himself an admirable dinner giver, said of a codfish +salad that it was "fit to eat." He afterwards remarked, more +gravely,--and it made him unpopular,--that a certain nomination was +"not fit to be made." + +That led to a discussion of the word "fit." The fitness of things, the +right amount, the thing in the right place, whether it be the +condiment of a salad or the nomination to the presidency,--this is the +thing to consult, to think of in a dinner; let it be "fit to be made." + +An American dinner resolves itself into the following formula:-- + +The oyster is offered first. What can equal the American oyster in all +his salt-sea freshness, raw, on the half-shell, a perpetual stimulant +to appetite,--with a slice of lemon, and a bit of salt and pepper, +added to his own luscious juices, his perfect flavor? The jaded +palate, worn with much abuse, revives, and stands, like Oliver, asking +for more. + +The soup follows. To this great subject we might devote a chapter. +What visions of white and brown, clear and thick, fresh beef stock or +the maritime delicacies of cray fish and prawn rise before us,--in +every colour, from pink or cream to the heavy Venetian red of the +mulligatawny or the deep smoke-tints of mock turtle and terrapin! The +subject grows too large for mere mention; we must give a chapter to +soup. + +When we speak of fish we realize that the ocean even is inadequate to +hold them all. Have we not trout, salmon, the great fellows from the +Great Lakes, and the exclusive ownership of the Spanish mackerel? Have +we not the fee simple of terrapin and the exclusive excellence of +shad? This subject, again, requires a volume. + +The roast! Ah! here we once bowed to our great Mother England, and +thought her roast beef better than ours. There are others who think +that we have caught up on the roasts. Our beef is very good, our +mutton does not equal always the English Southdowns; but we are even +improving in the blacknosed woolly brethren who conceal such delicious +juices under their warm coats. + +A roast saddle of mutton with currant jelly--but let us not linger +over this thrilling theme. Our venison is the best in the world. + +As for turkeys,--_we discovered them_, and it is fair to say that, +after looking the world over, there is no better bird than a Rhode +Island Turkey, particularly if it is sent to you as a present from a +friend. Hang him a week, with a truffle in him, and stuff him with +chestnuts. + +As for chickens--there France has us at a disadvantage. There seems to +be a secret of fowl-feeding, or rearing, in France which we have not +mastered. Still we can get good chickens in America, and noble capons, +but they are very expensive. + +The _entrées_--here we must go again to those early missionaries to a +savage shore, the Delmonicos. They were the high priests of the +_entrée_. + +The salads--those daughters of luxury, those delicate expressions, in +food, of the art of dress--deserve a separate chapter. + +And now the _sorbet_ cools our throats and leads us up to the game. + +The American desserts are particularly rich and profuse. Our pies have +been laughed at, but they also are fit to eat, especially mince-pie, +which is first cousin to an English plum-pudding. + +Our puddings are like our Western scenery, heavy but magnificent. Our +ices have reached, under our foreign imported artists, the greatest +perfection. Our fruit is abundant and highly flavoured. We have not +yet perhaps known how to draw the line as to desserts. The great _too +much_ prevails. + +Do we not make our dinners too long and too heavy? How great an artist +would he be who should so graduate a dinner that there would be no +to-morrow in it! We eat more like Heliogabalus than like that +_gourmet_ who took the _beccafico_ out of the olive which had been +hidden in the pigeon, which had in its turn been warmed in the +chicken, which was cooked in the ox, which was roasted whole for the +birthday of a king. The _gourmet_ discarded the rest, but ate the +_beccafico_. + +The first duty of a guest who is asked to one of these dinners is to +be punctual. Who wishes to sit next to Mr. Many-Courses, when he has +been kept waiting for his dinner? Imagine the feelings of an amiable +host and hostess who, after taking the trouble to get up an excellent +dinner, feel that it is being spoiled by the tardiness of one guest! +They are nervously watching Mr. Many-Courses, for hungry animals are +frequently snappish, and sometimes dangerous. + +The hostess who knows how to invite her guests and to seat them +afterwards is a power in the State. She helps to refine, elevate, and +purify our great American conglomerate. She has not the Englishman's +Bible, "The Peerage," to help her seat her guests; she must trust to +her own intelligence to do that. Our great American conglomerate +repels all idea of rank, or the precedence idea, which is so well +understood in England. + +Hereditary distinction we have not, for although there are some +families which can claim a grandfather, they are few. A grandfather is +of little importance to the men who make themselves. Aristocracy in +America is one of talent or money. + +Even those more choice intelligences, which in older countries are put +on glass pedestals, are not so elevated here as to excite jealousy. We +all adore the good diner-out, but somebody would be jealous if he had +always the best seat. Therefore the hostess has to contend with much +that is puzzling in the seating of her guests; but if she says to +herself, "I will place those people near each other who are +sympathetic," she will govern her festive board with the intelligence +of Elizabeth, and the generosity of Queen Margharita. + +She must avoid too many highly scented flowers. People are sometimes +weary of the "rapture of roses." Horace says: "Avoid, at an agreeable +entertainment, discordant music, and muddy perfume, and poppies mixed +with Sardinian honey; they give offence." Which is only another way of +saying that some music may be too heavy, and the perfume of flowers +too strong. + +Remember, young hostess, or old hostess, that your dinner is to be +made up of people who have to sit two hours chatting with each other, +and that this is of itself a severe ordeal of patience. + +Good breeding is said to be the apotheosis of self-restraint, and so +is good feeding. Good breeding puts nature under restraint, controls +the temper, and refines the speech. Good feeding, unless it is as well +governed as it should be, inflames the nose and the temper, and +enlarges the girth most unbecomingly. Good breeding is the guardian +angel of a woman. Good feeding, that is, conscientious dining, must be +the patron saint of a man! A truly well bred and well fed man is quiet +in dress, does not talk slang, is not prosy, is never unbecomingly +silent, nor is he too garrulous. He is always respectful to everybody, +kind to the weak, helpful to the feeble. He may not be an especially +lofty character, but good feeding inducts him into the character and +duties of a gentleman. He simulates a virtue if he has it not, +especially after dinner. _Noblesse oblige_ is his motto, and he feels +what is due to himself. + +Can we be a thorough-bred, or a thorough-fed, all by ourselves? It is +easy enough to learn when and where to leave a card, how to behave at +a dinner, how to use a fork, how to receive and how to drop an +acquaintance; but what a varied education is that which leads up to +good feeding, to becoming a conscientious diner. It is not given to +every one, this lofty grace. + +A dinner should be a good basis for a mutual understanding. They say +that few great enterprises have been conducted without it. People are +sure to like each other much better after dining together. It is +better to go home from a dinner remembering how clever everybody was, +than to go home merely to wonder at the opulence that could compass +such a pageant. + +A dinner should put every one into his best talking condition. The +quips and quirks of excited fancy should come gracefully, for society +well arranged brings about the attrition of wits. If one is +comfortable and well-fed--not gorged--he is in his best condition. + +The more civilized the world gets, the more difficult it is to amuse +it. It is the common complaint of the children of luxury that dinners +are dull and society stupid. How can the reformer make society more +amusing and less dangerous? Eliminate scandal and back-biting. + +The danger and trials and difficulties of dinner-giving are manifold. +First, whom shall we ask? Will they come? It is often the fate of the +hostess, in the busy season, to invite forty people before she gets +twelve. Having got the twelve, she then has perhaps a few days before +the dinner to receive the unwelcome news that Jones has a cold, Mrs. +Brown has lost a relative, and Miss Malcontent has gone to Washington. +The dinner has to be reconstructed; deprived of its original intention +it becomes a balloon which has lost ballast. It goes drifting about, +and there is no health in it and no purpose. This is especially true +also of those dinners which are conducted on debt-paying principles. + +How many hard-worked, rich men in America are bored to death by the +gilded and over-burdened splendour of their wives' dinners and those +to which they are to go. They sit looking at their hands during two or +three courses, poor dyspeptics who cannot eat. To relieve them, to +bring them into communion with their next neighbour, with whom they +have nothing in common, what shall one do? Oh, that depressing cloud +which settles over the jaded senses of even the conscientious diner, +as he fails to make his neighbour on either side say anything but yes +or no! + +We must, perhaps, before we give the perfect dinner, renounce the idea +that dinner should be on a commercial basis. Of course our social +debts must be paid. It is a large subject, like the lighting of a +city, the cleaning of the streets, and must be approached carefully, +so that the lesser evil may not swamp the greater good. Do not invite +twelve people to bore them. + +The dinner hour differs in different cities,--from seven to half-past +seven, to eight, and eight and a half; all these have their adherents. +In London, many a party does not sit down until nine. Hence the +necessity of a hearty meal at five o'clock tea. The royalties, all +blessed with good appetites, eat eggs on toast, hot scones and other +good things at five o'clock tea, and take often an _avant goût_ also +at seven. + +In our country half-past seven is generally the most convenient hour, +unless one is going to the play afterward, when seven is better. A +dinner should not last more than an hour and a half. But it does last +sometimes three hours. + +Ladies dress for a large dinner often in low neck and short sleeves, +wear their jewels, and altogether their finest things. But now +Pompadour waists are allowed. For a small dinner, the Pompadour dress, +half-open at the throat, with a few jewels, is in better taste. + +Men should be always in full dress,--black coat, waistcoat, and +trousers, and white cravat. There is no variation from this dress at a +dinner, large or small. + +For ladies in delicate health who cannot expose throat or arms, there +is always the largest liberty allowed; but the dinner dress must be +handsome. + +In leaving the house and ordering the carriage, name the earliest hour +rather than the latest; it is better to keep one's coachman waiting +than to weary one's hostess. It is quite impossible to say when one +will leave, as there may be music, recitations, and so on, after the +dinner. It is now quite the fashion, as in London, to ask people in +after the dinner. + +Everybody should go to a dinner intending to be agreeable. + + "E'en at a dinner some will be unblessed, + However good the viands, and well dressed; + They always come to table with a scowl, + Squint with a face of verjuice o'er each dish, + Fault the poor flesh, and quarrel with the fish, + Curse cook, and wife, and loathing, eat and growl." + +Such men should never be asked twice; yet such were Dr. Johnson, and +later on, Abraham Hayward, the English critic, who were invited out +every night of their lives. It is a poor requital for hospitality, to +allow any personal ill-temper to interfere with the pleasure of the +feast. Some hostesses send around the champagne early to unloose the +tongues; and this has generally a good effect if the party be dull. +Excessive heat in a room is the most benumbing of all overweights. Let +the hostess have plenty of oxygen to begin with. + +For a little dinner of eight we might suggest that the hostess +write:-- + + DEAR MRS. SULLIVAN,--Will you and Mr. Sullivan dine with us on + Thursday at half-past seven to meet Mr. and Mrs. Evarts, quite + informally? + + Ever yours truly, + MARY MONTGOMERY. + +This accepted, which it should be in the first person, cordially, as +it is written, let us see what we would have for dinner-- + + Sherry. Soup. Sorrel, _à l'essence de veau_. + Lobsters, _sauté à la Bonnefoy_. Chablis. + Veal Cutlets, _à la Zingara_. + Fried sweet potatoes. Champagne. + Roast Red-Head Ducks. Currant jelly. + Claret. Curled Celery in glasses. Olives. + Cheese. Salad. + Frozen Pudding. + Grapes. + Coffee. Liqueurs. + +Or, if you please, a brown soup, a white fish or bass, boiled, a +saddle of mutton, a pair of prairie chickens and salad, a plate of +broiled mushrooms, a _sorbet_ of Maraschino, cheese, ice-cream, fruit. +It is not a bad "look-out," is it? + +How well the Italians understand the little dinner! They are frugal +but conscientious diners until they get to the dessert. + +Their dishes have a relish of the forest and the field. First comes +wild boar, stewed in a delicious condiment called sour-sweet sauce, +composed of almonds, pistachio nuts, and plums. Quails, with a twang +of aromatic herbs, are followed by macaroni flavoured with spiced +livers, cocks' combs, and eggs called _risotto_, then golden _fritto_, +cooked in the purest _cru_ of olive oil, and _quocchi_ cakes, of newly +ground Indian corn, which is all that our roasted green corn is, +without the trouble of gnawing it off the cob,--a process abhorrent to +the conscientious diner unless he is alone. One should first take +monastic vows of extreme austerity before he eats the forbidden fruit, +onion, or the delicious corn. But when we can conquer Italian cooking, +we can eat these two delicious things, nor fear to whisper to our +best friend, nor fear to be seen eating. + +The triumphs of the _dolce_ belong also to the Italians. Their sugared +fruits, ices, and pastry are all matchless; and their wines, Chianti, +Broglio, and Vino Santo, a kind of Malaga, as "frankly luscious as the +first grape can make it," are all delicious. + + + + +VARIOUS MODES OF GASTRONOMIC GRATIFICATION. + + Phyllis, I have a cask full of Albanian wine upwards of nine + years old; I have parsley in the garden for the weaving of + chaplets. The house shines cheerfully with plate; all hands + are busy. HORACE, _Ode XI_. + + +Some old French wit spoke of an "idea which could be canonized." +Perhaps yet we may have a Saint Table-Cloth. There have been worse +saints than Saint Table-Cloth and clean linen, since the days of Louis +XIII! + +We notice in the old pictures of feasting that the table-cloth was of +itself a picture,--lace, in squares, blocks, and stripes, sometimes +only lace over a colour, but generally mixed with linen. + +It was the highest ambition of the Dutch housewife to have much double +damask of snowy whiteness in her table-linen chest. That is still the +grand reliable table-linen. No one can go astray who uses it. + +Table-linen is now embroidered in coloured cottons, or half of its +threads are drawn out and it is then sewed over into lace-work. It is +then thrown over a colour, generally bright red. But pale lilac is +more refined, and very becoming to the lace-work. + +Not a particle of coarse food must go on that table-cloth. Everything +must be brought to each guest from the broad, magnificent buffet; all +must be served _à la Russe_ from behind a grand, impenetrable +screen, which should fence off every dining-room from the butler's +pantry and the kitchen. All that goes on behind that screen is the +butler's business, and not ours. The butler is a portly man, +presumably, with a clean-shaven face, of English parentage. He has the +key of the wine-cellar and of the silver-chest, two heavy +responsibilities; for nowadays, not to go into the question of the +wines, the silver-chest is getting weighty. Silver and silver-gilt +dishes, banished for some years, are now reasserting their pre-eminent +fitness for the dinner-table: The plates may be of solid silver; so +are the high candlesticks and the salt-cellars, of various and +beautiful designs after Benvenuto Cellini. + +Old silver is reappearing, and happy the hostess who has a real Queen +Anne teapot. The soup-tureen of silver is again used, and so are the +old beer-mugs. Our Dutch ancestors were much alive to good silver; he +may rejoice who, joking apart, had a Dutch uncle. I, for one, do not +like to eat off a metallic plate, be it of silver or gold. It is +disagreeable to hear the knife scrape on it, even with the delicate +business of cutting a morsel of red canvas-back. Gastronomic +gratification should be so highly refined that it trembles at a +crumpled rose-leaf. Porcelain plates seem to be perfect, if they have +not on them the beautiful head of Lamballe. Nobody at a dinner desires +to cut her head off again, or to be reminded of the French Revolution. +Nor should we hurry. A master says, "I have arrived at such a point +that if the calls of business or pleasure did not interpose, there +would be no fixed date for finding what time might elapse between the +first glass of sherry and the final Maraschino." + +However, the pleasures of a dinner may be too prolonged. Men like to +sit longer eating and drinking than women; so when a dinner is of both +sexes it should not continue more than one hour and a half. Horace, +that prince of diners, objected to the long-drawn-out meal. "Then we +drank, each as much as he felt the need," meant no orgy amongst the +Greeks. + +But if the talk lingers after the biscuit and cheese the hostess need +not interrupt it. + +Talleyrand is said to have introduced into France the custom of taking +Parmesan with the soup, and the Madeira after it. + +There are many conflicting opinions about the proper place for the +cheese in order of serving. The old fashion was to serve it last. It +is now served with, or after, the salad. "A dessert without cheese is +like a beautiful woman with one eye," says an old gourmet. + +"Eat cheese after fruit, to prepare the palate for fresh wine," says +another. + +"After melon, wine is a felon." + +If it is true that "an American devours, an Englishman eats, and a +Frenchman dines," then we must take the French fashion and give the +cheese after the salad. + +Toasted cheese savouries are very nice. The Roman punch should be +served just before the game. It is a very refreshing interlude. Some +wit called it at Mrs. Hayes' dinners "the life-saving station." + +When the ices are removed a dessert-plate of glass, with a +finger-bowl, is placed before each person, with two glasses, one for +sherry, one for claret, or Burgundy; and the grapes, peaches, pears, +and other fruits are then passed. + +The hostess makes the sign for retiring to a _salon_ perhaps rich +with magnificent hangings of old gold, with pictures, with vases of +Dresden, of Sèvres, of Kiota, with statuary, and specimens of Capo di +Monti. There coffee may be brought and served by the footmen in cups +which Catherine of Russia might have given to Potemkin. The gentlemen, +in England and America, remain behind to smoke. + +There is much exquisite porcelain in use in the opulent houses of +America. It is getting to be a famous fad with us, and nothing adds +more to one's pleasure in a good dinner than to have it served on +pretty plates. And let us learn to say "footman," and not "waiter;" +the latter personage belongs to a club or a hotel. It would prevent +disagreeable mistakes if we would make this correction in our ordinary +conversation. + +In the arrangement of a splendid dinner let us see what should be the +bill of fare. + +This is hard to answer, as the delicacies vary with the season. But we +will venture on one:-- + + Oysters on the half-shell. + Sherry. Soups: + _Crème d'Asperges_, Julienne. + Fish: Chablis. + Fried Smelts, or Salmon. + Fresh Cucumbers. + Champagne. _Filet de Boeuf_, with Truffles Claret. + and Mushrooms. + Fried Potatoes. + Entrées: + _Poulet à la Maréchale_. _Petits Pois._ + _Timbale de Macaroni_. + Sweetbreads. + Vegetables. Artichokes. + Sorbet. Roman Punch. + Steinberger. Game: + Canvas-back or Wild Duck with Currant Jelly. + Quail with Water-Cresses. + Salad of Lettuce. Salad of Tomato. + Rudesheimer. _Pâté de foie gras._ + Hot dessert: + Cabinet Pudding. + Cold dessert: + _Crème glacée aux tutti frutti._ + _Marron glacés._ Cakes. Preserved ginger. + Madeira. Cheese. Port. + Café. Cordials. + +I apologize to my reader for mixing thus French and English. It is a +vulgar habit, and should be avoided. But it is almost impossible to +avoid it when speaking of a dinner; the cooks being French, the +_menus_ are written in French, and the names of certain dishes are +usually written in French. Now all people understand French, or should +do so. If they do not, it is very easy to learn that the "_vol au vent +de volaille_" is simply chicken pie, that potatoes are still potatoes +under whatever alias they are served, and so on. + +No such dinner as this can be well served in a private house unless +the cook is a _chef_, a _cordon bleu_,--here we must use French +again,--and unless the service is perfect this dinner will be a +failure. It is better to order such a dinner from Delmonico's or +Sherry's or from the best man you can command. Do not attempt and +fail. + +But the little dinners given by housekeepers whose service is perfect +are apt to be more eatable and palatable than the best dinner from a +restaurant, where all the food is cooked by gas, and tastes alike. + +The number of guests is determined by the size of the room. The +etiquette of entering the dining-room is this: the host goes first, +with the most distinguished lady. The hostess follows last, with the +most distinguished gentleman. + +Great care and attention must be observed in seating the guests. This +is the province of the hostess, who must consider the subject +carefully. All this must be written out, and a diagram made of the +table. The name of each lady is written on a card and enclosed in an +envelope, on the outside of which is inscribed the name of the +gentleman who has the honour to take her in. This envelope must be +given each man by the servant in the dressing-room, or he must find it +on the hall table. Then, with the dinner-card at each place, the +guests find their own places. + +The lady of the house should be dressed and in the drawing-room at +least five minutes before the guests are to arrive, which should be +punctually. How long must a hostess wait for a tardy guest? Only +fifteen minutes. + +It is well to say to the butler, "Dinner must be served at half-past +seven," and the guests may be asked at seven. That generally ensures +the arrival of all before the fish is spoiled. Let the company then go +in to dinner, allowing the late-comer to follow. He must come in +alone, blushing for his sins. These facts may help a hostess: No great +dinner in Europe waits for any one; royalty is always punctual. In +seating your guests do not put husband and wife, sisters or relatives +together. + +An old courtesy book of 1290 says:-- + + "Consider about placing + Each person in the post that befits him. + Between relations it behooves + To place others midway sometimes." + +We should respect the _superstitions_ of the dinner-table. No one +should be helped twice to soup; it means an early death. Few are free +from the feeling that thirteen is an unlucky number; so avoid that, as +no one wishes to make a guest uncomfortable. As we have said, Gasthea +is an irritable muse; she must be flattered and pampered. No one must +put salt on another's plate. There is a strong prejudice against +spilling the salt; but evil consequences can be avoided by throwing a +pinch of salt over the left shoulder. + +These remarks may seem frivolous to those unhappy persons who have not +the privilege of being superstitious. It gives great zest to life to +have a few harmless superstitions. It is the cheese _fondu_ of the +mental faculties; and we may add that a consideration of these maxims, +handed down from a glorious past of gastronomes, contributes to the +various modes of gastronomic gratification. We must remember that the +tongue of man, by the delicacy of its structure, gives ample evidences +of the high functions to which it is destined. The Roman epicures +cultivated their taste so perfectly that they could tell if a fish +were caught above or below a bridge. Organic perfection, epicureanism, +or the art of good living, belongs to man alone. The pleasure of +eating is the only one, taken in moderation, which is common to every +time, age, and condition, which is enjoyed without fatigue or danger, +which must be repeated two or three times a day. It can combine with +our other pleasures, or console us for their loss. + +"_Un bon diner, c'est un consolation pour les illusions perdus._" And +we have an especial satisfaction, when in the act of eating, that we +are prolonging our existence, and enabling ourselves to become good +citizens whilst enjoying ourselves. + +Thus the pleasures of the table, the act of dining, the various modes +of gastronomic gratification should receive our most respectful +consideration. "Let the soup be hot, and the wines cool. Let the +coffee be perfect, and the liqueurs chosen with peculiar care. Let the +guests be detained by the social enjoyment, and animated with the hope +that before the evening is over there is still some pleasure in +store." + +Our modern hostesses who understand the art of entertaining often have +music, or some recitations, in the drawing-room after the dinner; and +in England it is often made the occasion of an evening party. + +Thus gourmandize is that social love of good dinners which combines in +one Athenian elegance, Roman luxury, and Parisian refinement. It +implies discretion to arrange, skill to prepare, and taste to direct. +It cannot be done superficially, and if done well it takes time, +experience, and care. "To be a success, a dinner must be thought out." + +"By right divine, man is the king of nature, and all that the earth +produces is for him. It is for him that the quail is fattened, the +grape ripened. For him alone the Mocha possesses so agreeable an +aroma, for him the sugar has such wholesome properties." + +He, and he alone, banquets in company, and so far from good living +being hurtful to health, Brillat Savarin declares that the _gourmets_ +have a larger dose of vitality than other men. But they have their +sorrows, and the worst of them is a bad dinner,--an ill-considered, +wretchedly composed, over-burdened repast, in which there is little +enjoyment for the brain, and a constant disappointment to the palate. + +"Let the dishes be exceedingly choice and but few in number, and the +wines of the best quality. Let the order of serving be from the more +substantial to the lighter." Let the eating proceed without hurry or +bustle, since the dinner is the last business of the day; and let the +guests look upon themselves as travellers about to reach the same +destination together. + +A dinner is not, as we see, a matter of butler or _chef_ alone. "It is +the personal trouble which a host and hostess are willing to take; it +is the intimate association of a cultivated nature with the practical +business of entertaining, which makes the perfect dinner. + +"Conviviality concerns everything, hence it produces fruits of all +flavours. All the ingenuity of man has been for centuries concentrated +upon increasing and intensifying the pleasures of the table." + +The Greeks used flowers to adorn vases and to crown the guests. They +ate under the vault of heaven, in gardens, in groves, in the presence +of all the marvels of nature. To the pleasures of the table were +joined the charms of music and the sound of instruments. Whilst the +court of the king of the Phoenicians were feasting, Phenius, a +minstrel, celebrated the deeds of the warriors of bygone times. Often, +too, dancers and jugglers and comic actors, of both sexes and in every +costume, came to engage the eye, without lessening the pleasures of +the table. + +We eat in heated rooms, too much heated perhaps, and brilliantly +lighted, as they should be. The present fancy for shaded lamps, and +easily ignitible shades, leads to impromptu conflagrations which are +apt to injure Saint Table-Cloth. That poor martyr is burned at the +steak quite too often. Our dancers and jugglers are introduced after +dinner, not during dinner; and we have our warriors at the table +amongst the guests. Nor do we hire Phenius, a minstrel, to discourse +of their great deeds. + +I copy from a recent paper the following remarks. Mr. Elbridge T. +Gerry, says: "There are in society some newly admitted members who, +with the best intentions imaginable, are never able to do things in +just the proper style. They are persons of wealth, fairly good +breeding and possessed of a desire to entertain. With all the +good-humoured witticisms that the newspapers indulge in on this +subject, it is nevertheless a fact that the art of entertaining +requires deep and careful study, as well as natural aptitude." + +Some of the greatest authors have stated this in poetry and prose. + +"A typical member of this new class recently gave a dinner to a number +of persons in society. It was a very dull affair. There was +prodigality in everything, but no taste, and no refinement. The fellow +amused me by telling us he had no trouble in getting up a fine dinner; +he had only to tell his butler and _chef_ to get up a meal for so many +persons, and the whole thing was done. There are few persons fortunate +enough to possess _chefs_ and butlers of that kind; he certainly was +not. Of the persons who attended his dinner, nine out of ten were +displeased and will never attend another. It does not take long for +the experienced member of society to know whether a host or hostess is +qualified to entertain, and the climbers soon find it a hard piece of +business to secure guests." + +But on the other hand, we can reason that so fond of the various modes +of gastronomic gratification is the human race, that the dinner giver +is a very popular variety of the _genus homo_; nor does the host or +hostess generally find it a hard matter to secure guests. Indeed +there is a vulgar proverb to the effect that if the Devil gives a +ball, all the angels will go to it. + +"If you want an animal to love you, feed it." So that the host can +stand a great deal of criticism. We should, however, take a hint from +the Arabs, nor abuse the salt; it is almost worse than spilling it. + +Lady Morgan described the cookery of France as being "the standard and +gauge of modern civilization;" and when, during the peace which +followed Waterloo, Brillat Savarin turned his thoughts to the +æsthetics of the dinner-table, he probably added more largely to the +health and happiness of the human race than any other known +philanthropist. We must not forget what had gone before in the +developments and refinements of the reigns of Louis XIV., XV., and the +Regent; we must not forget the honour done to gastronomy by such +statesmen as Colbert, such soldiers as Condé, nor by such a wit and +beauty as Madame de Sevigné. + + + + +OF SOUPS. + + "Oh, a splendid soup is the true pea-green, + I for it often call, + And up it comes, in a smart tureen, + When I dine in my banquet hall. + When a leg of mutton at home is boiled, + The liquor I always keep, + And in that liquor, before 't is spoiled, + A peck of peas I steep; + When boiled till tender they have been + I rub through a sieve the peas so green. + + "Though the trouble the indolent may shock, + I rub with all my power, + And having returned them to the stock, + I stew them for an hour; + Of younger peas I take some more, + The mixture to improve, + Thrown in a little time before + The soup from the fire I move. + Then seldom a better soup is seen + Than the old familiar soup pea-green." + + +The best of this poetical recipe is that it is not only funny, but a +capital formula. + + "The giblet may tire, the gravy pall, + And the truth may lose its charm; + But the green pea triumphs over them all + And does not the slightest harm." + +Some of us, however, prefer turtle. It would seem sometimes as if +turtle soup were the synonym for a good dinner, and as if it dated +back to the days of good Queen Bess. But fashion did not set its seal +on turtle soup until about seventy years ago; as an entry in the +"Gentleman's Magazine" mentions calipash and calipee as rarities. It +is now inseparable from the Lord Mayor's dinner. When we notice +ninety-nine recipes for soup in the latest French cookery book, and +when we see the fate of a dinner made or marred by the first dish, we +must concede that it will be a stumbling-block to the young +housekeeper. + +Add to that the curious fact that no Irishwoman can make a good soup +until she has been taught by years of experience, and we have the +first problem in the dangerous process of dinner-giving staring us in +the face. A greasy, watery, ill-considered soup will take away the +appetite of even a hungry man; while a delicate white or brown soup, +or the _purées_ of peas and asparagus, may well whet the appetite of +the most pampered _gourmet_. + +The subject of soup-making may well be studied. A good soup is at once +economical and healthful, and of the first importance in the +construction of a dinner. Soup should be made the day before it is to +be eaten, by boiling either a knuckle of veal for a white soup, three +or four pounds of beef, with the bone well cracked, for a clear +_consommé_, or by putting the bones of fish, chickens, and meat into +water with salt and pepper, and thus making an economical soup, which +may, however, be very good. The French put everything into the soup +pot,--bones, scraps, pot liquor, the water in which onions have been +boiled, in fact in which all vegetables including beans and potatoes +have been boiled; even as a French writer says "rejected MSS. may be +thrown into the soup pot;" and the result in France is always good. It +is to be observed that every soup should be allowed to cool, and all +the fat should be skimmed off, so that the residuum may be as clear as +wine. + +Delicate soups, clear _consommé_, and white soups _à la Reine_, are +great favourites in America, but in England they make a strong, +savoury article, which they call gravy soup. It is well to know how to +prepare this, as it makes a variety. + + Cut two pounds of beef from the neck into dice, and fry until + brown. Break small two or three pounds of bones, and fry + lightly. Bones from which streaked bacon has been cut make an + excellent addition, but too many must not be used, lest the + soup be salt. Slice and fry brown a pound of onions, put them + with the meat and bones and three quarts of cold water into + the soup pot; let it boil up, and having skimmed add two large + turnips, a carrot cut in slices, a small bundle of sweet + herbs, and a half a dozen pepper-corns. Let the soup boil + gently for four or five hours, and about one hour before it is + finished add a little piece of celery, or celery-seed tied in + muslin. This is a most delicious flavour. When done, strain + the soup and set it away for a night to get cold. Remove the + fat and next day let it boil up, stirring in two spoonfuls of + corn starch, moistened with cold water. Season with salt and + pepper to taste, not too salt; add forcemeat balls to the + soup, and you have a whole dinner in your soup. + +An oxtail soup is made like the above, only adding the tail, which is +divided into joints, which are fried brown. Then these joints should +be boiled until the meat comes easily off the bones. When the soup is +ready put in two lumps of sugar, a glass of port wine, and pour all +into the tureen. + +The Julienne soup, so delicious in summer, should be a nice clear +stock, with the addition of prepared vegetables. Unless the cook can +buy the excellent compressed vegetables which are to be had at the +Italian warehouses, it is well to follow this order:-- + + Wash and scrape a large carrot, cut away all the yellow parts + from the middle, and slice the red outside. Take an equal + quantity of turnips and three small onions, cut in a similar + manner. Put them in a stewpan with two ounces of butter and a + pinch of powdered sugar, stir over the fire until a nice brown + colour, then add a quart of clear, well-flavoured stock, and + let all simmer together gently for three hours. When done, + skim the fat off very carefully, and ten minutes before + serving add a lettuce cut in shreds and blanched for a minute + in boiling water. Simmer for five minutes and the soup will be + ready. This is a most excellent soup if well made. + +Mock-turtle soup is easily made:-- + + Boil the bones of the head three hours, add a piece of gravy + meat cut in dice and fried brown, three onions sliced and + fried brown, a carrot, a turnip, celery, and a small bundle of + sweet herbs; boil gently for three hours and take off the fat. + When it is ready to be served add a glass of sherry and slices + of lemon. The various parts of a calf's-head can be cooked and + used as forcemeat balls, and made to look exactly like turtle. + This soup is found canned and is almost as good as the real + article. + +Dried-pea soup, _crème d'asperge_, and bean soup, in fact all the +_purées_, are very healthful and elegant soups. The _purée_ is the +mashed mass of pea or bean, which is added to the stock. + + Boil a pint of large peas in a quart of water with a sprig of + parsley or mint, and a dozen or so of green onions. When the + peas are done strain and rub them through a sieve, put the + _purée_ back into the liquor the peas were boiled in, add a + pint of good veal or beef broth, a lump of sugar, and pepper + and salt to taste. Let the soup get thoroughly hot without + boiling, stir in an ounce of good butter, and the soup is + ready. + +A plain but quick and delicious soup may be made by using a can of +corn, with a small piece of pork. This warmed up quickly, with a +little milk added, is very good. + +As for a _crème d'asperge_, it is better to employ a _chef_ to teach +the new cook. + +Mulligatawny soup is a visitor from India. It should not be too strong +of curry powder for the average taste. The stock should be made of +chicken or veal, or the liquor in which chickens have been boiled. + + Slice and fry in butter six large onions, add four sharp, sour + apples, cored and quartered, but not peeled. Let them boil in + a little of the stock until quite tender, then mix with them a + quarter of a pound of flour, and a small teaspoonful of curry + powder. Take a quart of the stock and when the soup has boiled + skim it; let it simmer for half an hour, then carefully take + off all the fat, strain the soup, and rub the onions through a + sieve. When ready to heat the soup for the dinner-table add + any pieces of meat or chicken cut into small, delicate shapes. + When these have been boiled together for ten minutes the soup + will be ready; salt to taste. Boiled rice should be sent in on + a separate dish. + +Sorrel soup is a great favourite with the French people. We do not +make enough of sorrel in this country; it adds an excellent flavour. + + Carefully wash a pound of sorrel, and having picked, cut it in + shreds, put it into a stewpan with two ounces of fresh butter + and stir it over the fire for ten minutes. Stir in an ounce of + flour, mix well together and add a pint and a half of good + white stock made as for veal broth. Let it simmer for half an + hour. Having skimmed the soup, stir in the yolks of three eggs + beaten up in half a pint of milk or cream. Stir in a little + pat of butter, and when dissolved pour the whole over thin + pieces of toasted bread into the tureen. + +With the large family of the broths every housewife should become +acquainted. They are invaluable for the sick, especially broths of +chicken and mutton. For veal broth the following is an elaborate, but +excellent recipe: + + Get three or four pounds of scrag, or a knuckle of veal, + chopped into small pieces, also a ham bone, or slice of ham, + and cover with water; let it boil up, skim it until no more + rises. Put in four or five onions, a turnip, and later a bit + of celery or celery seed tied in muslin, a little salt, and + white pepper. Let it boil gently for four hours; strain the + gravy and having taken off all the fat return the residue to + the pot and let it boil; then slightly thicken with corn + flour, about one teaspoonful to a quart of soup; let it simmer + before serving. Three pounds of veal should make two quarts of + good soup. + +A sheep's-head soup is famous all over Scotland and is made as +follows:-- + + Get the head of a sheep with the skin on, soak it in tepid + water, take out the tongue and brains, break all the thin + bones inside the cheek, and carefully wash it in several + waters; put it on in a quart of water with a teaspoonful of + salt and let it boil ten minutes. Pour away this water and put + two quarts more with one pound of a scrag of mutton; add, cut + up, six onions, two turnips, two carrots, a sprig of parsley, + and season with pepper and salt. Let it boil gently for four + or five hours, when the head and neck will not be too much + cooked for the family dinner, and may be served either with + parsley or onion sauce. It is a most savoury morsel. Strain + the soup, and let it cool so as to remove every particle of + fat. Rub the vegetables through a sieve to a fine _purée_. Mix + a tablespoonful of flour in a quarter of a pint of milk; make + the soup boil up and stir it in with the vegetables. + + Have the tongue boiled until it is very tender, skin and trim + it, have the brains also well cooked, and chop and pound them + very fine with the tongue, mix them with an equal weight of + sifted bread-crumbs, a tablespoonful of chopped green + parsley, pepper, salt, and egg, and if necessary a small + quantity of flour to enable you to roll the mixture into + little balls. Put an ounce of butter into a small frying-pan + and fry the balls until a nice brown, lay them on paper before + the fire to drain away all the fat, and put them into the soup + after it is poured into the tureen. Scald and chop some green + parsley and serve separately on a plate. + +Thackeray thought so much of a boiled sheep's head that he made it the +point of one of his humorous poems. + + "By that grand vow that bound thee + Forever to my side, + And by the ring that made thee + My darling and my bride! + Thou wilt not fail or falter + But bend thee to the task-- + A boiled sheep's head on Sunday + Is all the boon I ask!" + +In France, cabbage is much used in soup. + + "Ha, what is this that rises to my touch + So like a cushion--can it be a cabbage? + It is, it is, that deeply inspired flower + Which boys do flout us with, but yet--I love thee, + Thou giant rose, wrapped in a green surtout. + Doubtless in Eden thou didst blush as bright + As these thy puny brethren, and thy breath + Sweetened the fragrance of her spicy air; + And now thou seemst like a bankrupt beau + Stripped of his gaudy hues and essences, + And growing portly in his sober garments." + +The cabbage is without honour in America; and yet if boiled in water +which is thrown away, having absorbed all its grosser essences, and +then boiled again and chopped and dressed with butter and cream, it is +an excellent vegetable. Its disagreeable odour has led to its +expulsion from many a house, but corn-beef and cabbage are not to be +despised. + +Cauliflower, which Thackeray calls the "apotheosis of cabbage," is the +most delicate of vegetables; and a _purée_ of cauliflower shall close +our chapter on soups. + + Boil in salted water, using a small piece of butter, two heads + of cauliflower, drain and pass them through a colander, dilute + with two quarts of sauce and a quart of chicken broth, season + with salt, white pepper, and grated nutmeg. Add a teaspoonful + of fine white sugar, then pass the whole forcibly with a + wooden presser through a fine sieve,--the finer the sieve the + better the _purée_. Put the residue in a stewpan, set it on + the fire, stir all the while till it boils, let it boil for + ten minutes, strain well, add a mixture made with the yolks of + six eggs and half a pint of cream, finish with four ounces of + table butter, and serve with small, fried, square _croûtons_. + +A _purée_ of celery is equally excellent; but all these soups require +an intelligent cook. It is better to have one's cook taught to make +soups by an expert, for it is the most difficult of all the dishes, if +thoroughly good. The plain soup, free from grease and well flavoured, +is easy enough after a little training, "but the chief ingredient of +soup is brains," according to a London _chef_. It is, however, a good +practice for an amateur cook to experiment and to try these various +recipes, all of which are practicable. + + + + +FISH. + + What is thy diet? Canst thou gulf a shoal + Of herrings? Or hast thou gorge and room + To bolt fat porpoises and dolphins whole + By dozens, e'en as oysters we consume? + PUNCH. + + The world's mine oyster, which I with sword will open. + HOTSPUR. + + +The Egyptians, strange to say, did not deify fish, that important +article of their food. We read of the enormous yield of Lake Moeris, +which was dammed up by the great Rameses, and whose draught of fishes +brought him so enormous a revenue. + +One of the most fascinating of all the Egyptian Queens, Sonivaphra, +received the revenues of one of these fisheries to keep her in +shoe-strings,--probably another name for pin money. + +And yet the Egyptians, while mummying the cats and dogs and beetles, +and such small deer, made no gods of the good carp or other fish which +must have stocked the river Nile. They emblazoned the crocodile on +their monuments, but never a fish. It is a singular foreshadowing of +that great vice of the human race, ingratitude. + +The Romans were fond of fish, and the records of their gastronomy +abound in fish stories. We read of Licinius Crassus, the orator, that +he lived in a house of great elegance and beauty. This house was +called the "Venus of the Palatine," and was remarkable for its size, +the taste of the furniture, and the beauty of the grounds. It was +adorned with pillars of Hymettian marbles, with expensive vases and +_triclinia_ inlaid with brass; his gardens were provided with +fish-ponds, and noble lotus-trees shaded his walks. Abenobarbus, his +colleague in the censorship, found fault with such luxury, such +"corruption of manners," and complained of his crying for the loss of +a lamprey as if it had been a favourite daughter! + +This, however, was a tame lamprey, which used to come to the call of +Crassus and feed out of his hand. Crassus retorted by a public speech +against his colleague, and by his great power of ridicule turned him +into derision, jested upon his name, and to the accusation of weeping +for a lamprey, replied that it was more than Abenobarbus had done for +the loss of any of his three wives! + +In the sixteenth century, that golden age of the Vatican, the splendid +court of Leo X. was the centre of artistic and literary life, and the +witty and pleasure-loving Pope made its gardens the scene of his +banquets and concerts, where he listened to the recitations of the +poets who sprung up under his protection. There beneath the shadow of +the ilex and the lauristines, in a circle so refined that ladies were +admitted, Leo himself leaned on the shoulder of the handsome Raphael, +who was allowed to caress and admire the Medicean white hand of his +noble patron. We read that this famous Pope was so fastidious as to +the fish dinners of Lent, that he invented twenty different recipes +for the chowder of that day! Walking in disguise with Raphael through +the fish-market, he espied a boy who, on his knees, was presenting a +fish to a pretty _contadina_. The scene took form and immortality in +the famous _Vierge au Poisson_, in which, conducted by the Angel +Gabriel, the youthful Saint John presents the fish to the Virgin and +child,--a beautiful picture for the church whose patron saint was a +fisherman. + +Indeed, that picture of the sea of Galilee, and the sacred meaning +attached to the etymology of the word "fish," has given the finny +wanderer of the seas a peculiar and valuable personality. All this, +with the selection by our Lord of so many of his disciples from +amongst the fishermen, the many poetical associations which form +around this, the cheapest and most delicate form of food with which +the Creator has stocked this world of ours, would, if followed out, +afford a volume of suggestion, quotation, poetry, and romance with +which to embellish the art of entertaining. + +Fish is now believed to produce aliment for the brain, and as such is +recommended to all authors and editors, statesmen, poets and lawyers, +clergymen and mathematicians,--all who draw on that finer fibre of the +brain which is used for the production of poetry or prose. + +England is famed for its good fish, as why should it not be, with the +ocean around it? The turbot is, _par excellence_, the fish for a Lord +Mayor's dinner, and it is admirable _à la crème_ for anybody's dinner. +Excellent is the whitebait of Richmond, that mysterious little dwarf. +Eaten with slices of brown bread and butter it is a very delicious +morsel, and the whiting, which always comes to the table with his tail +in his mouth, beautifully browned outside, white as snow within, what +so excellent as a whiting, except a _sole au gratin_ with sauce +Tartare? + +Fresh herrings in Scotland are delicious, almost equal to the red +mullets which Cæsar once ate at Marseilles. The fresh sardines at +Nice, and all along the Mediterranean, are very delicate, as are the +thousand shell-fish. The langoose, or large lobster of France and the +Mediterranean, is a surprise to the American traveller. Not so +delicate as our American lobster, it still is admirable for a salad. +It is so large that the flesh--if a fish has flesh--can be sliced up +and served like cold roast turkey. + +The salmon, king of fish, inspires in his capture, in Scotland rivers, +in Labrador, in Canada, some of the best writing of the day. William +Black, in Scotland, and Dr. Wier Mitchell, of Philadelphia, can tell +stories of salmon-fishing which are as brilliant as Victor Hugo's +description of Waterloo, or of that mysterious jelly-fish in his +novel, "The Toilers of the Sea." + +The New York market boasts the red snapper, the sheepshead, the +salmon, the salmon-trout, the Spanish mackerel, most toothsome of +viands, the sea bass, cod, halibut, the shad, the greatest profusion +of excellent oysters and clams, the cheap pan-fish, and endless eels. +The French make many fine dishes of eels, as the Romans did. + +To be good, fish must be fresh. It is absolutely indispensable, to +retain certain flavours, that the fish should go from one element to +another, out of the water into the fire, and onto the gridiron or into +the frying pan as soon as possible. Therefore, if the housewife has a +fish seasonable and fresh, and a gridiron, she can make a good dish +for a hungry man. + +We shall begin with the cheapest of the products of the water, and +although they may squirm out of our hands, try to bring to the table +the despised eels. + +An old proverb said that matrimony was a bag in which there were +ninety-nine snakes and one eel, and the young lady who put her hand +into this agreeable company had small chance at the eel. It would seem +at first blush as if no one would care particularly for the eel. In +old England, eels were exceedingly popular, and the monks dearly loved +to feed upon them. The cellarist of Barking Abbey, Essex, in the +ancient times of monastic foundations, was, amongst other eatables, to +provide stewed eels in Lent and to bake eels on Shrove Tuesday. There +were artificial receptacles made for eels. The cruel custom of salting +eels alive is mentioned by some old writers. + +"When the old serpent appeared in the guise of a stewed eel it was +impossible to resist him." + + Eels _en matelote_ should be cut in three-inch pieces, and + salted; fry an onion brown in a little dripping, add half a + pint of broth to the brown onion, part of a bay leaf, six + broken pepper-corns, four whole cloves, and a gill of claret. + Add the eels to this and simmer until thoroughly cooked. + Remove the eels, put them on a hot dish, add a teaspoonful of + brown flour to the sauce, strain and pour over the eels. + Spatch-cooked eels are good. + + _Fricasseed eels_: Cut three pounds of eels into pieces of + three inches in length, put them into a stewpan, and cover + them with Rhine wine, or two thirds water and one third + vinegar; add fifteen oysters, two pieces of lemon, a bouquet + of herbs, one onion quartered, six cloves, three stalks of + celery, a pinch of cayenne pepper, and salt to taste. Stew the + eels one hour, remove them from the dish, strain the liquor. + Put it back into the saucepan with a gill of cream and an + ounce of butter rolled in flour, simmer gently a few minutes, + pour over the fish, and you have a dish for a king. + +Stewed eels are great favourites with _gourmets_, cooked as +follows:-- + + Cut into three-inch pieces two pounds of medium-sized cleaned + eels. Rub the inside of each piece with salt. Let them stand + half an hour, then parboil them. Boil an onion in a quart of + milk and remove the onion. Drain the eels from the water and + add them to the milk. Season with half a teaspoonful of + chopped parsley, salt and pepper, and the smallest bit of + mace. Simmer until the flesh falls from the bones. + +Fried eels should be slightly salted before cooking. Do not cover them +with batter, but dredge them with just flour enough to absorb all +moisture, then cover them with boiling lard. + +As for the thousand and one recipes for cooking an oyster, no one need +tell an American hostess much on that subject. Raw, roasted, boiled, +stewed, scalloped and baked in patties, what so savoury as the oyster? +They should be bought alive, and opened with care by an expert, for +the bits of shell are dangerous. If eaten raw, pieces of lemon should +be served with them. Plates of majolica to hold five or seven oysters +are now to be bought at all the best crockery stores. + +To stew oysters well, cream and butter should be added, and the whole +mixture done in a silver dish over an alcohol lamp. Broiled oysters +should be dipped first in melted butter, then in bread crumbs, then +put in a very fine wire gridiron, and broiled over a bright bed of +coals. Scalloped oysters should be carefully dried with a clean +napkin, then laid in a deep dish on a bed of crumbs and fresh butter, +all softened by the liquor of the oyster; a layer of oysters and a +layer of crumbs should follow each other, with little walnuts of +butter put between. The mixture should be put in a very hot oven and +baked a delicate brown, but not dried. + +The plain fried oyster is very popular, but it should not be cooked +in small houses just before an entertainment, as the odour is not +appetizing. To dip them in egg batter, then in bread-crumbs, and fry +them in drippings is a common and good fashion. A more elaborate +fashion is to beat up the yolks of four eggs with three tablespoonfuls +of sweet oil, and season them with a teaspoonful of salt, and a +saltspoonful of cayenne pepper. Beat up thoroughly, dip each oyster in +this mixture and then in bread crumbs, and fry in hot oil. The best +and most elegant way of cooking an oyster is, however, "_à la +poulette_." + + Scald the oysters in their own liquor, drain them, and add to + the liquor, salt, half an ounce of butter, the juice of half a + lemon, a gill of cream, and a teaspoonful of dissolved flour. + Beat the yolk of one egg, and add to the sauce, stir until the + sauce thickens; place the oysters on a hot dish, pour the + sauce over them, add a little chopped parsley and serve. + +A simpler and more primitive but excellent way of cooking oysters is +to clean the shells thoroughly, and place them in the coals in an open +fireplace, or to roast them in hot ashes until the shells snap open. + +When the oyster departs then the clam takes his place, and is +delicious as an _avant goût_ or an appetizer at a dinner. If clams are +broiled they must be done quickly, else they become hard and +indigestible. + +The soft-shell clam, scalloped, makes a good dish. Clean the shells +well, then put two clams to each shell, with half a teaspoonful of +minced celery. Cut a slice of fat bacon small, add a little to each +shell, put bread crumbs on top and a little pat of butter, bake in the +oven until brown. A clam broth is a delicious and healthful beverage +for sick or well; add cream and a spoonful of sherry to it, and it +becomes a fabulously fine thing. In this mixture the clams must be +strained out before the cream and wine are added. + +But if the clam is good what shall we say of crabs. Hard-shell crabs +must be boiled about twelve minutes, drained, and set away to cool. +Eaten with sandwiches and a dressing they are considered a delicacy +for supper. They can be more cooked with chopped eggs, or treated like +a chicken pasty, and cooked in a paste shell they are very good. + +Take half an ounce of butter, half an onion minced, half a pound of +minced raw veal, and a small carrot shredded, a chopped crab, a pint +of boiling cream; simmer an hour, then strain into a saucepan, and +what a sauce you have! + +The soft-shell crab is an invalid. He is caught when he is helpless, +feverish, and not at all, one would say, healthy. He is killed by the +jarring of the train, by thunder, by some passing noisy cart, and some +say by a fall in stocks, or a sudden change in political circles. + +Such sensitive creatures must be cooked as soon as possible. It is +only necessary to remove the feathery substance under the pointed +sides of the shells, rinse them in cold water, drain, season with salt +and pepper, dredge them in flour and fry in hot fat. Crab patties and +crabs cooked in any other way than this fail to please the epicure. +Nothing with so pronounced an individuality as a soft-shelled crab +should be disguised. + +A devilled crab is considered good, but it should be cooked by a negro +expert from Maryland. + +Scallops are essentially good in stews, or fried, and when, cut in +small pieces, with a pint of milk, a little butter, and a little salt, +they again return to their beautiful shells and are baked as a +scallop, they are delicious. Put in pork fat, and fried, they are also +very fine. + +The lobster is now considered very healthful, and as conveying more +phosphorus into the human system than any other fish. Broiled, +devilled, stewed, cooked in a fashion called _Bourdelaise_, it is the +most delicious of dishes, and as a salad what can equal it? + +A baked whitefish with Bordeaux sauce is very fine. + + Clean and stuff the fish with bread-crumbs, onions, butter, + and sweet marjoram. Put it in a baking pan, add a liberal + quantity of butter previously rolled in flour, put in the pan + a pint of claret, and bake for an hour. Remove the fish and + strain the gravy, put in a teaspoonful of brown flour and a + pinch of cayenne pepper. + +Halibut with an egg sauce and a border of parsley is a dish for a +banquet, only the cook must know how to make egg sauce. Supposing we +tell her? + + Put two ounces of butter in a stew-pan; when it melts, add one + ounce of flour. Stir for one minute or more, but do not brown. + Then add by degrees two gills of boiling water, stirring until + smooth, and boiling about two minutes. If not perfectly + smooth, pass it through a sieve; then add another ounce of + butter cut in pieces. When the butter is melted, add three + hard-boiled eggs, chopped not too fine, season with pepper and + salt, and serve immediately. + +This sauce is admirable for cod, and for all boiled fish. + +But the "perfectest thing on earth" is a broiled fish, a shad for +instance; and one of the best preventives against burning is to rub +olive oil on the fish before putting it on the gridiron. Charcoal +affords the best fire, and it must be free from all smoke and flame. + +A little sweet butter, half a teaspoonful of chopped parsley and the +juice of a lemon should be melted together, and stand ready to be +poured over the broiled fish. + +Mr. Lowell, in one of his delightful, witty papers in the Atlantic +Monthly years ago, regretted that he could not find a gridiron near +the St. Lawrence, although its patron saint suffered martyrdom on that +excellent kitchen utensil. It is a lamentable fact that wood fires and +gridirons are giving out. They contain within themselves the merits of +all the kitchen ranges, all the lost juices of that early American +cookery, which one who has tasted it can never forget. Where are the +broils of our childhood? + +Codfish is a family stand-by, but a tasteless fish unless covered with +oysters or something very good; but salt-codfish balls are a great +luxury. + +Brook trout, boiled, baked, and broiled, are all inferior to the fry. +The frying-pan has to answer for a multitude of sins, but nothing so +base can be found as to deprive it of its great glory in sending us a +fried brook-trout. "Clean and rinse a quarter-of-a-pound trout in cold +water," says one recipe. + +Why not a pound-and-a-quarter trout? The recipe begins later on: after +some pork has been fried in the pan, throw in your carefully cleaned +fish, no matter what their weight may be, turn them three times most +carefully. Send to table without adding or detracting from their +flavour. + +This is for the sportsman who cooks his trout himself by a wood fire +in the woods; and no other man ever arrives at just that perfect way +of cooking a trout. When the trout has come down from cooling springs +to the hot city, it requires a seasoning of salt, pepper, and +lemon-juice. + +Frogs--frogs as cooked in France, _grenouilles à la poulette_--are a +most luxurious delicacy. They are very expensive and are to be bought +at the _marché St. Honoré_. As only the hind legs are eaten, and the +price is fifteen francs a dozen, they are not often seen. We might +have them in this country for the catching. Of their tenderness, +succulence, and delicacy of flavour there can be no question. They are +clean feeders, and undoubtedly wholesome. + +Sala, writing in "Breakfasts in Bed" does not praise _bouillabaisse_. +He declares that the cooks plunge a rolling-pin in tallow and then +with it stir that _pot pourri_ of red mullet, tomatoes, red pepper, +red Burgundy, oil, and garlic to which Thackeray has written so +delightful a lyric. "Against fish soups, turtle, terrapin, oyster, and +bisque," he says, "I can offer no objection." The Italians again have +their good _zuppa marinara_, which is not all like the _bouillabaisse_, +and the Russians make a very appetizing fish pottage which is called +_batwina_, the stock of which is composed of _kraus_, or half-brewed +barley beer, and oil. Into this is put the fish known as the sterlet +of the Volga, or the sassina of the Gulf of Finland, together with bay +leaves, pepper, and lumps of ice. _Batwina_ is better than +_bouillabaisse_. + + + + +THE SALAD. + + "Epicurean cooks shall sharpen with cloyless sauce the + appetite." + + +Of all the vegetables of which a salad can be made, lettuce is the +greatest favourite. That lettuce which is _panachée_, says the +_Almanach des Gourmands_, that is, when it has streaked or variegated +leaves, is truly _une salade de distinction_. We prefer in this +country the fine, crisp, solid little heads, of which the leaves are +bright green. The milky juices of the lettuce are soporific, like +opium seeds, and predispose the eater to sleep, or to repose of temper +and to philosophic thought. + +After, or before, lettuce comes the fragrant celery, always an +appetizer. Then the tomato, a noble fruit as sweet in smell as Araby +the blest, which makes an illustrious salad. Its medicinal virtue is +as great as its gastronomical goodness. It is the friend of the well, +for it keeps them well, and the friend of the sick, for it brings them +back to the lost sheep-folds of hygeia. + +There are water-cress and dandelion, common mustard, boiled asparagus, +and beet root, potato salad, beloved of the Germans, the cucumber, +most fragrant and delicate of salads, a salad of eggs, of lobsters, of +chickens, sausages, herrings, and sardines. Anything that is edible +can be made into a salad, and a vegetable mixture of cold French +beans, boiled peas, carrots and potato, onion, green peppers, and +cucumber, covered with fresh mayonnaise dressing, is served ice cold +in France, to admiration. + +To learn to make a salad is the most important of qualifications for +one who would master the art of entertaining. + +Here is a good recipe for the dressing:-- + + Two yolks of eggs, a teaspoonful of salt, and three of + mustard,--it should have been mixed with hot water before + using,--a little cayenne pepper, a spoonful of vinegar; pound + the eggs and mix well. Common vinegar is preferred by many, + but some like tarragon vinegar better. Stir this gently for a + minute, then add two full spoonfuls of best oil of Lucca. + + "A sage for the mustard, a miser for the vinegar, a + spendthrift for the oil, and a madman to stir" is the old saw. + Add a teaspoonful of brown sugar, half a dozen little spring + onions cut fine, three or four slices of beet root, the white + of the egg, not cut too small, and then the lettuce itself, + which should be torn from the head stock by the fingers. + +Some French salad dressers say _fatiguez la salade_, which means, +shake it, mix it, and bruise it; but the modern arrangement is to +delicately cover the leaves with the dressing, and not to bruise them. +This is an old-fashioned salad. + +An excellent salad of cold boiled potatoes cut into slices about an +inch thick, may be made with thin slices of fresh beet root, and +onions cut very thin, and very little of them, with the same dressing, +minus the sugar. + +Francatelli speaks of a Russian salad with lobster, a German salad +with herrings, and an Italian salad with potatoes; but these come more +under the head of the mayonnaises than of the simpler salads. + +The cucumber comes next to lettuce, as a purely vegetable salad, and +is most desirable with fish. Dr. Johnson declared that the best thing +you could do with a cucumber, after you had prepared it with much care +and thought, was to throw it out of the window; but Dr. Johnson, +although he could write Rasselas and a dictionary, knew nothing about +the art of entertaining. He was an eater, a glutton, a _gourmand_, not +a _gourmet_. How should he dare to speak against a cucumber salad? + +Endive and chiccory should be added to the list of vegetable salads. +Neither of them is good, however. + +An old-fashioned French salad is made thus: "Chop three anchovies, an +onion, and some parsley small; put them in a bowl with two +tablespoonfuls of vinegar, one of oil, a little mustard and salt. When +well mixed, add some slices of cold roast beef not exceeding two or +three inches long. Make three hours before eating. Garnish with +parsley." This is by no means a bad way of serving up yesterday's +roast beef. + +The etymology of salad is said to be "sal," or something salted. +Shakspeare mentions the salad five or six times. In Henry VI., Jack +Cade, in his extremity of peril when hiding from his pursuers in Ida's +garden, says he has climbed over the wall to see if he could eat +grass, or pick a salad, which he says "will not come amiss to cool a +man's stomach in the hot weather." In Antony and Cleopatra, the +passionate queen speaks of her "salad days" when she was "green in +judgment, cool in blood." This means, however, something raw or +unripe. Hamlet uses the word with the more ancient orthography of +"sallet," and says in his speech to the players, "I remember when +there were no sallets in these times to make them savoury." By this he +meant there was nothing piquant in them, no Attic salt. One author, +not so illustrious, claims that the noblest prerogative of man is +that he is a cooking animal, and a salad eater. + +"The lion is generous as a hero, the rat artful as a lawyer, the dove +gentle as a lover, the beaver is a good engineer, the monkey is a +clever actor, but none of them can make a salad. The wisest sheep +never thought of culling and testing his grasses, seasoning them with +thyme or tarragon, softening them with oil, exasperating them with +mustard, sharpening them with vinegar, spiritualizing them with a +suspicion of onions, in that no sheep has made a salad. Their only +sauce is hunger. + +"Salads," says this pleasant writer, "were invented by Adam and +Eve,--probably made of pomegranates as to-day in Spain." + +Of all salads, lobster is the most picturesque and beautiful. Its very +scarlet is a trumpet tone to appetite. It lies embedded in green +leaves like a magnificent tropical cactus. A good dressing for lobster +is essence of anchovy, mushroom ketchup, hard-boiled eggs, and a +little cream. + +Mashed potatoes, rubbed down with cream, or simply mixed with vinegar, +are no bad substitute for eggs, and impart to the salad a new and not +unpleasing flavour. French beans, the most delicate of vegetables, +give the salad eater a new sensation. A dressing can be mixed in the +following proportions: "Four mustard ladles of mustard, four salt +ladles of salt. Three spoonfuls of best Italian oil, twelve of +vinegar, three unboiled eggs. All are to be carefully rubbed +together." This is for those who like sours and not sweets. An old +French _émigré_, who had to make his living in England during the time +of the Regency, a man of taste and refinement, an epicurean Marquis, +carried to noblemen's houses his mahogany box full of essences, +spices, and condiments, and made his salad in this way: he chopped up +three anchovies with a little shallot and some parsley; these he threw +into a bowl with a little mustard and salt, two tablespoonfuls of oil, +and one brimming over with vinegar. When thoroughly merged he added +his lettuce, or celery, or potato, extremely thin, short slices of +best Westphalia ham, or the finest roast beef, which he had steeped in +the vinegar. He garnished with parsley and a few layers of bacon. This +man was called _Le Roi de la salade_. + +A cod mayonnaise is a good dish:-- + + Boil a large cod in the morning. Let it cool; then remove the + skin and bones. For sauce put some thick cream in a porcelain + sauce-pan and thicken it with corn-flour which has been mixed + with cold water. When it begins to boil stir in the beaten + yolks of two eggs. As it cools beat it well to prevent it from + being lumpy, and when nearly cold stir in the juice of two + lemons, a little tarragon vinegar, a pinch of salt, and a + _soupçon_ of cayenne pepper. Peel and slice some very ripe + tomatoes or cold potatoes, steep them in vinegar with cayenne, + pounded ginger, and plenty of salt. Lay these around the fish + and cover with cream sauce. The tomatoes and potatoes should + be carefully drained before they are placed around the fish. + +A salmon covered with a green sauce is a famous dish for a ball +supper; indeed, there are thirty or forty salads with a cold fish +foundation. + +This art of dressing cold vegetables with pepper, salt, oil, and +vinegar, should be studied. In France they give you these salads to +perfection at the _déjeuner à la fourchette_. Fillippini, of +Delmonico's, in his admirable work, "The Table," adds Swedish salad, +String Bean Salad, Russian Salad, Salad Macédoine, _Escarolle_, +_Doucette_, _Dandelion à la coutoise_, _Baib de Capucine_, +Cauliflower salad, and _Salad a l'Italian_. I advise any young +housekeeper to buy this book of his, as suggestive. It is too +elaborate and learned, however, for practical application to any +household except one in which a French cook is kept. + +A mayonnaise dressing is a triumph of art when well made:-- + + A tablespoonful of mustard, one teaspoonful of salt, the yolk + of three uncooked eggs, the juice of half a lemon, a quarter + of a cupful of butter, a pint of oil, and a cupful of whipped + cream. Beat the yolks and dry ingredients until they are very + light, with a wooden spoon or with a wire beater. The bowl in + which the dressing is being made should be set in a pan of ice + water. Add oil, a few drops at a time, until the dressing + becomes thick and rather hard. After it has reached this stage + the oil can be added more rapidly. When it gets so thick as to + be difficult to beat add a little vinegar, then add the juice + of the lemon and the whipped cream, and place on ice until + desired to be used. + +Another dressing can be made more quickly:-- + + The yolk of a raw egg, a tablespoonful of mixed mustard, one + fourth of a teaspoonful of salt, six tablespoonfuls of oil. + Stir the yolk, mustard, and salt together with a fork until + they begin to thicken; add the oil gradually, stirring all the + time. + +An excellent salad dressing is also made by using the yolk of +hard-boiled eggs, some cold mashed potatoes well pressed together with +a fork, oil, vinegar, mustard, and salt rubbed in, in the proportions +of two of oil to one of vinegar. + +A salad must be fresh and freshly made, to be good. Never serve a +salad the second day; and it is not well to cover a delicate salad +with too much mayonnaise. The very heart of the celery or the +delicate inner leaves of the lettuce are the best for dinners. The +heavy chicken and lobster, cabbage and potato salads, are dishes for +lunches and suppers. + +The chief employment of a kitchen maid, in France, where a man cook is +kept, is to wash the vegetables; and you see her swinging the salad in +a wire safe after washing it delicately in fresh water. The care +bestowed on these minor morals of cookery, so often wholly neglected, +adds the finishing touch to the excellence of a French dinner. + +For a green mayonnaise dressing, so much admired on salmon, use a +little chopped spinach and finely chopped parsley. The juice from +boiled beets can be used to make a fine red dressing. Two of these +dishes will make a plain, country lunch-table very nice, and will have +an appetizing effect, as has anything that betokens care, forethought, +neatness, and taste. + +Some people cannot eat oil. Often the best oil cannot be bought in a +retired and rural neighbourhood. But an excellent substitute is fresh +butter or clarified chicken-fat, very carefully prepared, and icy +cold. The yolks of four raw eggs, one tablespoonful of salt, one of +mustard, the juice of a lemon, and a speck of cayenne pepper should be +used. + +Two drops of onion juice, or a bit of onion sliced, will add great +piquancy to salad dressing, if every one likes onion. + +I have never tried the following recipe,--I have tried all the +others,--but I have heard that it was very good: + + Four tablespoonfuls of butter, one of flour, one tablespoonful + of salt, one of sugar, one heaping teaspoonful of mustard, a + speck of cayenne, one cupful of milk, half a cupful of + vinegar, three eggs. Let the butter get hot in a saucepan. Add + the flour and stir until smooth, being careful not to brown. + Add the milk and boil up. Place the saucepan in another of hot + water. Beat the eggs, salt, pepper, sugar, and mustard + together, and add the vinegar. Stir this into the boiling + mixture and stir until it thickens like soft custard, which + will be about five minutes. Set away to cool, and when cold, + bottle and place in the ice-chest. This will keep two weeks. + +If one wishes to use prepared mayonnaise it is better to buy that +which is sold at the grocers. It has not the charm of a fresh +dressing, however, but is rather like those elaborated impromptus +which some studied talkers get off. + +A very pretty salad can be made of nasturtium-blossoms, buttercups, a +head of lettuce, and a pint of water-cresses. It is to be covered with +the French dressing and eaten immediately. + +Asparagus is so good in itself that it seems a shame to dress it as a +salad; yet it is very good eaten with oil, vinegar, and salt. +Cauliflower, cold, is delicious as a salad, and can be made very +ornamental with a garniture of beet root, which is a good ingredient +for a salad of salt codfish, boiled. + +Sardine salads are very appetizing for lunch. Arrange a cold salmon or +codfish on a bed of lettuce. Split six sardines, remove the bones, and +mix them into the dressing. Garnish the whole dish with sardines, and +cover with the dressing. + +All kinds of cooked fish can be served with salads. Lettuce is the +best green salad to serve with them; but all cooked and cold +vegetables go well with fish. Add capers to the mayonnaise. + +A housekeeper who has conquered the salad question can always add to +the plainest dinner a desirable dish. She can feed the hungry, and she +can stimulate the most jaded fancy of the over-fastidious _gourmet_ by +these delicate and consummate luxuries. + +Here is Sydney Smith's recipe for a salad:-- + + "To make this condiment your poet begs + The pounded yellow of two hard-boiled eggs; + Two boiled potatoes, passed through kitchen sieve, + Smoothness and softness to the salad give. + Let onion atoms wink within the bowl, + And half suspected, animate the whole; + Of mordant mustard, add a single spoon, + (Distrust the condiment that bites too soon), + But deem it not, thou man of herbs, a fault, + To add a double quantity of salt. + Four times the spoon with oil of Lucca crown, + And twice with vinegar, procured from town; + And lastly, o'er the favoured compound toss + A magic _soupçon_ of anchovy sauce. + Oh, green and glorious! Oh, herbaceous treat! + 'T would tempt the dying anchorite to eat! + Back to the world would turn his fleeting soul, + To plunge his fingers in a salad bowl! + Serenely full, the epicure would say, + 'Fate cannot harm me,--I have dined to-day.'" + +LOBSTER SALAD. + + "Take, take lobsters and lettuces, + Mind that they send you the fish that you order; + Take, take a decent sized salad bowl, + One that's sufficiently deep in the border; + Cut into many a slice, + All of the fish that's nice; + Place in the bowl with due neatness and order; + Then hard-boiled eggs you may + Add in a neat array, + All toward the bowl, just by way of a border. + + "Take from the cellar of salt a proportion, + Take from the castors both pepper and oil, + With vinegar too, but a moderate portion,-- + Too much of acid your salad will spoil; + Mix them together, + You need not mind whether + You blend them exactly in apple-pie order, + But when you've stirred away, + Mix up the whole you may, + All but the eggs which are used as a border. + + "Take, take plenty of seasoning; + A teaspoonful of parsley that's chopped in small pieces + Though, though, the point will bear reasoning, + A small taste of onion the flavour increases + As the sauce curdle may, + Should it, the process stay. + Patiently do it again in good order; + For if you chance to spoil + Vinegar, eggs, and oil, + Still to proceed would on lunacy border." + +A Spanish salad, _gaspacho_, is a favourite food of the Andalusian +peasant. It is but bread soaked in oil and water, with a large Spanish +onion peeled, and a fresh cucumber. + + Slice three tomatoes, take out the grain and cut up the fruit. + Arrange carefully all these materials in a shallow earthen + pan, tier upon tier, salting and peppering each to taste, + pouring in oil plentifully, and vinegar. Last of all, let the + salad lie in some cool spot for an hour or two, then sprinkle + over it two handfuls of bread-crumbs. + +In Spanish peasant houses, the big wooden bowl hanging below the eaves +to keep it cool is always ready for attack. The oil in Spain is not to +our taste; but the salad made as above, with good oil, is delicious. +It should have a sprinkling of red pepper. + + + + +DESSERTS. + + There is not in the wide world so tempting a sweet + As that trifle where custard and macaroons meet. + Oh! the latest sweet tooth from my head must depart + Ere the taste of that trifle shall not win my heart. + + Yet it is not the sugar that's thrown in between, + Nor the peel of the lemon so candied and green, + 'T is not the rich cream that's whipped up by a mill, + Oh, no; it is something more exquisite still! + + +The great meaning of dessert is to offer "something more exquisite +still." And it is the province of the housekeeper, be she young or +old, to study how this can be done. + +Nothing in European dinners can compare with the American custards, +puddings, and pies. We are accused as a nation of having eaten too +many sweets, and of having ruined our teeth thereby; but who that has +languished in England over the insipid desserts at hotels, and the +tooth-sharpeners called "sweets," meaning tarts as sour as an east +wind, has not sighed for an American pie? In Paris the cakes are +pretty to look at, but oh, how they break their promise when you eat +them! Nothing but sweetened white of egg. One thing they surpass us +in,--_omelette soufflé_; and a _gâteau St. Honoré_ is good, but with +that word of praise we dismiss the great French nation. + +Just look at our grand list of fruit desserts: apple charlotte, +apricots with rice, banana charlotte, banana fritters, blackberry +short-cake, strawberry short-cake, velvet cream with strawberries, +fresh pine-apples in jelly, frozen bananas, frozen peaches in cream, +orange cocoanut salad, orange salad, peach fritters, peach meringue, +peach short-cake, plum salad, salad of mixed fruits, sliced pears with +whipped cream, stewed pears, plain, and pumpkin pie! But oh! there is +"something more exquisite still," and that is an apple pie. + + "All new dishes fade, the newest oft the fleetest; + Of all the pies ever made, the apple's still the sweetest. + Cut and come again, the syrup upward springing, + While life and taste remain, to thee my heart is clinging. + Who a pie would make, first his apple slices, + Then he ought to take some cloves and the best of spices, + Grate some lemon rind, butter add discreetly, + Then some sugar mix, but mind,--the pie not made too sweetly. + If a cook of taste be competent to make it, + In the finest paste will enclose and bake it." + +During years of foreign travel I have never met a dish so perfect as +the American apple pie can be, with cream. + +Then look at our puddings; they are richer, sweeter, more varied than +any in the world, the English plum-pudding excepted. That is a +ponderous dainty, which few can eat. It looks well when dressed with +holly and lighted up, but it is not to be eaten every day. Baked bread +pudding, carrot pudding, exceedingly delicate, chocolate pudding, cold +cabinet-pudding, boiled rice-pudding with custard sauce, poor man's +rice-pudding, green-apple pudding, Indian pudding, minute pudding, +tapioca pudding, and all the custards boiled and baked with infinite +variety of flavour,--these are the every-day luxuries, and they are +very great ones, of the American table. + +One charming thing about dessert and American dishes is that ladies +can make them. They do not flush the face or derange the white apron. +They are pleasant things to dally with,--milk and eggs, and spice and +sugar. A model kitchen is every lady's delight. In these days of +tiles, and marble pastry-boards, and modern improvements, what pretty +things kitchens are. + +The model dairy, too, is a delight, with its upright milk-pans, in +which the cream is marked off by a neat little thermometer, and its +fire-brick floor. How cool and neat it is! Sometimes a stream of fresh +water flows under the floor, as the river runs under the Château of +Chenonceaux, where Diane de Poitiers dressed her golden hair. + +In the model kitchen is the exquisite range, with its polished +_batterie de cuisine_. Every brilliant saucepan seems to say, "Come +and cook in me;" every porcelain-lined pan urges upon one the +necessity of stewing nectarines in white sugar; every bright can +suggests the word "conserve," which always makes the mouth water; +every clatter of the skewers says, "Dainty dishes, come and make me." +All this is quite fascinating to an amateur. + +No pretty woman, if she did but know it, is ever so pretty as when she +is playing cook, and doing it well. The clean white apron, the short, +clean, cambric gown, the little cap, the white, bare arms,--the +glorified creams and jellies, pies and Charlotte Russe, cakes and +puddings, which fall from such fingers are ambrosial food. + +There is a great passion, in the properly regulated woman's heart, for +the cleanly part of the household work. The love of a dairy is, with +many a duchess, part of the business of her rank. In our country, +where ladies are compelled to put a hand, once perhaps too often, +owing to the insufficiency of servants, to the cooking, it is less a +pastime, but a knowledge of it is indispensable. To cook a heavy +dinner in hot weather, to wash the dishes afterward, this is sober +prose, and by a very dull author; but to make the dessert, this is +poetry. In the early morning the hostess should go into her neat dairy +to skim the cream; it will be much thicker if she does. She will +prepare all things for the desserts of the day. She will make her +well-flavoured custard and set it in the ice-chest. She will place her +compote of pears securely on a high shelf, away from that ubiquitous +cat who has, in most families, so remarkable and so irrepressible an +appetite. + +Then she should make a visit to the kitchen before dinner, to see to +it that the roast birds are garnished with water-cress, that the +vegetables are properly prepared, that the dishes are without a smear +on their lower surface. All this attention makes good servants and +very good dinners. + +In the matter of flavouring, the coloured race has us at a great +disadvantage. Any old coloured cook can distance her white "Missus" +there. This highly gifted race seem to have a sixth sense on the +subject of flavours. The rich tropical nature breaks out in +reminiscences of orange-blossoms, pineapple, guava, cocoanut, and +mandarin orange. Never can the descendants of the poor, half-starved, +frozen exiles of Plymouth Rock hope to achieve such custards and +puddings as these Ethiops pour out. It is as if some luxurious and +beneficent gift had left us when we were made poets, orators, +philosophers, preachers, and authors, when we were given what we +proudly term a higher intelligence. Who would not exchange all the +cold, mathematical, intellectual supremacy of which we boast for that +luscious gift of making pies and puddings _à ravir_? + +The making of pastry is so delicate and so varied a task that we can +only say, approach it with cold hands, cold ice-water, roll it on a +marble slab, then bake it in a very hot oven. + +Learn to stew well. Stew your fruit in a porcelain stewpan before +putting it in your tarts. It is one of the most wholesome forms of +cookery; a French novelist calls the stewpan the "favourite arm, the +talisman of the cook." A celebrated physician said that the action of +the stewpan was like that of the stomach, and it is a great gain if we +can help that along. Stewing gooseberries, cherries, and even apples +with sugar and lemon-peel before putting them in the tart, ensures a +good pie. + +Whipped white of egg is an elegant addition to most dessert dishes, +and every lady should provide herself with wire whisks. + +Whipped to a strong froth with sugar, and lemon or vanilla flavouring, +this garnish makes an ordinary into a superior pudding. New-laid eggs +are exceedingly difficult to beat up well. Take those which have been +laid several days. Have a deep bowl with a circular bottom, and in +beating the eggs keep the whisk as much as possible in an upright +position, moving it very rapidly; a little boiling water, a +tablespoonful to two eggs, and a teaspoonful of sifted sugar put to +them before beating is commenced, facilitates the operation. + +For _omelette soufflé_ the white of eggs, beaten, should be firm +enough to cut. + +An orange-custard pudding is so very good that we must give a +time-honoured recipe:-- + + Boil a pint of new milk, pour it upon three eggs lightly + beaten, mix in the grated peel of an orange, and two ounces of + loaf sugar; beat all together for ten minutes, then pour the + custard into a pie dish, set it into another containing a + little water, and put it in a moderate oven. When the custard + is set, which generally takes about half an hour, take it out + and let it get cold. Then sprinkle over rather thickly some + very fine sugar, and brown with a salamander. This should be + eaten cold. + +Of rice and tapioca puddings the variety is endless, and they are most +healthful. A wife who will give her dyspeptic husband a good pudding +every day may perhaps save his life, his fortunes, and if he is an +author, his literary reputation. + +An antiquary of the last century wrote, "Cookery was ever reckoned a +branch of the art medical; the verb _curare_ signifies equally to +dress vegetables and to cure a distemper, and everybody has heard of +Dr. Diet, and kitchen physic." + +Indeed that most sacred part of a woman's duty, learning to cook for +the sick, can be studied through desserts. A lady, very ill in Paris +through a long winter, declared that she would have been cured had she +once tasted cream-toast, or tapioca pudding; both were luxuries which +she never encountered. + +Then come all the jellies; and it is better to make your own gelatine +from the real calves'-feet than to use patent gelatine. The latter, +however, is very good, and saves time. It also makes excellent +foundation for all the so-called creams. + +Some ardent housekeepers put up all their jams, preserves, and +currant jelly; some even make the cordials curaçoa, noyau, peach +brandy, ginger cordial, and cherry brandy, but this is unnecessary. +They can be bought cheaper and better than they can be made. + +The history of liqueurs is a curious one. Does any one ever think, as +he tastes Chartreuse, of the gloomy monks who dig their own graves, +and never speak save to say, "Mes frères, il faut mourir," who alone +can make this sparkling and delicate liqueur which figures at every +grand feast? + +I have made an expedition to their splendid mountain-bound convent. It +is one of the most glorious drives in Europe, and rises into Alpine +grandeur and solemnity. There, amid winter's cold and summer's heat, +the Chartreuse lives in severe penance, making his hospitable liqueur +which enchants the world, out of the chamomile and other herbs which +grow around his convent. + +The best French liqueurs were made formerly at La Côte by the +Visetandine nuns. Kirschwasser is made from the cherries which grow in +the Alpine Tyrol, in one small province which produces nothing else. + +Liqueurs were invented for Louis XIV. in his old age. A cordial was +made by mixing brandy with sugar and scents. + +In making a mince pie, do not forget the excellent brandy, and the +dash of orange curaçoa, which should be put in by the lady herself. +Else why is it that otherwise the mince pie seems to lack the +inspiriting and hidden fire. We read that there is "many a slip 'twixt +the cup and the lip." Perhaps the cook could tell, but one may be very +sure she will not. + +The modern, elegant devices by which strawberries, violets, and +roseleaves, orange blossoms, and indeed all berries can be candied +fresh in sugar, afford a pretty pastime for amateur cooks. But if near +a confectioner in the city these can be bought cheaper than they can +be made. It may amuse an invalid to make them, and the art is easily +learned. + +The cheese _fondu_ is a great favourite at foreign desserts. It is of +Swiss origin. It is a healthful, savoury, and appetizing dish, quickly +dressed and good to put at the end of a dinner for unexpected guests. + + Take as many eggs as there are guests, and then about a third + as much by weight of the best Gruyères cheese, and the half of + that of butter. Break and beat up well the eggs in a saucepan, + then add the butter and the cheese, grated or cut in small + pieces; place the saucepan on the fire, and stir with a wooden + spoon till it is of a thick and soft consistence; put in salt + according to the age of the cheese,--fresh cheese requires the + most,--and a strong dose of pepper, then bake it like macaroni + and send to table hot. + +One pie we have which is national; it is that made of the pumpkin, and +it is notoriously good. Also we may claim the squash pie and the +sweet-potato pie, both of which merit the highest encomiums. + +Our fruits are so plentiful and so good that few housekeepers can fail +of having a good dessert of fruits alone. But do not force the +seasons. Take them as they come. When fruits are cheapest then they +are best. Our peaches have more flavour than those of Europe, and our +grapes are unrivalled. Of plums and pears, France has better than we +can boast, but our strawberries are as good and as plentiful as in +England. + +In fact, all the wild berries which are now getting to be cultivated +berries, like blackberries, blueberries, huckleberries, and +raspberries, are better than similar fruits abroad. The wild +strawberry of the Alps is, however, delicious in flavour and +sweetness. + +A very grand dessert is furnished with ices of every flavour, jellies +holding fruit and flavoured with maraschino, all sorts of bonbons, +nuts in sugar, candied grapes and oranges, fresh fruits in season, and +ending with liqueurs and black coffee. + +A simple pudding, or pie followed by grapes and peaches, with the cup +of black coffee afterward, is the national dessert of our United +States. In winter it may be enriched by a Newtown pippin or a King of +Tompkins County apple, some boiled chestnuts and a few other nuts, +some Florida oranges, or those delicious little mandarins, perhaps +raised by the immortal Rip Van Winkle, our own Joe Jefferson, on his +Louisiana estate. He seems to have infused them with the flavour of +his own rare and cheerful genius. He has raised a laugh before this, +as well as the best mandarin oranges. Some dyspeptics declare that to +chew seven roasted almonds after dinner does them good. And the +roasted almonds fitly close the chapter on desserts. + + + + +GERMAN EATING AND DRINKING. + + "I wonder if Charlemagne ever drank + A tankard of Assmanschausen. Nay! + If he had, his empire never would rank + As it does with the royalist realms to-day; + For the goddess that laughs within the cup + Had wiled and won him from blood and war, + And shown, as he drained her long draughts up, + There was something better worth living for + Than kingcraft keeping his gruff brow sad. + I wish from my very soul she had." + + +The deep, dark, swiftly flowing Rhine, its legends, its forests of +silver firs and pines, its mountains crowned with castles, and its +hillsides blushing with the bending vine, the convent's ancient walls, +the glistening spire, the maidens with their plaited hair, and "hands +that offer early flowers," all the bright, beautiful, romantic +landscape, the dancing waves which wash its historic shores, its +donjon keeps and haunted Tenter Rock, its + + "Beetling walls with ivy grown, + Frowning heights of mossy stone,"-- + +all this beauty is placed in the land of the sauer-kraut, the herring +salad, the sweet stewed fruit with pork, pig and prune sauce, carp +stewed in beer, raw goose-flesh or Göttingen sausages, potato +sweetened, and cabbage soured,--in a land, in short, whose kitchen is +an abomination to all other nations. + +Not that one does not get an excellent dinner at a German hotel in a +great city. But all the cooks are French. The powerful young emperor +has, however, given his orders that all _menus_ shall hereafter be +written in German; the language of Ude, Soyer, Valet, and Francatelli, +Brillat, Savarin, and Béchamel, is to be replaced by German. + +But if the viands are not good, the wines are highly praised by the +_gourmet_; and as these wines are often exported, it is said that one +gets a better German wine in New York than at a second-class hotel at +Bonn or Cologne or Düsseldorf,--on the same principle that fish at +Newport is less fresh than at New York, for it is all bought, sent to +New York, and then sent back to Newport. In other words, the exporters +are careful to keep up the reputation of their exported wines. + +Assmanschausen is a red Rhine wine of high degree; some _gourmets_ +call it the Burgundy of the Rhine. This poetic beverage is found +within the gorge of the Rhine. + +The bend which the noble river assumes at the Rheingau is said to have +the effect of concentrating the sun's rays, reflected from the surface +of the water as from a mirror, upon the vine-clad slopes; and it is to +this circumstance, combined with the favourable nature of the soil, +and to the vineyards being completely sheltered from the north winds +by the Taunus range, that the marked superiority of the wines of the +Rheingau is ordinarily attributed. + + "Bacharach has produced another fine wine. + 'He never has been to Heaven and back + Who has not drunken of Bacharach.'" + +And Longfellow says:-- + + "At Frankfort on the Maine, + And at Würtzburg on the Stein, + At Bacharach on the Rhine, + Grow the three best kinds of wine." + +We know but little of the superior red wines of Walporzheimer, +Ahrweiler, and Bodendorfer, which come from the valley of the Ahr. The +Ahr falls into the Rhine near Sinzig, midway between Coblenz and Bonn. +The wines from its beautiful vineyards are a fine deep red. The taste +is astringent, somewhat like port. There is an agreeable red wine +called Kreutzburger which comes from the neighbourhood of +Ehrenbreitstein. Linz on the Rhine sends us a good red wine known as +Dattenberger. These are all pure wines which know no doctoring. + +The Liebfrauenmilch is a Riesling wine with a fine bouquet. It owes +its celebrity rather to its name than its merits. It comes from the +vineyards adjoining the Liebfrauen Kirche near Worms, and was named by +some pious churchman. + +No wines have as many poetical tributes as the Rhine wines. One of the +English poets sings:-- + + "O for a kingdom rocky-throned, + Above the brimming Rhine, + With vassals who should pay their toll + In many sorts of wine. + Above me naught but the blue air, + And all below, the vine, + I'd plant my throne, where legends say + In nights of harvest-time + King Charlemagne, in golden robe,-- + So runs the rustic rhyme,-- + Doth come to bless the mellowing crops + While bells of Heaven chime." + +The Steinbergers, the Hochheimers, Marcobrunners, and Rüdesheimers, +sound like so many noble families. Indeed an American senator, hearing +these fine names, remarked: "I have no doubt, sir, they are all very +nice girls." + +There is a famous Hochheimer, no less than a hundred and sixty-seven +years old, the vintage of that year when the Duke of Marlborough +gained the Battle of Ramillies. Let us hope that he and Prince Eugene +moistened their clay and labours with some of this famous wine. These +wines do not last, however. The best age is ten years, and those which +have been stored in the antique vaulted cellar of the Bernardine Abbey +of Eberbach, world-renowned as the Grand-ducal Cabinet wine of the +ruler of Nassau, are now completely run out. Even Rudesheimer of 1872 +is no longer good. + +It must be remembered, however, that these wines are never fortified. +To put extraneous alcohol into their beloved Rhine wine would rouse +Rudolph of Hapsburg and Conrad of Hotstettin from the sleep of +centuries. + +The Steinberger Cabinet of 1862 is the most superb. Of Rhine wines for +bouquet, refined flavour, combined richness and delicacy. We do not +except Schloss Johannisberger, because that is not in the market. A +Marcobrunner and a Rüdesheimer are not to be despised. + +Prince Metternich sent to Jules Janin for his autograph, and the witty +poet editor sent a receipt for twelve bottles of Imperial Schloss +Johannisberger. The Prince took the hint and had a dozen of the very +best cabinet wine forwarded, every bottle being sealed and every cork +duly branded with the Prince's crest! The Johannisberger wine is +excessively sweet, singularly soft, and gives forth a delicious +perfume, a rich, limpid, amber-coloured wine, with a faint bitter +flavour; it is as beautiful to look at as it is luscious to the taste, +and it possesses a bouquet which the Empress Eugénie compared to that +of heliotrope, violets, and geranium leaves combined. + +The refined pungent flavour of a good Hock, its slight racy +sharpness, with an after almond flavour, make it an admirable +appetizer. The staircase vineyards, in which the grapes grow on the +Rhine, seem to catch all the revivifying influences of sunshine. Their +splendid golden colour is caught from those first beams of the sun as +he greets his bride, the Earth, after he has been separated from her +for twelve dark hours. + +Some very good wine comes from the Rochusberg, immediately opposite +Rüdesheim. Goethe heard a sermon here once in which the preacher +glorified God in proportion to the number of bottles of good wine it +was daily vouchsafed to him to stow away under his waistband. + +It was here that the rascal lived who drank wine out of a boot, +immortalized by Longfellow. We can hardly, however, abuse the man, for +he had an incurable thirst, and no crystal goblet would have held +enough for him,--not indeed the biggest German beer mug. + +Longfellow, in the "Golden Legend," has a chapter devoted to wine. In +this poem the old cellarer muses, as he goes to draw the fine wine for +the fathers, who sit above the salt, and he utters this truth of those +brothers who sit below the salt:-- + + "Who cannot tell bad wine from good, + And are much better off than if they could." + +The superior wines of the Rhine, Walporzheimer, Ahrweiler and +Bodendorfer, all deserve notice. + +The kind of wine to be served with a dinner must depend on the means +of the host. It is to be feared that, ignorantly or otherwise, many +wines with high-sounding names which are not good are offered to +guests. + +Mr. Evarts made a witty remark on this subject. Some one said to him, +"I hear that as a great diner-out you find yourself the worse for +drinking so many different sorts of wine." "Oh no," said Mr. Evarts, +"I do not object to the different wines, it is the indifferent wines +which hurt me!" + +Savarin says, sententiously, "Nothing can exceed the treachery of +asking people to dinner under the guise of friendship, and then giving +them to eat or drink of that which may be injurious to health." We +should think so. That was the pleasant hospitality of the Borgias. In +the neighbourhood of Neuwied, the dealers are accused of much +doctoring of wine. During the vintage, at night, when the moon has +gone down, boats glide over the Rhine freighted with a soapy substance +manufactured from potatoes, and called by its owners sugar. This stuff +is thrown into the vats containing the must, water is introduced from +pumps and wells, chemical ferments and artificial heat are applied. +This noble fluid is sent everywhere by land and water, and labelled as +first-class wine. It is not bad to the taste, but does not bear +transportation. This adulteration chiefly affects the wines sold at +German hotels. + +Heinrich Heine has left us this picture of a German dinner: "I dined +at the Crown at Clausthal. My repast consisted of spring greens, +parsley soup, violet blue cabbage, a pile of roast veal, which +resembled Chimborazo in miniature, and a sort of smoked herring called +buckings, from their inventor William Buckings, who died in 1447, and +who on account of that invention was so greatly honoured by Charles V. +that the great monarch in 1556 made a journey from Middelburg to +Bierlied, in Zealand, for the express purpose of visiting the grave of +the great fish-dryer. How exquisitely such dishes taste when we are +familiar with their historical associations." + +It is impossible in translation to give Heine's intense ridicule and +scorn. He was a Frenchman out of place in Germany. He revolted at +things German, but endeared himself to his people by his wit, +universality of talent, and sincerity. The world has thanked him for +his "Reisebilder." Heine gives us new ideas of the horrors of German +cookery when he talks of Göttingen sausages, Hamburg smoked beef, +Pomeranian goose-breasts, ox-tongues, calf's brains in pastry, gudgeon +cakes, and "a wretched pig's-head in a wretcheder sauce, which has +neither a Grecian nor a Persian flavour, but which tasted like tea and +soft soap." + +He cannot leave Göttingen without this description: "The town of +Göttingen, celebrated for its sausages and its university, belongs to +the King of Hanover, and contains nine hundred and ninety-nine +dwellings, divers chambers, an observatory, a prison, a library, and a +council chamber where the beer is excellent." + +German sausages are very good. Even the great Goethe, in dying, +remembered to send a sausage to his æsthetic love of a lifetime, the +Frau Von Stein. + +Thackeray, who was keenly alive to the horrors of German cookery, says +that whatever is not sour is greasy, and whatever is not greasy is +sour. The curious bill of fare of a middle-class German table is +something like this: They begin with a pudding. They serve sweet +preserved fruit with the meat, generally stewed cherries. They go on +with dreadful dishes of cabbage and preparations of milk, curdled, +soured, and cheesed. + +Dr. Lieber, the learned philologist, was eloquent on the subject of +the coarseness of the German appetite. He had early corrected his by a +visit to Italy, and he remarked, with his usual profundity, that it +was "the more incomprehensible as nature had given Germany the finest +wines with which to wash down the worst cookery." + +A favourite dish is potato pancakes. The raw potatoes are scraped +fine, mixed with milk, and then treated like flour cakes, served with +apple or plum sauce. + +Sauer-kraut is ridiculed, but it is only cabbage cut fine and pickled. +There are two delicious dishes in which it plays an important part: +one is roast pheasant cut fine and cooked with sauer-kraut and +champagne; the other is sauer-kraut cooked in the _croûte_ of a +Strasbourg _pâté de foie gras_. + +Favourite Austro-Hungarian dishes are _bachhendl_, baked +spring-chicken,--the chicken rolled into a paste of egg flour and then +baked. It is rather dry to eat, but just the thing with a bottle of +Hungarian wine. Also a beefsteak with plenty of _paprika_, or +Hungarian red pepper, Brinsa cheese, pot cheese, made in the +Carpathian mountains and baked in a hot oven. + +Brook trout is never fried, but boiled in water, and then served +surrounded by parsley in melted butter. + +In eastern Russia grows a pea, the gray pea, which is boiled and eaten +like peanuts by peeling off the hard skin, or boiled with some sort of +sour-sweet sauce, which softens the skin. This pea is such a favourite +with the Lithuanians that it is made the subject of poetry. + +Venison, and hare soup, are deliciously gamey bouillons, which are +made of the soup bone of the roast. The Polish soup _barscz_ is made +of bouillon with the juice of red beets, little _saucissons_, and +specially made pastry, with highly spiced forced-meat balls swimming +in it. + +Lettuce salad is prepared in Germany with sour cream. + +A favourite drink is warm beer,--beer heated with the yolk of an egg +in it. + + "Fill me once more the foaming pewter up! + Another board of oysters, ladye mine! + To-night Lucullus with himself shall sup. + Those mute inglorious Miltons are divine; + And as I here in slippered ease recline, + Quaffing of Perkins's Entire my fill, + I sigh not for the lymph of Aganippe's rill." + +Beer is the amber inspiration of the Germans, and plays its daily, +hourly part in their science of entertaining. + +And the pea which can be skinned, which is such a favourite with the +Lithuanians, has also been immortalized by Thackeray:-- + + "I give thee all! I can no more, + Though poor the offering be; + Stewed duck and peas are all the store + That I can offer thee!-- + A duck whose tender breast reveals + Its early youth full well, + And better still, a pea that peels + From fresh transparent shell." + +But it must not be supposed that rich German citizens of the United +States do not know how to give a good dinner. Cosmopolitan in +everything else, these, the best colonists whom Europe has sent to us, +make good soldiers, good statesmen, and good entertainers. They do not +insist that we shall eat pig and prune sauce. No, they give us the +most affluent bill of fare which the market affords. They give us a +fine dining-room in which to eat it, and they offer as no other men +can "a tankard of Assmanschausen." + +They give us, as a nation, a valuable present in mineral water. The +Apollinaris bubbling up near the Rhine seems sent by Heaven to avert +that gout and rheumatism which are the terrible after-dinner penalties +of those who like too well the noble Rhine wines. + + + + +THE INFLUENCE OF GOOD CHEER ON AUTHORS AND GENIUSES. + + "The ancient poets and their learned rhymes + We still admire in these our later times, + And celebrate their fames. Thus, though they die + Their names can never taste mortality. + These had their helps. They wrote of gods and kings, + Of temples, battles, and such gallant things. + And now we ask what noble meat and drink + Can help to make man work, to make him think." + + "Pray, on what meat hath this our Cæsar fed?" + + +We should have a higher estimate of the value of a knowledge of +cookery and of all the arts of entertaining, did we sufficiently +realize that the style of Carlyle was owing to dyspepsia! At the age +of fifteen he entered Edinburgh University in order to fit himself for +the pulpit. He studied for many months to that end, but his vocation +refused to be clear. The ministry grew alien to his mind. Finally he +shut himself up, and as he himself says, wrestled with the Lord and +all the imps of darkness. Carlyle believed in a personal Devil, not +tasting food or sleeping for three days and nights, and then +terminated the struggle by resolving to pursue literature. What mental +revolution he underwent, he says he never could understand; all that +he knew was that he came out with that "dommed dyspepsia,"--his Scotch +way of pronouncing a stronger word. + +Some writer says that this anecdote solves the problem of Carlyle. The +force, earnestness, and eloquence of his writings were born of a fine, +free intellect. Then came despondency, rage, and bitterness, springing +from dyspepsia, which had been his haunting demon from the first, +releasing him at intervals only to assail and torture him the "more +for each surcease." + +Most of his works come under the head of the Literature of Dyspepsia, +and can be as plainly traced to it as to the growth of his +understanding or the sincerity of his convictions. Who does not +recognize, in the oddities of the trials and spiritual agonies of Herr +Teufelsdröckh, the author himself under a thin disguise, and the +promotings and promptings, and phenomena of censuring indigestion? All +through the "Sartor Resartus" it is evident that the gastric juices of +the illustrious iconoclast are insufficient; that while he is railing +at humanity he is suffering from gastritis, while he is prophesying +that the race will come to naught but selfishness and stupidity he is +undergoing gastrodynia, or, as it is commonly called, stomachic cramp. + +I do not know who wrote that masterly criticism, but evidently some +man who had had a good dinner. + +But Carlyle gets better and writes his noble essay on Robert Burns, +the life of John Sterling, Oliver Cromwell's letters and speeches. +Then he is at his best; sees man as a brother, handicapped with +circumstances, riveted to temperament perhaps, but in spite of all +shortcomings and neglected opportunities, still a brother, demanding +respect, deserving of help. How different Carlyle would have been, as +a man and as a writer, with nutritive organs capable of continually +and regularly performing their functions. Dyspepsia was his worst +enemy, as it has been that of many of his readers. Every mouthful he +ate must have been a gastric Nemesis for sins of opinion, and of +heresies against humanity. His very style is the result of +indigestion,--an excess of ill-chosen, ill-prepared German fare in a +British stomach, affording a strange sustenance, which, like some +diseases, keep a man alive, but which pain while they sustain. + +What a different genius was Prescott, who had a good dinner every day +of his life, who was brought up from boyhood in a luxurious old Boston +household where was the perfection of cookery! + +Sydney Smith sent word to Prescott after he wrote "Ferdinand and +Isabella,"-- + +"Tell Prescott to come here and we will drown him in turtle soup." + +"Say that I can swim in those seas," was Prescott's witty rejoinder. + +Mr. Prescott was fifty-three years of age when he visited England; he +was extremely handsome, courteous, and very much a man of the world. + + "We grow like what we eat. Bad food depresses, + Good food exalts us like an inspiration." + +Mr. Prescott had been inspired by good food, as any one can see who +reads that noble work "Ferdinand and Isabella." In England this +accomplished man was received by Lady Lyell, to whom he was much +attached. The account of English hospitality which he gives throws a +rosy light on the history of the art of entertaining: + +"I returned last night from the Horners, Lady Lyell's parents and +sisters, a very accomplished and happy family circle. They have a +small house, with a pretty lawn stretching between it and the Thames, +that forms a silver edging to the close-shaven green. The family +gather under the old trees on the little shady carpet, which is sweet +with the perfume of flowery shrubs. And you see sails gliding by and +stately swans, of which there are hundreds on the river. The next +Sunday, after dinner, which we took at four o'clock, we strolled +through Hampton Court and its royal park. The next day we took our +picnic at Box Hill. On Friday to dinner at Sir Robert Peel's and to an +evening party at Lady S----'s. I went at eleven and found myself in a +brilliant saloon filled with people amongst whom I did not recognize a +familiar face. You may go to ten parties in London, be introduced to a +score of persons in each, and on going to the eleventh not see a face +that you have ever seen before, so large is the society of the great +metropolis. I was soon put at my ease, however, by the cordial +reception of Lord and Lady C----, who introduced me to a great number +of persons." + +This alone would prove how great was Prescott's popularity, for in +London, people, as a rule, are not introduced. + +"In the crowd I saw an old gentleman, nicely made up, stooping a good +deal, covered with orders, and making his way easily along, as all, +young and old, seemed to treat him with deference. It was the Duke of +Wellington, the old Iron Duke. He likes the attention he receives in +this social way. He wore round his neck the order of the Golden +Fleece, on his coat the order of the Garter. He is, in truth, the lion +of England, not to say of all Europe." + +This beautiful little _genre_ picture of the Iron Duke was written in +the year 1850. Forty years later General Grant was received at Apsley +House by the son of the great Duke of Wellington, the second Duke, +who opened the famous Waterloo room and toasted the modest American as +the greatest soldier of modern times. Mr. Prescott goes on to say,-- + +"We had a superb dinner at Sir Robert Peel's, four and twenty guests. +It was served in the long picture-gallery. The windows of the gallery +look out upon the Thames, its beautiful stone bridges with lofty +arches, Westminster Abbey with its towers, and the living panorama on +the water. The opposite windows look on the green gardens behind the +Palace of Whitehall, which were laid out by Cardinal Wolsey, and near +the spot where Charles I. lived, and lost his life on the scaffold. +The gallery is full of masterpieces, especially Dutch and Flemish, +amongst them the famous _Chapeau de Paille_, which cost Sir Robert +over five thousand pounds. In his dining-room were also superb +pictures, the famous one by Wilkie, of John Knox preaching, which did +not come up to the idea I had formed of it from the engraving. There +was a portrait of Dr. Johnson by Reynolds, the portrait owned by Mrs. +Thrale and engraved for the Dictionary; what a bijou! + +"We sat at dinner looking out on the moving Thames. We dined at eight, +but the twilight lingers here until half-past nine at this summer +season. Sir Robert was exceedingly courteous to his guests, told some +good stories, showed us his autographs, amongst which was the +celebrated one written by Nelson, in which he says, 'If I die +"Frigate" will be found written on my heart.'" + +Mr. Prescott's letter to his daughter points out the strange +difference between the life of a girl in England and a girl here. + +"I think on reflection, dear Lizzy, that you did well not to come +with me. Girls of your age [she was then nineteen] make no great +figure in society. One never, or very rarely, meets them at dinner +parties, and they are not so numerous at evening parties as with us, +unless it be at balls. Six out of seven women you meet are over +thirty, and many of them over forty or fifty, not to say sixty; the +older they are, the more they are dressed and diamonded. Young girls +dress less, and wear very little ornament indeed." + +What a commentary this is on our American way of doing things,--where +young girls rule society, put their mothers in the background, and +wear too fine clothes. + +Dr. Prescott was of course presented at Court, and his account of it +is delightful:-- + +"Well! the presentation has come off, and I will give you some account +of it before going to dine with Lord Fitzwilliam. This morning I +breakfasted with Mr. Monckton Milnes, where I met Macaulay the third +time this week. We had also Lord Lyttleton, an excellent scholar, +Gladstone, and Lord W. Germains, a sensible and agreeable person, and +two or three others. We had a lively talk, but I left early for the +Court affair. I was at Mr. Abbott Lawrence's at one in my costume,--a +_chapeau_ with gold lace, blue coat, and white trowsers, begilded with +buttons and metal, a sword, and patent-leather-boots. I was a figure +indeed! but I had enough to keep me in countenance. I spent an hour +yesterday with Lady M. getting instructions for demeaning myself. The +greatest danger was that I should be tripped up by my sword. On +reaching St. James Place we passed upstairs through files of the +Guard, beefeaters, and were shown into a large saloon richly hung with +crimson silk, and with some fine portraits of the family of George +III. It was amusing, as we waited there an hour, to see the arrival of +the different persons, diplomatic, military, and courtiers, all men +and women blazing in their stock of princely finery, and such a power +of diamonds, pearls, emeralds, and laces, the trains of the ladies' +dresses several yards in length. Some of the ladies wore coronets of +diamonds, which covered the greater part of the head. I counted on +Lady D----'s head two strings of diamonds rising gradually from the +size of a fourpence to the size of an English shilling, and thick in +proportion. The dress of the Duchess of D---- was studded with +diamonds as large as nutmegs. The young ladies dressed very plainly. I +tell this for Lizzy's especial benefit. The company were permitted to +pass one by one into the presence-chamber, a room of about the same +size as the other, with gorgeous canopy and throne, at the farther end +of which stood the little Queen and her Consort, surrounded by her +Court. She was rather simply dressed, but he was in Field-Marshal's +uniform, and covered, I should think, with all the orders of Europe. +He is a good-looking person, but by no means so good-looking as you +are given to expect from his pictures. The Queen is better looking +than you might expect. I was presented by our minister, by the order +of the Chamberlain, as the historian of Ferdinand and Isabella and +made my profound obeisance to her Majesty who made a dignified +courtesy. I made the same low bow to his Princeship, and then bowed +myself out of the circle without my sword tripping up my heels. As I +was drawing off, Lord Carlisle, who was standing on the outer edge, +called me to him and kept me by his side telling me the names of the +different lords and ladies who, after paying their obeisance to the +Queen, passed out before us." + +Mr. Monckton Milnes became Lord Houghton, and I had great pleasure in +knowing him well many years after this. He told me, what our American +historian was too modest to tell, how well Mr. Prescott appeared in +London. Lionized to death, as the English alone can lionize, Mr. +Prescott never lost his modest self-possession. He was everywhere +remarked for his beauty, his fine manner, and his knowledge of the +usages of good society. But then, in 1887 the English went equally +wild, even more so, over Buffalo Bill, and probably preferred him. + +Mr. Prescott was entertained at Cuddeston Palace, the residence of +Bishop Wilberforce, the famous "Soapy Sam," from the fact, as he said +himself, that he "was always in hot water, and always came out cleaner +than he went in." This witty and accomplished prelate was very much +pleased with our American scholar, and gave him a hearty welcome. It +will sound curiously enough now, that Mr. Prescott found his Episcopal +views very high, and says, "The service was performed with a ceremony +quite Roman Catholic." The Bishop of Oxford would, were he living now, +be called low church,--so much do terms vary in different ages. Truly +the world moves! + +I was in my youth entertained at the house of Mr. Prescott, at Nahant, +and allowed to see his workroom and the machinery with which he wrote. +He gave me, and I have it still, a paper which he wrote for me with +the wired plate which the blind use, for he could scarcely see at all. + +He was master of the art of entertaining. How charming he was at +dinner at his own house; how pleasantly he made one forget his +greatness, except that a supreme simplicity seems always to accompany +true greatness. He had a regularity in his habits which would in a +less amiable man have interfered with his agreeability, but with him +it was most fascinating, as it seemed like musical chords set to noble +words. + +It would be pleasant to record the triumphs of Mr Webster, Mr. Motley, +Mr. Lowell, Mr. Phelps, Mr. Evarts, Mr. Depew, and many another great +American in England, but that, while a subject for national pride, +scarcely comes within the scope of this little book. + +It would seem, however, that our orators, however fed, have compassed +the accomplishment of after-dinner speaking, which is so much +appreciated in England, and it is to be hoped that no "dommed +dyspepsia" from badly cooked food will dim the oratory of the future. + +It is quite true that a witty and full talker will be silenced if he +is placed before a bad dinner, one which is palpably pretentious but +not well cooked, and villanously served. It is impossible for the +really conscientious diner-out, who respects his digestion, whose +religion is his dinner, to talk much or laugh much, if his gormandize +is wounded. Even if he wills to talk, in order not to lose his +reputation, his speech will be a "muddy flood of saponaceous blather," +instead of his usual brilliant flow of anecdote and repartee. + +Not all great men have, however, felt the influence of food as an +inspirer. Dr. Johnson was great although he was a horrible feeder; and +at the other extreme was General Grant, so abstemious that he once +told me that he did not know the sensation of hunger; that he could go +three days without food. At the splendid banquets given to him he +rarely ate much, but noticed the people and the surroundings, great +hero that he was. + +Thackeray, Disraeli, and Dickens have given us the most appreciative +descriptions of the art of entertaining, and were men deeply sensible +of the charms of a good dinner. + +Charles Lamb has been the poet of the homely and the comfortable side +of good eating; he records for us in immortal prose and poetry what +roast pig and tobacco have done for him. + +We claim boldly that a part of Webster's greatness, Prescott's charm, +the genius of Motley and of Lowell, the oratory of Depew, the wit of +Parke Godwin and Horace Porter, even the magnificent march of Sherman +to the sea, the great genius of Bryant, the sparkling cup of Anacreon, +O. W. Holmes, the masterly speech of our lawyers, and the unrivalled +eloquence of our pulpit orators, are owing to that earlier style of +domestic American cookery which was, and is, and always shall be, +deserving of the highest praise,--when meats were cooked with all +their juices, before a wood fire, when bread was light and feathery, +when soups were soups, and broils were broils! Oh, vanished +excellence! + + + + +BONBONS. + + Do, child, go to it' grandam, child; + Give grandam kingdom! and it' grandam will + Give it plumb, a cherry, and a fig. + KING JOHN. + + +They used to call a sugar-plum a plumb in Shakspeare's time. Was it on +account of its weight? Few ladies, on receiving a box of bonbons from +Maillards, go into the great question of their antiquity and their +manufacture. Few, even now, who at a fashionable hotel, receive on +Sundays after dinner a pretty little paper box filled with candied +rose-leaves and violets, remember that they are only following the +fashion of Lucretia Borgia in putting them in their pocket to eat in +their rooms, or at the theatre. There is nothing new under the sun. + +In France, in entertaining a lady, or a party of ladies, at theatre or +opera, the gentleman host always carries a box of bonbons, within +which is a little imitation-silver sugar-tongs by which she can help +herself to a chocolate or a _marron déguisé_, without soiling her +fingers. This pampered dame does not consider that France makes +annually sixty million of francs' worth of bonbons; that it exports +only about one fourth of this, leaving an enormous amount for home +consumption. + +They send over to England alone, cheap sweets manufactured by steam, +to the amount of three hundred thousand English pounds a year. + +The sugar-plum came from Italy, and dates no further back than the +sixteenth century as an article of commerce. But the skilful +confectioners in private houses knew how to manufacture not only those +which were healthful, but those which were very useful in getting rid +of dreaded rivals, unfaithful lovers, and troublesome friends. + +The manufacture of the antique sugar-plum, the antediluvian baked +almond, and the nauseous coloured abominations whose paint-poisoned +surface has long been discarded in France, received, as I read in an +old chronicle, its death-blow from the Aboukir almonds, during the +period of Napoleon's invasion of Egypt, which killed more people than +the bullets. Next went down the cracker bonbons, called Cossacks, on +account of the terror with which they inspired the _grandes dames_ on +their first advent in 1814. + +These latter, however, have come back, in the harmless detonating +powder-charged bonbons which every one hears at a dinner-party, as the +fringed papers are pulled. Then come the _primaveras_, a variety of +sugared bomb. Then the _marquises_, _orangines_, _marron glacé_, or +sugared chestnut, _cerises pralinée_, burnt cherries, _bowles_, +_ananas_, _dattes au café_, dates delightfully stuffed and covered +with sugar, _diables noirs_, _ganaches_, and an ephemeral but +delicious candy, _bonbons fondants_, with an inscription on the box +that "these must be eaten within twenty-four hours." They are +sometimes fruits with a creamy sugar, raspberries, currants, +strawberries, and are delicious, but quite untransportable, although +transporting merchandise. Their invention made the fortune of the +inventor. + +Formerly the preparation of bonbons was a tedious affair. Now it is +almost the work of a day, but they are perishable. If you leave a box +open they will devour themselves. Kept cool and air-tight, they will +last for years. About the first of December the great manufacturers in +the Rue de la Paix, commence their operations for New Year's, when +everybody, from President Carnot down, sends his friend a box of +bonbons. They tell of one confectioner who abandoned his sugar-pots to +turn playwright, about the time that Alphonse Karr forsook literature +to sell bouquets. The principle remains the same. He wished to sweeten +the existence of _les Parisiennes_. + +In visiting one of these immense establishments one descends a stone +staircase, and finds one's self in a stifling atmosphere, heavily +laden with the aroma of vanilla and other essences. Around are scores +of workmen, in white-paper caps and aprons, their faces red with heat, +as they plunge particular fruits into large cauldrons, filled with +boiling syrups. More in the shade are other stalwart men, their faces +pale with the heated atmosphere, piling up almonds on huge copper +vessels; and so constant is the sound of metal clashing against metal +that the visitor might imagine himself in an armour smithy, instead of +a sugar factory; rather with Vulcan working for the gods, or some +village blacksmith pounding out horseshoes, than with a party of +French _ouvriers_ making sugar-plums for children to crunch. On all +sides one sees sugar, gallons of liqueurs, syrups, and essences, rum, +aniseed, noyau, maraschino, pineapple, apricot, strawberry, cherry, +vanilla, chocolate, coffee, and tea, with sacks of almonds, and +baskets of chestnuts, pistachio nuts, and filberts being emptied into +machines which bruise their husks, flay them, and blanch them, all +ready to receive their saccharine coating. + +Those bonbons which have liqueur in them are much appreciated by +gourmets who find other bonbons disagree with them! A sugar-coated +brandy cherry is relished by the wisest man. Most bonbons are made by +hand; those only which are flat at the bottom are cast in moulds. In +the hand-made bonbons, the sugar paste is rolled into shapes by the +aid of an instrument formed of a stout piece of wire, one end of which +is twisted, and the other fixed into a wooden handle. With this the +paste is taken out of the cauldron, and worked into the desired form +by a rapid _coup de main_. For bonbons of a particular form, such as +those in imitation of various fruits, models are carved in wood. + +Liqueur bonbons are formed of a mixture of some given liqueur and +liquid sugar, which is poured into moulds, and then placed in a slow +oven for the day. Long before they are removed a hard crust has formed +on the outside, while the inside remains in its original liquid state. +Bonbons are crystallized by being plunged into a syrup heated to +thirty degrees Reamur; by the time they are dry the crystallization is +complete and acts as a protection against the atmosphere. The bonbons +can then be kept a certain time, although their flavour deteriorates. + +I think sugar one of the most remarkable of all the gifts of nature. +It submits itself to all sorts of plastic arts, and to see a +confectioner pouring it through little funnels, to see him make a +flower, even to its stamens, of this excellent juice of the cane or of +the beet,--they use beet sugar almost entirely in France,--is to +comprehend anew how many of the greatest of all curiosities are hidden +in the kitchen. + +One must go to Chambéry, in Savoy, to taste some of the most +exquisite _pâtisserie_, to find the most delicious candied fruits; and +at Montpellier, in the south of France, is another most celebrated +manufactory of bonbons. + +I received once from Montpellier a box holding six pounds of these +marvellous sweets, which were arranged in layers. Beginning with +chocolates in every form, they passed upward by strata, until they +reached the candied fruit, which was to be eaten at once. I think +there were fifty-five varieties of delicious sweets in that box. Such +lovely colours, such ineffable flavours, such beauties as they were! +The only remarkable part of this anecdote is that I survived to tell +it. I can only account for it by the fact that it was sent me by a +famous physician, who must have hidden his power of healing in the +box. Unlike Pandora's box which sent the troop of evils out into the +world, this famous _cachet_ sent nothing but good-will and pleasure, +barring perhaps a possible danger. + +If, however, we speak of the bonbons themselves, what can we say of +the _bonbonnières_! Everything that is beautiful, everything that is +curious, everything that is quaint, everything that is ludicrous, +everything that is timely, is utilized. I received an immense green +satin grasshopper--the last _jour de l'an_, in Paris--filled to his +uttermost _antennæ_ with bonbons. It could be for once said that the +"grasshopper had not become a burden." The _panier Watteau_, formed of +satin, pearls, straw, and flowers, may be made to conceal a +handkerchief worth a thousand francs under the rose-satin lining. The +boxes are painted by artists, and remain a lovely belonging for a +toilet table. + +Beautiful metal reproductions of some antique _chef d'oeuvre_ are +made into _bonbonnières_. Some bonbon-boxes have themselves concealed +in huge bouquets of violets, fringed with lace, or hidden under roses, +which are skilfully growing out of white satin; beautiful reticules, +all embroidered, hold the carefully bound up packages, where tinfoil +preserves the silk and satin from contact with the sugar. If France +did nothing else but make _bonbonnières_, she would prove her claim to +being the most ingenious purveyor for the luxury of entertaining in +all the world. If luxury means, "to freight the passing hour with +flying happiness," France does her "possible" as she would say +herself, to help along this fairy packing. + +At Easter, when sweetmeats are almost as much in request as at the New +Year,--the French make very little of Christmas,--these bonbon +establishments are filled with Easter eggs of the gayest colours. +There are nests of eggs, baskets of eggs, cradles full of eggs, and +pretty peasants carrying eggs to market; nests of eggs, with birds of +brilliant plumage sitting on the nests or hovering over them, while +their freight of bonbons repose on softest swan's-down, lace, and +satin; or again, the egg itself of satin, with its yolk of orange +creams and its white of marshmallow paste. There is no end to this +felicitous and dulcet strain. + +The best candied fruit I have ever eaten, I bought in a railway depot +at Venice. The Italians understand this art to perfection. They hang +the fruit by its natural stem on a long straw; and no better +accompaniment for a long railway journey can be imagined. + +The French do not consider bonbons unhealthful. Instead of giving her +boy a piece of bread and butter as he departs for the _Lycée_ the +French mamma gives him two or three chocolate bonbons. The hunter +takes these to the top of the Matterhorn; ladies take them in their +pockets instead of a lunch-basket; and one assured me that two slabs +of chocolate sufficed her for breakfast and supper on the road from +Paris to Rome. + +I do not know what Baron Liebig would say to this in his learned +articles on the "Nutritive Value of Certain Kinds of Food," but the +French children seem to be the healthiest in the world,--a tribute to +chocolate of the highest. "By their fruits shall ye know them." + +In the times of the Medici, and the St. Bartholomew Massacre, the +French and Italian nobles had a curious custom of always carrying +about with them, in the pockets of their silk doublets, costly little +boxes full of bonbons. Henry IV., Marie de Medici, and all their +friends and foes, carried about with them little gold and Limoges +enamelled boxes, very pretty and desirable articles of _vertu_ now; +and doubtless there was one full of red and white comfits in the +pocket of Mary Queen of Scots, when she fell dead, poor, ill-used, +beautiful woman, at the foot of the block, at Fotheringay. Doubtless +there was one in the pouch of the grisly Duc de Guise, with his +close-cropped bullet head, and long, spidery legs, when he fell, done +to death by treacherous Catherine de Medici, dead and bleeding on the +polished floor of Blois! It was a childish custom, and proved that the +age had a sweet tooth; but it might have been useful for diplomatic +purposes, and highly conducive to flirting. As a Lord Chief Justice +once said that "snuff and snuff-boxes help to develop character," so +the _bonbonnière_ helps to emphasize manners; and I am always pleased +when an old or new friend opens for me a little silver box and offers +me a sugared violet, or a rose leaf conserved in sugar, although I can +eat neither of them. + +A witty writer says that dessert should be "the girandole, or cunning +tableau of the dinner." It should "surprise, astonish, dazzle, and +enchant." We may almost decide upon the taste of an age as we read of +its desserts. The tasteless luxury and coarse pleasures of the reign +of Charles II.,--that society where Rochester fluttered and Buckingham +flaunted,--how it is all described in one dessert! At a dinner given +the father (of a great many) of his subjects by Lady Dormer, was built +a large gilded ship of confectionery. Its masts, cabins, portholes, +and lofty poop all smart and glittering, its rigging all taut, its +bunting flying, its figure-head bright as gold leaf could make it. Its +guns were charged with actual powder. Its cargo was two turreted pies, +one full of birds and the other of frogs. When borne in by the gay +pages, to the sound of music, the guns were discharged, the ladies +screamed and fainted, so as to "require to be held up and consoled by +the gallants, who offered them sips of Tokay." Poor little things! +Such was the Court of Charles. + +Then, to sweeten the smell of powder, the ladies threw at each other +egg-shells filled with fragrant waters; and "all danger being over," +they opened the pies. Out of one skipped live frogs; out of the other +flew live birds who put out the lights; so, what with the screams, the +darkness, the frogs, and the smell of powder, we get an idea of sports +at Whitehall, where blackbrowed, swarthy-visaged Charles presided, on +which grave Clarendon condescended to smile, and which the gentle +Evelyn and Waller were condemned to approve. + +We have not entirely refrained from such sugar emblems at our own +great feasts; but fortunately, they have rather gone out, excepting +for some emblem-haunted dinners where we do have sugared Monitors, +and chocolate torpedos. I have seen the lovely Venus of Milo in frozen +cream, which gave a wit the opportunity of saying that the home for +such a goddess should be the temple of Isis; and Bartholdi's immortal +Liberty lends herself to chocolate and nougat now and then, but very +rarely at private dinners. + +The fashion of our day, with its low dishes for the sweets, is so much +better, that we cannot help congratulating ourselves that we do not +live even in the days of the first George, when, as one witty author +again says, "the House of Brunswick brought over sound protestantism, +but German taste." Horace Walpole, great about trifles, incomparable +decider of the width of a shoe-buckle, keen despiser of all meannesses +but his own, neat and fastidious tripper along a flowery path over +this vulgar planet, derided the new fashion in desserts. The ambitious +confectioners, he says, "aspired to positive statuary, spindle-legged +Venus, dummy Mars, all made of sugar;" and he mentions a confectioner +of Lord Albemarle's who loudly complained that his lordship would not +break up the ceiling of his dining-room to admit the heads, +spear-points and upraised thunderbolts of a middle dish of Olympian +deities eighteen feet high, all made of sugar. + +The dishes known in France as _Les Quatres Mendiants_, one of nuts, +one of figs or dried fruit, one of raisins, and another of oranges, +still to be seen on old-fashioned dinner-tables, was, I supposed, so +called because it is seldom touched,--in fact, goes a-begging. + +But I have found this pretty little legend, which proves that it was +far more poetical in origin. The name in French for aromatic vinegar +is also connected with it. It is called "The Vinegar of the Four +Thieves." So runs the legend: "Once four thieves of Marseilles, +rubbing themselves with this vinegar during the plague, defied +infection and robbed the dead." Who were these wretches? All that we +know of them is that they dined beneath a tree on stolen walnuts and +grapes, and imagined the repast a feast. We can picture them, Holbein +men with slashed sleeves, as old soldiers of Francis I. who had +wrestled with the Swiss. We can imagine them as beaten about by +Burgundian peasants; and we know that they were grim, brown, scarred +rascals, cutting purses, snatching silken cloaks,--sturdy, resolute, +heartless, merry, desperate, God-forsaken scoundrels, living only for +the moment. We can imagine Callot etching their rags, or Rembrandt +putting in their dark shadows and high lights. We can see Salvator +Rosa admiring them as they sleep under the green oak-tree, their heads +on a dead deer, and the high rock above. Or we may get old Teniers to +draw them for us, gambling with torn and greasy cards for a gold +crucifix or a brass pot, or revelling at the village inn, swaggering, +swearing, drunk, or tipsy, playing at shuffle-board. The only point in +their history worth recording is that they were destined to be asked +to every dinner party for four hundred years!--simply preceding the +bonbons, as we see by the following verses:-- + + "Once on a time, in the brave Henry's age, + Four beggars dining underneath a tree + Combined their stores; each from his wallet drew + Handfuls of stolen fruit, and sang for glee. + + "So runs the story,--'_Garçon_, bring the _carte_, + Soup, cutlets--stay--and mind, a _matelotte_.' + And 'Charles,--a pint of Burgundy's best Beanne; + In our deep glasses every joy shall float!' + + "And '_Garçon_, bring me from the woven frail + That turbaned merchants from fair Smyrna sent, + The figs with golden seeds, the honeyed fruit, + That feast the stranger in the Syrian tent. + + "'Go fetch us grapes from all the vintage rows + Where the brave Spaniards gaily quaff the wine, + What time the azure ripple of the waves + Laughs bright beneath the green leaves of the vine! + + "'Nor yet, unmindful of the fabled scrip, + Forget the nuts from Barcelona's shore, + Soaked in Iberian oil from olives pressed, + To the crisp kernels adding one charm more. + + "'The almonds last, plucked from a sunny tree, + Half way up Lybanus, blanched as snowy white + As Leila's teeth, and they will fitly crown + The beggars' four-fold dish for us to-night. + + "'Beggars are happy! then let us be so; + We've buried care in wine's red-glowing sea. + There let him soaking lie--he was our foe; + Joy laughs above his grave--and so will we!'" + +It was from that love of contrast, then, was it, which is a part of +all luxury, that the fable of the _Quatre Mendiants_ was made to serve +like the olives at dessert. Perhaps the fillip which walnuts give to +wine suggested it. It was a modern French rendering of the skull made +to do duty as a drinking-cup. It is a part of the five kernels of corn +at a Pilgrim dinner, without that high conscientiousness of New +England. It is a part, perhaps, of the more melancholy refrain, "Be +merry, be merry, for to-morrow ye die!" It is that warmth is warmer +when we remember cold; it is that food is good when we remember the +starving; it is that _bringing in_ of the pleasant vision of the four +beggars under the tree, as a picture perhaps; at any rate there it +is, moral at your pleasure. + +The desserts of the middle ages were heavy and cumbrous affairs, and +had no special character. There would be a good deal of Cellini cup +and Limoges plate, and Palissy dish, and golden chased goblet about +it, no doubt. How glad the collectors of to-day would be to get them! +And we picture the heavy indigestible cakes, and poisonous bonbons. +The taste must have been questionable if we can believe Ben Jonson, +who tells of the beribboned dwarf jester who, at a Lord Mayor's +dinner, took a flying header into a dish of custard, to the infinite +sorrow of ladies' dresses; he followed, probably, that dish in which +the dwarf Sir Geoffrey Hudson was concealed, and they both are after +Tom Thumb, who was fishing about in a cup of posset a thousand years +ago. + +The dessert is allowed by all French writers to be of Italian origin; +and we read of the _maîtres d'hotel_, before the Italian dessert +arrived, probably introduced by Catherine de Medici and the Guises, +that they gloried in mountains of fruit, and sticky hills of +sweetmeats. The elegance was clumsy and ostentatious; there was no +poetry in it. Paul Veronese's picture of the "Marriage of Cana" will +give some idea of the primeval French dessert. The later fashion was +of those trees and gardens and puppets abused by Horace Walpole; but +Frenchmen delighted in seas of glass, flower-beds formed of coloured +sand, and little sugar men and women promenading in enamelled +bowling-greens. We get some idea of the magnificent fêtes of Louis +XIV. at Versailles from the glowing descriptions of Molière. + +Dufoy in 1805 introduced "frizzled muslin into a slice of fairyland;" +that is, he made extraordinary pictures of temples and trees, for the +centre of his dessert. And these palaces and temples were said to have +been of perfect proportions; his trees of frizzled muslin were +admirable. It sounds very much like children's toys just now. + +He went further, Dufoy; having ransacked heaven and earth, air and +water, he thrust his hand into the fire, and made harmless rockets +shoot from his sugar temples. Sugar rocks were strewn about with +precipices of nougat, glaciers of vanilla candy, and waterfalls of +spun sugar. A confectioner in 1805 had to keep his wits about him, for +after every victory of Napoleon he was expected to do the whole thing +in sugar. He was decorator, painter, architect, sculptor, and +florist--icer, yes, until after the Russian campaign, and then--they +had had enough of ice. Thus we see that the dessert has always been +more for the eye than for the stomach. + +The good things which have been said over the walnuts and the wine! +The pretty books written about claret and olives! One author says that +if all the good things which have been said about the gay and smiling +dessert could be printed, it would make a pleasant anecdotic little +pamphlet of four thousand odd pages! + +We must not forget all the absurdities of the dessert. The Prince +Regent, whose tastes inclined to a vulgar and spurious Orientalism, at +one of his costly feasts at Carleton House had a channel of real water +running around the table, and in this swam gold and silver fish. The +water was only let on at dessert. + +These fancies may be sometimes parodied in our own time, as the bonbon +makers of Paris now devote their talents to the paper absurdities of +harlequins, Turks, Chinamen, and all the vagaries of a fancy-dress +ball with which the passengers of steamships amuse themselves after +the Captain's dinner. This is not that legitimate dessert at which we +now find ices disguised as natural fruits, or copying a rose. All the +most beautiful forms in the world are now reproduced in the frozen +water or cream, as healthful as it is delicious, in the famous jelly +with maraschino, or the delicate bonbon with the priceless liqueur, +or, better still, that _eau de menthe_ cordial, our own green +peppermint, which, after all, saves as by one mouthful from the +horrors of indigestion and adds that "thing more exquisite still" to +the perfect dessert,--a good night's sleep. + + + + +FAMOUS MENUS AND RECIPES. + + Gather up the fragments that remain that nothing be lost. + JOHN vi. 12. + + +This is not intended to be a cookery book; but in order to help the +young housekeeper we shall give some hints as to _menus_ and a few +rare recipes. + +The great line of seacoast from New York to Florida presents us with +some unrivalled delicacies, and the negroes of the State of Maryland, +which was founded by a rich and luxurious Lord Baltimore, knew how to +cook the terrapin, the canvas-back duck, oysters, and the superb wild +turkey,--not to speak of the well-fattened poultry of that rich and +luxurious Lorraine of America, "Maryland, my Maryland," which Oliver +Wendell Holmes calls the "gastronomical centre of the universe." + +Here is an old Virginia recipe for cooking terrapin, which is rare and +excellent:-- + + Take three large, live, diamond-backed terrapin, plunge them + in boiling water for three minutes, to take off the skin, wipe + them clean, cook them in water slightly salted, drain them, + let them get cold, open and take out everything from the + shell. In removing the entrails care must be taken not to + break the gall. Cut off the head, tail, nails, gall, and + bladder. Cut the meat in even-size pieces, put them in a + sauce-pan with four ounces of butter, add the terrapin eggs, + and moisten them with a half pint of Madeira wine. Let the + mixture cook until the moisture is reduced one-half. Then add + two spoonfuls of cream sauce. After five minutes add the yolks + of four raw eggs diluted with a half-cup of cream. Season with + salt and a pinch of red pepper. The mixture should not boil + after the yolk of egg is added. Toss in two ounces of butter + before serving. The heat of the mess will cook egg and butter + enough. Serve with quartered lemon. + +This is, perhaps, if well-cooked, the most excellent of all American +dishes. + +A chicken gumbo soup is next:-- + + Cut up one chicken, wash and dry it, dip it in flour, salt and + pepper it, then fry it in hot lard to a delicate brown. + + In a soup kettle place five quarts of water and your chicken, + let it boil hard for two hours, cut up twenty-four okra pods, + add them to the soup, and boil the whole another hour. One + large onion should be put in with the chicken. Add red pepper + to taste, also salt, not too much, and serve with rice. Dried + okra can be used, but must be soaked over night. + +Another Maryland success was the tomato catsup:-- + + Boil one bushel of tomatoes until soft, squeeze through a + sieve, add to the juice half a gallon of vinegar, 1½ pints + salt, 3 ounces of whole cloves, 1 ounce of allspice, 2 ounces + of cayenne pepper, 3 tablespoonfuls of black pepper, 3 heads + of garlic, skinned and separated; boil three hours or until + the quantity is reduced one-half, bottle without skimming. The + spices should be put in a muslin bag, which must be taken out, + of course, before bottling. If desired 1 peck of onions can be + boiled, passed through a sieve, and the juice added to the + tomatoes. + + _Green pepper pickles_: Half a pound of mustard seed soaked + over night, 1 quart of green pepper chopped, 2 quarts of + onions chopped, 4 quarts of cucumbers also chopped, 8 quarts + of green tomatoes chopped, 6 quarts of cabbage chopped; mix + and measure. To every gallon of this mixture add one teacup of + salt, let it stand until morning, then squeeze perfectly dry + with the hands. Then add 8 pounds of sugar, and cover with + good vinegar and boil five minutes. After boiling, and while + still hot, squeeze perfectly dry, then add 2 ounces of cloves, + 2 ounces of allspice, 3 ounces of cinnamon and the mustard + seed. + + The peppers should be soaked in brine thirty-six or + forty-eight hours. After soaking, wipe dry and stuff, place + them in glass jars, and cover with fresh vinegar. + +This was considered the triumph of the Southern housekeeper. + + _Chicken with spaghetti_: Stir four sliced onions in two + ounces of butter till very soft, add one quart of peeled + tomatoes; stew chicken in water until tender, and pick to + pieces. Add enough of the gravy to make a quart, put with the + onions and tomatoes. Let it stew fifteen minutes gently. Put + into boiling water 2½ pounds of spaghetti and a handful of + salt, boil twenty minutes or until tender; drain this and put + in a layer on a platter sprinkled with grated cheese, and pour + the stew on it. Fill the platter with these layers, reserving + the best of the chicken to lay on top. + +The old negro cooks made a delicious confection known as confection +cake. Those who lived to tell of having eaten it declared that it was +a dream. It certainly leads to dreams, and bad ones, but it is worth a +nightmare:-- + + 1½ cups of sugar, 2½ cups of flour, ½ cup of butter, ½ cup of + sweet milk, whites of six eggs, 3 small teaspoons of baking + powder. Bake in two or three layers on a griddle. + + _Filling_: 1 small cocoanut grated, 1 pound almonds blanched, + and cut up not too fine, 1 teacup of raisins chopped, 1 teacup + of citron chopped, 4 eggs, whites only, 7 tablespoonfuls of + pulverized sugar to each egg. + +Mix this destructive substance well in the froth of egg, and spread +between the layers of cake when they are hot; set it a few minutes in +the oven, but do not burn it, and you have a delicious and profoundly +indigestible dessert. You will be able to write Sartor Resartus, after +eating of it freely. + + _Walnut Cake_: 1 cup of butter, 2 cups of sugar, 6 eggs, 4 + cups of flour, 1 cup of milk, 2 teaspoonfuls of yeast powder. + +This is also baked in layers, and awaits the dynamite filling which is +to blow you up:-- + + _Walnut Filling_: 2 cups of brown sugar, 1 cup of cream, a + piece of butter the size of an egg. Cook twenty minutes, + stirring all the time; when ready to take off the stove put in + one cup of walnut meats. After this has cooked a few minutes + longer, spread between the layers, and while both cake and + filling are hot. + +Perhaps a few _menus_ may be added here to assist the memory of her +"who does not know what to have for dinner:"-- + + Tomato Soup. + Golden Sherry. Whitefish broiled. Claret. + Mashed potatoes. + Round of beef _braisé_, Madeira. + with glazed onions. + Champagne. Roast plover with cress. Château Yquem. + Chiccory Salad. + Custard flavoured with vanilla. + Cheese. Cordials. + Chambertin. Fruit. + Coffee. + +Or a plain dinner:-- + + Sherry. Oxtail Soup. Claret. + _Filet_ of lobster _à la Mazarin_. + Turkey rings with _purée_ of chestnuts. + Salad of fresh tomatoes. + Cream tart with meringue. Cheese. + +This last dinner is perhaps enough for only a small party, but it is +very well composed. A much more elaborate _menu_ follows:-- + + Oysters on the half-shell. + Soup: + _Consommé royale_. + Fish: Rudesheimer. + Fried smelts, sauce Tartare, + Duchess potatoes. + Sherry. _Releves_: + Boned capon. + Roast ham. Champagne. + Madeira, _Entreés_: + Sweetbreads _braisé_. + Quails. Claret. + _Sorbet au kirsch_. + Game: + Port, Broiled woodcock, Chambertin. + Canvas-back duck. + Vegetables: + Cauliflower, Spinach, French peas, + Stewed tomatoes. Château Yquem. + Dessert: + Frozen pudding, _Biscuits Diplomats_. + _Meringues Chantilly_, Assorted Cake. + Fruit. + Brandy. Coffee. Cordials. + +An excellent bill of fare for eight persons, in the month of October, +is the following:-- + + Soup. + Bisque of crayfish. + Fish. + Baked smelts, _à la Mentone_, + Potato balls, _à la Rouenaise_, + Ribs of beef braised, stewed with vegetables. + Brussels sprouts. + Roast birds, or quail on toast. + Celery salad. + +To make a bisque of crayfish is a very delicate operation, but it is +worth trying:-- + + Have three dozen live crayfish, wash them well, and take the + intestines out by pinching the extreme end of the centre fin, + when with a sudden jerk the gall can be withdrawn. Put in a + stewpan two ounces of butter, with a carrot, an onion, two + stalks of celery, two ounces of salted pork, all sliced fine, + and a bunch of parsley; fry ten minutes, add the crayfish, + with a pint of French white wine and a quart of veal broth. + Stir and boil gently for an hour, then drain all in a large + strainer, take out the bunch of parsley and save the broth; + pick the shells off the crayfish tails, trim them neatly and + keep until wanted. Cook separately a pint and a half of rice, + with three pints of veal broth, pound the rest of the crayfish + and vegetables, add the rice, pound again, dilute with the + broth of the crayfish, and add more veal broth if too thick. + Pass forcibly through a fine sieve with a wooden presser, put + the residue in a saucepan, warm without boiling, and stir all + the while with a wooden spoon. Finish with three ounces of + table butter, a glass of Madeira wine, and a pinch of cayenne + pepper; serve hot in soup tureen with the crayfish tails. + + _To prepare baked smelts à la Mentone_: Spread in a large and + narrow baking-dish some fish forcemeat half an inch thick, + have two dozen large, fresh, well-cleaned smelts, lay them + down in a row on the forcemeat, season with salt, pepper, and + grated nutmeg, pour over a thick white Italian sauce, sprinkle + some bread crumbs on them, put a small pat of butter on each + one and bake for half an hour in a pretty hot oven, then + squeeze the juice of a lemon over and serve in a baking-dish. + + _To make potato balls à la Rouenaise_: Boil the potatoes and + rub them fine, then roll each ball in white of egg, lay them + on a floured table, roll into shape of a pigeon's egg, dip + them in melted butter, and fry a light brown in clear hot + grease. Sprinkle fine salt over and serve in a folded napkin. + + _To prepare braised ribs of beef_: Have a small set of three + ribs cut short, cook it as _beef à la mode_, that is, stew it + with spices and vegetables, dish it up with carrots, turnips, + and onions, pour the reduced gravy over. + + _To prepare Brussels sprouts, demi-glacé_: Trim and wash the + sprouts, soak them in boiling salted water about thirty + minutes, cool them in cold water, and drain them. Put six + ounces of butter in a large frying-pan, melt it and put the + sprouts in it, season with salt and pepper, fry on a brisk + fire until thoroughly hot, serve in a dish with a rich + drawn-butter sauce with chopped parsley. + +A diplomatic supper was once served at the White House, of which the +following _menu_ is an accurate report:-- + + Salmon with green sauce. + Cold boned turkey, with truffles. + _Pâtés_ of game, truffled. + Ham cooked in Madeira sauce. + Aspic of chicken. + _Pâté de foie gras._ + Salads of chicken and lobster in forms, surrounded by jelly. + Pickled oysters. Sandwiches. + Scalloped oysters. + Stewed terrapin. + Chicken and lobster croquettes. + _Chocolat à la crème._ Coffee. + Dessert: + Ices. Fancy meringue baskets filled with cream. + Pancakes. Large cakes. + Fancy jellies. Charlotte Russe. + Fruits. + Cake. Wafers. Nougat. + +One could have satisfied an appetite with all this. + +General Grant was probably the most _fêted_ American who ever visited +Europe. He was entertained by every monarch and by many most +distinguished citizens. The Duke of Wellington opened the famous +Waterloo Room in Apsley House in his honour, and toasted him as the +first soldier of the age. But it is improbable that he ever had a +better dinner than the following:-- + +It was given to him in New York, in 1880, at the Hotel Brunswick. It +was for ten people only, in a private parlour, arranged as a +dining-room _en suite_ with the Venetian parlour. The room was in rich +olive and bronze tints. The buffet glittered with crystal, and +Venetian glass. On the side tables were arranged the coffee service +and other accessories. The whole room was filled with flowers, the +chandelier hung with smilax, dotted with carnations. The table was +arranged with roses, heliotrope, and carnations, the deep purple and +green grapes hanging over gold dishes. The dinner service was of white +porcelain with heliotrope border, the glass of iridescent crystal. The +furnishing of the Venetian parlour, the rich carvings, the suits of +armour, the antique chairs were all mediæval; the dinner was modern +and American:-- + + Oysters. + Soup, _Consommé Royale_. + Fish: + Fried smelts, sauce Tartare. + _Releves_: + Boned capon. + _Entrées_: + Sweetbreads, _braisé_, Quails, _à la Perigord_. + _Sorbet au kirsch_. + Game. + Broiled woodcock, Canvas-back duck. + Terrapin. + Vegetables: + Cauliflower, Spinach, Artichokes, French peas. + Dessert: + _Biscuits Diplomatiques_, Frozen pudding, + _Meringue Chantilly_, Assorted cakes. + Fruit. Coffee. Cigars. + Liqueurs. + +Probably the last item interested and amused the General, who was no +_gourmet_, much more than even the terrapin. + +This _menu_ for a November dinner cannot be surpassed. + + + + +COOKERY AND WINES OF THE SOUTH OF EUROPE. + + Aufidius for his morning beverage used + Honey in strong Falernian wine infused; + But here methinks he showed his want of brains: + Drink less austere best suits the empty veins. + + * * * * * + + Shell fish afford a lubricating slime! + But then you must observe both place and time. + They're caught the finest when the moon is new; + The Lucrine far excel the Baian too. + Misenum shines in cray fish; Circe most + In oysters; scollops let Tarentum boast. + The culinary critic first should learn + Each nicer shade of flavour to discern: + To sweep the fish stalls is mere show at best + + * * * * * + + Unless you know how each thing should be drest. + Let boars of Umbrian game replete with mast, + If game delights you, crown the rich repast. + SATIRES OF HORACE. + + +Italian cookery is excellent at its best. The same drift of talent, +the same due sense of proportion which showed itself in all their art, +which built St. Mark's and the Duomo, the Ducal Palace, the Rialto, +and the churches of Palladio, comes out in their cookery. Their cooks +are Michel Angelo and Leonardo da Vinci in a humbler sphere. + +They mingle cheese in cookery, with great effect; nothing can be +better than their cauliflower covered with Parmesan cheese, and +baked. Macaroni in all its forms is of course admirable. They have +mastered the use of sweet oil, which in their cookery never tastes +oily; it is simply a lambent richness. + +The great dish, wild boar, treated with a sweet and a sour sauce, with +pine cones, is an excellent dish. Wild boar is a lean pork with a game +flavour. All sorts of birds, especially _becafico_, are well cooked, +they lose no juice or flavour over the fire. + +They make a dozen preparations of Indian meal, which are very good for +breakfast. One little round cake, like a muffin, tastes almost of +cocoanut; this is fried in oil, and is most delicious. + +The _frittala_ is another well-known dish, and is composed of liver, +bacon, and birds, all pinned on a long stick, or iron pin. + +In an Italian palace, if you have the good luck to be asked, the +dinner is handsome. It is served in twelve courses in the Russian +manner, and if national dishes are offered they are disguised as +inelegant. But at an ordinary farmhouse in the hills near Florence, or +at the ordinary hotels, there will be a good soup, trout fresh from +the brooks, fresh butter, macaroni with cheese, a fat capon, and a +delicious omelette, enriched with morsels of kidney or fat bacon, a +_frittala_, a bunch of grapes, a bottle of Pogio secco, or the sweet +Italian straw wine. + +The Italians are very frugal, and would consider the luxurious +overflow of American munificent hospitality as vulgar. At parties in +Rome, Naples, and Florence it is not considered proper to offer much +refreshment. At Mr. Story's delightful receptions American hospitality +reigned at afternoon tea, as it did in all houses where the hostess +was American, but at the houses of the Princes nothing was offered but +weak wine and water and little cakes. + +Many travellers have urged that the cookery of the common Italian +dinner is too much flavoured with garlic, but in a winter spent in +travelling through Italy I did not find it so. I remember a certain +leg of lamb with beans which had a slight taste of onions, but that is +all. They have learned, as the French have, that the onion is to +cookery what accent is to speech. It should not be _trop prononcée_. +The lamb and pistachio nuts of the Arabian Nights is often served and +is delicious. + +They give you in an Italian country house for breakfast, at twelve +o'clock, a sort of thick soup, very savoury, probably made of chicken +with an herb like okra, one dish of meat smothered in beans or +tomatoes, followed by a huge dish of macaroni with cheese, or with +morsels of ham through it. Then a white curd with powdered cinnamon, +sugar, and wine, a bottle of _vino santo_, a cup of coffee or +chocolate, and bread of phenomenal whiteness and lightness. + +Alas, for the poor people! They live on the chestnuts, the frogs, or +nothing. The porter at the door of some great house is seen eating a +dish of frogs, which are, however, so well cooked that they send up an +appetizing fragrance more like a stew of crabs than anything else. One +sees sometimes a massive ancient house, towering up in mediæval +grandeur, with shafts of marble, and columns of porphyry, lonely, +desolate, and beautiful, infinitely impressive, infinitely grand. Some +member of a once illustrious family lives within these ruined walls, +on almost nothing. He would have to kill his pet falcon to give you a +dinner, while around his time-honoured house cluster his tenants +shaking with malaria,--pale, unhappy, starved people. It is not a +cheerful sight, but it can be seen in southern Italy. + +The prosperous Italians will give you a well-cooked meal, an immense +quantity of bonbons, and the most exquisite candied fruits. Their +_confetti_ are wonderful, their cakes and ices, their candied fruit, +their _tutti frutti_, are beyond all others. They crown every feast +with a Paradise in spun sugar. + +But they despise and fear a fire, and foreigners are apt to find the +old Italian palaces dreary, and very cold. A recent traveller writes +from Florence: "I have been within the walls of five Italian houses at +evening parties, at three of them, music and no conversation; all +except one held in cold rooms, the floors black, imperfectly covered +with drugget, and no fire; conversation, to me at least, very dull; +the topics, music, personal slander,--for religion, government, and +literature, were generally excluded from polite society. In only one +house, of which the mistress was a German, was tea handed around; +sometimes not even a cup of water was passed." We learn from the +novels of Marion Crawford that the Italians do not often eat in each +others' houses. + +Victor Emmanuel, the mighty hunter, had a mighty appetite. He used to +dine alone, before the hour for the State dinner. Then with sword in +hand, leaning on its jewelled hilt, in full uniform, his breast +covered with orders, the King sat at the head of his table, and talked +with his guests while the really splendid dinner was served. + +Royal banquets are said to be dull. The presence of a man so much +above the others in rank has a depressing effect. The guest must +console himself with the glorious past of Italy, and fix his eyes on +the magnificent furniture of the table, the cups of Benvenuto Cellini, +the vases of Capo di Monti, the superb porcelain, and the Venetian +glass, or he must devote himself to the lamb and pistachio nuts, the +_choux fleurs aux Parmesan_, or the truffles, which are nowhere so +large or so fine as at an Italian dinner. Near Rome they are rooted +out of the oak forests by the king's dogs, and are large and full of +flavour. + +King Humbert has inherited his father's taste for hunting, and sends +presents of the game he has shot to his courtiers. + +The housekeeping at the Quirinal is excellent; a royal supper at a +royal ball is something to remember. And what wines to wash them down +with!--the delicious Lacryma Christi, the Falerno or Capri, the +Chianti, the Sestio Levante or Asti. Asti is a green wine, rich, +strong, and sweet. It makes people ill if they drink it before it is +quite old enough--but perhaps it is not often served at royal +banquets. + +Verdeaux was a favourite wine of Frederic the Great, but Victor +Emmanuel's wine was the luscious _Monte Pulciano_. + + "Monte Pulciano d'ogni vino e il Re." + +The brilliant purple colour, like an amethyst, of this noble wine is +unlike any other. The aromatic odour is delicious; its sweetness is +tempered by an agreeable sharpness and astringency; it leaves a +flattering flavour on the tongue. + +These best Italian wines have a deliciousness which eludes analysis, +like the famous Monte Beni, which old Tommaso produced in a small +straw-covered flask at the visit of Kenyon to Donatello. This +invaluable wine was of a pale golden hue, like other of the rarest +Italian wines, and if carelessly and irreligiously quaffed, might have +been mistaken for a sort of champagne. It was not, however, an +effervescing wine, although its delicate piquancy produced a somewhat +similar effect upon the palate. Sipping, the guest longed to sip +again, but the wine demanded so deliberate a pause in order to detect +the hidden peculiarities, and subtile exquisiteness of its flavour, +that to drink it was more a moral than a physical delight. There was a +deliciousness in it which eluded description, and like whatever else +that is superlatively good was perhaps better appreciated by the +memory than by present consciousness. One of its most ethereal charms +lay in the transitory life of the wine's richest qualities; for while +it required a certain leisure and delay, yet if you lingered too long +in the draught, it became disenchanted both of its fragrance and +flavour. The lustre and colour should not be forgotten among the other +good qualities of the Monte Beni wine, for "as it stood in Kenyon's +glass, a little circle of light glowed on the table around about it as +if it were really so much golden sunshine." + +There are few wines worthy of this beautiful eloquence of Hawthorne. +The description bears transportation; the wine did not. The +transportation of even a few miles turned it sour. That is the trouble +with Italian wines. Monte Pulciano and Chianti do bear transportation. +Italy sends much of the latter wine to New York. Italy has, however, +never produced a really good dry wine, with all its vineyards. + +The dark Grignolino wine grown in the vineyards of Asterau and +Monferrato possesses the remarkable quality of keeping better if +diluted with fresh water. + +The Falernian from the Bay of Naples, is the wine of the poets, nor +need we remind the classical scholar that the hills around Rome were +formerly supposed to produce it. + +The loose, volcanic soil about Mount Vesuvius grows the grapes from +which Lacryma Christi is produced. It is sometimes of a rich red +colour, though white and sparkling varieties are produced. + +The Italians are supremely fond of _al fresco_ entertainments,--their +fine climate making out-of-door eating very agreeable. How many a +traveller remembers the breakfast or dinner in a vine-covered _loggia_ +overhanging some splendid scene! It forms the subject of many a +picture, from those which illustrate the stories of Boccaccio up to +the beautiful sketch of Tasso, at the court of the Duc d'Este. The +dangers of these feasts have been immortalized in verse and prose from +Dante down, and Shakspeare has touched upon them twice. George Eliot +describes one in a "_loggia_ joining on a garden, with all one side of +the room open, and with numerous groups of trees and statues and +avenues of box, high enough to hide an assassin," in her wonderful +novel of Romola. In modern days, since the Borgias are all killed, no +one need fear to eat out-of-doors in Italy. + +Not much can be said of the cookery of Spain. In the principal hotels +of Spain one gets all the evils of both Spanish and Gascon cookery. +Garlic is the favourite flavour, and the bad oil expressed from the +olive, skin, seed and all, allowed to stand until it is rancid, is +beloved of the Spanish, but hated by all other nations. I believe, +however, that an _olla podrida_ made in a Spanish house is very good. +It may not be inappropriate here to give two recipes for macaroni. The +first, _macaroni au gratin_ is very rarely found good in an +American house:-- + + Break two ounces of best Italian macaroni into a pint of + highly seasoned stock, let it simmer until very tender. When + done, toss it up with a small piece of butter, and add pepper + and salt to taste; put in a large meat dish, sift over it some + fried bread-crumbs, and serve. It will take about an hour to + cook, and should be covered with the stock all the time. + + * * * * * + + _Macaroni with Parmesan cheese_: Boil two ounces of macaroni + in half a pint of water, with an ounce of butter, until + perfectly tender. If the water evaporates add a little more, + taking care that the macaroni does not stick to the stewpan, + or become broken. When it is done, drain away the water and + stir in two ounces of good cheese grated, cayenne pepper and + salt to taste. Keep stirring until the cheese is dissolved. + Pour on to a hot dish and serve. A little butter may be + stirred into the macaroni before the cheese, and is an + improvement. + +Through the Riviera, and indeed in the south of France, one meets with +many peculiar dishes. No one who has read Thackeray need be reminded +of _bouillabaise_, that famous fish chowder of Marseilles. It is, +however, only our chowder with much red pepper. A cook can try it if +she chooses, and perhaps achieve it after many failures. + +There are so many very good dishes awaiting the efforts of a young +American housewife, that she need not go out of her way to extemporize +or explore. The best cook-book for foreign dishes is still the old +Francatelli. + +The presence in our midst of Italian warehouses, adds an infinite +resource to the housewife. Those stimulants to the appetite called +_hors d'oeuvres_, we call them relishes, are much increased by +studying the list of Italian delicacies. Anchovy or caviar, potted +meat, grated tongue, potted cheese, herring salad, the inevitable +olive, and many other delicacies could be mentioned which aid +digestion, and make the plainest table inexpensively luxurious. The +Italians have all sorts of delicate vegetables preserved in bottles, +mixed and ready for use in a _jardinière_ dressing; also the best of +cheeses, _gargonzala_, and of course the truffle, which they know how +to cook so well. + +The Italians have conquered the art of cooking in oil, so that you do +not taste the oil. It is something to live for, to eat their fried +things. + +Speaking of the south of Europe reminds us of that wonderful bit of +orientalism out of place, which is called Algiers, and which France +has enamelled on her fabulous and many-coloured shield. Algiers has +become not only a winter watering-place, high in favour with the +traveller, but it is a great wine-growing country. The official +statement of Lieut. Col. Sir R. L. Playfair, her Majesty's +consul-general, may be read with interest, dated 1889: + +"Viticulture in Algeria, was in 1778 in its infancy; now nearly one +hundred and twenty-five thousand acres are under cultivation with +vines, and during the last year about nine hundred thousand +hectolitres of wine were produced. In 1873 Mr. Eyre Ledyard, an +English cultivator of the vine in Algeria, bought the property of +Chateau Hydra near Algiers. He found on it five acres of old and badly +planted vineyards, which produced about seven hogsheads of wine. He +has extended this vineyard and carried on his work with great +intelligence and industry. He cultivates the following varieties: the +Mourvedie, of a red colour resembling Burgundy, Cariguan, giving a +wine good, dark, and rough, Alicante or Grenache, Petit Bouschet, +Cabernot and Côt, a Burgundy, Perian Lyra, Aramen, and St. Saux. + +Chasselas succeeds well; the grapes are exported to France for the +table. + +Clairette produces abundantly and makes a good dry wine. Ainin Kelb, +more correctly Ain Kelb, dog's-eye, is an Arab grape which makes a +good strong wine, but which requires keeping. Muscat is a capricious +bearer. From the two last-named varieties, sweet as well as dry wines +are produced by adding large quantities of alcohol to the juice of the +grape, and thus preventing fermentation. The crops yield quantities +varying from seven hundred gallons per acre in rich land to four +hundred on the hillside, except Cariguan which yields more. Aramen +yields as much, but the quality is inferior. + +The red wines are sent to Bordeaux and Burgundy, to give strength and +quality to the French clarets, as they are very useful for blending. +The dry, white wine is rather stronger and fuller than that of France +or Germany, and is much used to give additional value to the thinner +qualities of Rhine wine. + +The cellars of Château Hydra, are now probably the best in the colony. +They are excavated in the soft rock here incorrectly called tufa, in +reality an aggregation of minutely pulverized shells; it is soft and +sandy, and easily excavated. The surface becomes harder by exposure to +the atmosphere, and it is not subject to crumbling. + +Mr. Ledyard has excavated extensive cells in this rock, in which +extreme evenness of temperature is ensured,--a condition most +necessary for the proper manufacture of wine. + +Mr. Eyre Ledyard's vineyards and cellars of the Chateau Hydra estate +are now farmed by the _Société Anonyme Viticole et Vinicole d'Hydra_, +of which Mr. Ledyard is chairman. These wines have been so +successfully shipped to England and other countries that the company +now buys grapes largely from the best vineyards, in order to make +sufficient wines to meet the demand. The Hydra Company supplies wine +to all vessels of the Ocean Company going to India and China. A very +carefully prepared quinine white wine is made for invalids, and for +use in countries where there is fever. I especially recommend a trial +of this last excellent wine to Americans, as it is most agreeable as +well as healthful. The postal address is M. Le Gerant, Hydra Caves, +Birmandreis, Algiers. + +All the stories of Algiers read like tales of the Arabian Nights, and +none is more poetic than the names and the story of these delicious +wines. + +The Greek wines are well spoken of in Europe: Santorin, and Zante, and +St. Elié, and Corinth, and Mount Hymettus, Vino Santo, and Cyprus, +while from Magyar vineyards come Visontaè, Badescony, Dioszeg, +Bakator, Rust, Szamorodni, Oedenburger, Ofner, and Tokay. + +The Hungarian wines are very heady. He must be a swashbuckler who +drinks them. They are said to make the drinker grow fat. To this +unhappy class Brillat Savarin gives the following precepts:-- + +"Drink every summer thirty bottles of seltzer water, a large tumbler +the first thing in the morning, another before lunch, and the same at +bedtime. + +"Drink white wines, especially those which are light and acid, and +avoid beer as you would the plague. Ask frequently for radishes, +artichokes with hot sauce, asparagus, celery; choose veal and fowl +rather than beef and mutton, and eat as little of the crumb of bread +as possible. + +"Avoid macaroni and pea soup, avoid farinaceous food under whatever +form it assumes, and dispense with all sweets. At breakfast take brown +bread, and chocolate rather than coffee." + +Indeed Brillat Savarin seems to have inspired this later poet:-- + + "Talk of the nectar that flowed for celestials + Richer in headaches it was than hilarity! + Well for us animals, frequently bestials, + Hebe destroyed the recipe as a charity! + Once I could empty my glass with the best of 'em, + Somehow my system has suffered a shock o' late; + Now I shun spirits, wine, beer, and the rest of 'em, + Fill me, then fill me, a bumper of chocolate. + + "Once I drank logwood, and quassia and turpentine, + Liqueurs with coxcubes, aloes, and gentian in, + Sure, 't is no wonder my path became serpentine, + Getting a state I should blush now to mention in. + Farewell to Burgundy, farewell to Sillery, + I have not tasted a drop e'en of Hock o' late, + Long live the kettle, my dear old distillery, + Fill me, oh fill me, a bumper of chocolate." + +As we cannot all drink chocolate, I recommend the carefully prepared +white wine, with quinine in it, which comes from Chateau Hydra in +Algiers, or some of the Italian wines, Barolo for instance, or the +excellent native wines which are produced in Savoy. + +About Aix les Bains, where the cuisine is the best in Europe, many +wines are manufactured which are honest wines with no headaches in +them. + + + + +SOME ODDITIES IN THE ART OF ENTERTAINING. + +"Comparisons are odorous." + + I prithee let me bring thee where crabs grow; + And I with my long nails will dig thee pig nuts; + Show thee a jay's nest, and instruct thee how + To snare the nimble marmozet; I'll bring thee + To clustering filberds, and sometimes I'll get thee + Young staniels from the rocks. Wilt thou go with me? + THE TEMPEST. + + +In the lamb roasted whole we have one of the earliest dishes on record +in the history of cookery. Stuffed with pistachio nuts, and served +with pilaf, it illustrates the antiquity of the art, and at the same +time gives an example of the food upon which millions of our fellow +creatures are sustained. + +At a dinner of the Acclimatization Society in London, all manner of +strange and new dishes were offered, even the meat of the horse. A +roast monkey filled with chestnuts was declared to be delicious; the +fawn of fallow deer was described as good; buffalo meat was not so +highly commended; a red-deer ham was considered very succulent; a +sirloin of bear was "tough, glutinous, and had, besides, a dreadful, +half-aromatic, half-putrescent flavour, as though it had been rubbed +with assafoetida and then hung for a month in a musk shop." + +We will not try bear unless we are put to it. However, at this same +dinner--we read on--haunch of venison, saddle of mutton, roast beef of +old England, which is really the roast beef which is of old Normandy +now, all gave way to a Chinese lamb roasted whole, stuffed with +pistachio nuts, and served with _consousson_, a preparation of wheat +used among the Moors, Africans, and other natives of the north of +Africa littoral, in place of rice. The Moorish young ladies are, it is +said, fattened into beauty by an enforced meal of this strengthening +compound. The _consousson_ is made into balls and stuffed into the +mouths of the marriageable young lady, until she grows as tired of +balls as a young belle of three seasons. + +In Spain, in those damp swamps near Valencia, where the poor are old +before forty and die before forty-five, the best rice sells at eleven +farthings, the poorest at eight farthings per pound. This, cooked with +the ground dust of _pimientos_, or capsicums, is the foundation of +every stew in the south of Spain. It is of a rich brick-dust hue, and +is full of fire and flavour. Into this stew the cook puts the +"reptiles of the sea" known as "spotted cats," "toads" and other oily +fish, sold at two pence a pound, or the _vogar_, a silvery fish, or +the _gallina_, a coarse fish, chick peas, garlic, pork, and sausages. +If rich she will make an _olla podrida_ with bacon, fresh meat, +potatoes, cabbages, and she will pour off the soup, calling it +_caldo_, then the lumps of meat and bacon, called _cocida_, will be +served next. Then the cigarette is smoked. If you are a king she will +add a quince and an apple to the stew. + +Of puddings and pies they know nothing; but what fruit they +have!--watermelons weighing fifteen pounds apiece; lemon pippins +called _perillons_; crimson, yellow, and purple plums; purple and +green figs; tomatoes by the million; carob beans, on which half the +nation lives; small cucumbers and gourds; large black grapes, very +sweet; white grapes and quinces; peaches in abundance; and all the +chestnuts and filberts in the world. In the summer they eat goat's +flesh; and on All Saints' Day they eat pork and chestnuts and sweet +_babatas_ of Malaga. In exile, in Mexico and Florida, the Spaniard +eats alligator, which could scarcely be called a game bird; but the +flesh of young alligators' tails is very fair, and tastes like chicken +if the tail is cut off immediately after death, and stewed. + +The frost fish of the Adirondacks is seldom tasted, except by those +who have spent a winter in the North Woods. They are delicious when +fried. There is a European fish as little known as this, the _Marena_, +caught in Lake Moris in the province of Pomerania, also in one lake in +southern Italy, which is very good. + +There are two birds known in Prussia, the bustard, and the kammel, the +former a species of small ostrich, once considered very fine eating, +the latter very tough, except under unusual conditions. + +The Chinese enjoy themselves by night. All their feasts and festivals +are kept then, generally by moonlight. When a Chinaman is poor he can +live on a farthing's worth of rice a day; when he gets rich he becomes +the most luxurious of sybarites, indulges freely in the most +_recherché_ delicacies of the table, and becomes, like any Roman +voluptuary, corpulent and phlegmatic. A lady thus describes a Chinese +dinner:-- + +"The hour was eleven A. M., the _locale_ a boat. Having heard much of +the obnoxious stuff I was to eat, I adopted the prescription of a +friend. 'Eat very little of any dish, and be a long time about it.' + +"We commenced with tea, and finished with soup. Some of the +intermediate dishes were shark's-fin; birds' nests brought from +Borneo, costing nearly a guinea a mouthful, fricassee of poodle, a +little dog almost a pig; the fish of the conch-shell, a substance like +wax or india rubber, which you might masticate but never mash; +peacock's liver, very fine and _recherché_; putrid eggs, nevertheless +very good; rice, of course, salted shrimps, baked almonds, cabbage in +a variety of forms, green ginger, stewed fungi, fresh fish of a dozen +kinds, onions _ad libitum_, salt duck cured like ham, and pig in every +form, roast, boiled, and fried, Foo-Chow ham which seemed to me equal +to Wiltshire. In fact, the Chinese excel in pork, though the English +there never touch it, under the supposition that the pigs are fed on +little babies. + +"But this is a libel. Of course a pig would eat a baby, as it would a +rattlesnake if it came across one; but the Chinese are very particular +about their swine and keep them penned up, rivalling the Dutch in +their scrubbing and washing. They grow whole fields of taro and herbs +for their pigs. And I do not believe that one porker in a million ever +tastes a baby." + +This traveller's sympathies appear to be with the pig. + +"About two o'clock we arose from the table, walked about, looked out +of the window. Large brass bowls were brought with water and towels. +Each one proceeded to perform ablutions, the Chinese washing their +heads; after which refreshing operation we resumed our seats and +re-commenced with another description of tea. + +"Seven different sorts of Samchou we partook of, made from rice, from +peas, from mangoes, cocoa-nut, all fermented liquors, and the mystery +remained,--I was not inebriated. The Samchou was drunk warm in tiny +cups, during the whole course of the dinner. + +"The whole was cooked without salt and tasted very insipid to me. The +bird's-nest seemed like glue or isinglass, but the coxcombs were +palatable. The dog-meat was like some very delicate gizzards +well-stewed, and of a short, close fibre. The dish which I most +fancied turned out to be rat. Upon taking a second help, after the +first taste I got the head, which made me rather sick; but I consoled +myself that when in California we ate ground squirrels which are first +cousins to the flat-tailed rats; and travellers who would know the +world must go in for manners and customs. We had tortoise and +frogs,--a curry of the latter was superior to chicken; we had fowls' +hearts, and the brains of some birds, snipe, I think. We had a +chow-chow of mangoes, rambustan preserved, salted cucumber, sweet +potatoes, yams, taro, all sorts of sweets made of rice sugar, and +cocoa-nuts; and the soup which terminated the entertainment was +certainly boiled tripe or some other internal arrangement; and I +wished I had halted some little time before. The whole was eaten with +chop-sticks or a spoon like a small spade or shovel. The sticks are +made into a kind of fork, being held crosswise between the fingers. It +is not the custom for the sexes to meet at meals; I dined with the +ladies." + +This dinner has one suggestion for our hostesses,--it was in a boat, +on a river, by torchlight. We can, however, give a better one on a +yacht at Newport, or at New London, or down on the Florida coast; but +it would be a pretty fancy to give it on our river. It is curious to +see what varieties there are in the art of entertaining; and it is +useful to remember, when in Florida, "that alligators' tails are as +good, when stewed, as chicken." + +The eating of the past included, under the Romans, the ass, the dog, +the snail, hedge-hogs, oysters, asparagus, venison, wild-boar, +sea-nettles. In England, in 1272, the hostess offered strange dishes: +mallards, herons, swans, crane, and peacock. The peacock was, of old, +a right royal bird which figured splendidly at the banquets of the +great, and this is how the mediæval cooks dished up the dainty:-- + +"Flay off the skin, with the feathers, tail, neck, and head thereon. +Then take the skin and all the feathers and lay it on the table, +strewing thereon ground cumin; then take the peacock and roast him, +and baste him with raw yolks of eggs, and when he is roasted take him +off and let him cool awhile. Then sew him in his skin, and gild his +comb, and so send him forth for the last course." + +Our Saxon ancestors were very fond, like the Spaniards, of putting +everything into the same pot; and we read of stews that make the blood +boil. Travellers tell us of dining with the Esquimaux, on a field of +ice, when tallow candles were considered delicious, or they found +their plates loaded with liver of the walrus. They vary their dinners +by helping themselves to a lump of whale-meat, red and coarse and +rancid, but very toothsome to an Esquimau, notwithstanding. + +If they should sit down to a Greenlander's table they would find it +groaning under a dish of half-putrid whale's tail, which has been +lauded as a savoury matter, not unlike cream cheese; and the liver of +a porpoise makes the mouth water. They may finish their repast with a +slice of reindeer, or roasted rat, and drink to their host in a bumper +of train oil. + +In South America the tongue of a sea-lion is esteemed a great +delicacy. Fashion in Siam prescribes a curry of ants' eggs as +necessary to every well-ordered banquet. The eggs are not larger than +grains of pepper, and to an unaccustomed palate have no particular +flavour. Besides being curried, they are brought to table rolled in +green leaves mingled with shreds or very fine slices of pork. + +The Mexicans make a species of bread of the eggs of insects which +frequent the fresh water of the lagoons. The natives cultivate in the +lagoon of Chalco a sort of carex called _tonte_, on which the insects +deposit their eggs very freely. This carex is made into bundles and is +soon covered. The eggs are disengaged, beaten, dried, and pounded into +flour. + +Penguins' eggs, cormorants' eggs, gulls' eggs, the eggs of the +albatross, turtles' eggs are all made subservient to the table. The +mother turtle deposits her eggs, about a hundred at a time, in the dry +sand, and leaves them to be hatched by the genial sun. The Indian +tribes who live on the banks of the Orinoco procure from them a sweet +and limpid oil which is their substitute for butter. Lizards' eggs are +regarded as a _bonne bouche_ in the South Sea Islands, and the eggs of +the _guana_, a species of lizard, are much favoured by West Indians. +Alligators' eggs are eaten in the Antilles and resemble hens' eggs in +size and shape. + +We have spoken of horse-flesh as introduced at the dinner of the +Acclimatization Society, but it is hardly known that the Frenchmen +have tried to make it as common as beef. Isidore St. Helain says of +it, that it has long been regarded as of a sweetish, disagreeable +taste, very tough, and not to be eaten without difficulty; but so +many different facts are opposed to this prejudice that it is +impossible not to perceive the slightness of the foundation. The free +or wild horse is hunted as game in all parts of the world where it +exists,--Asia, Africa, and America, and perhaps even now in Europe. +The domestic horse is itself made use of for alimentary purposes in +all those countries. + +"Its flesh is relished by races the most diverse,--Negro, Mongol, +Malay, American, Caucasian. It was much esteemed until the eighth +century amongst the ancestors of some of the greatest nations of +Western Europe, who had it in general use and gave it up with regret. +Soldiers to whom it has been served out and people who have bought it +in markets, have taken it for beef; and many people buy it daily in +Paris for venison." + +During the commune many people were glad enough to get horse-flesh for +the roast. + +Locusts are eaten by many tribes of North American Indians, and there +is no reason why they should not be very good. The bushmen of Africa +rejoice in roasting spiders; maggots tickle the palates of the +Australian aborigines; and the Chinese feast on the chrysalis of a +silk-worm. + +If this is what they ate, what then did they drink? No thin potations, +no half-filled cups for the early English. Wine-bibbers and +beer-bibbers, three-bottle men they were down to one hundred years +ago. Provocatives of drink were called "shoeing horses," "whetters," +"drawers off and pullers on." + +Massinger puts forth a curious test of these provocatives:-- + + "I asked + Such an unexpected dainty bit for breakfast + As never yet I cooked; 'tis red _botargo_, + Fried frogs, potatoes marroned, _cavear_, + Carps' tongues, the pith of an English chine of beef, + Now one Italian delicate wild mushroom, + And yet a drawer on too; and if you show not + An appetite, and a strong one, I'll not say + To eat it, but devour it, without grace too, + For it will not stay a preface. I am shamed, + And all my past provocatives will be jeered at." + +Ben Jonson affords us many a glimpse of the drinking habits of all +classes in his day. + +After the Restoration, England seems to have abandoned herself to one +great saturnalia, and men drank deeply, from the king down. The novels +of Fielding and Smollett are full of the wildest debauchery and +drunken extravagance. Statesmen drank deep at their councils, ladies +drank in their boudoirs, the criminal on his way to Tyburn stopped to +drink a parting glass. Hogarth in his wonderful pictures has held the +mirror up to society to show how general was the shame, how terrible +the curse. + +In Germany the _Baierisch bier_, drunk out of _biergläschen_ +ornamented as they are with engraved wreaths, "_Zum Andenken_," "_Aus +Freundschaft_," and other little bits of national harmless sentiment, +has come down from the remotest antiquity, and has never failed to +provoke quiet and decorous, if sleepy hilarity. + +We are afraid that the "Dew of Ben Nevis" is not so peaceful, nor the +juice of the juniper, nor New England rum, nor the _aquadiente_ of the +Mexican, nor the _vodka_ of the Russian. All these have the most +terrible wild madness in them. To the honour of civilization, it is no +longer the fashion to drink to excess. The vice of drunkenness rarely +meets the eye of a refined woman; and let us hope that less and less +may it be the bane of society, the disgrace of the art of +entertaining. + + + + +THE SERVANT QUESTION. + + Verily + I swear, 't is better to be lowly born, + And range with humble livers in content, + Than to be perked up in a glistering grief + And wear a golden sorrow. + HENRY VIII. + + +It is impossible to do much with the art of entertaining without +servants, and where shall we get them? In a country village, not two +hundred miles from New York, I have seen well-to-do citizens going to +a little restaurant in the main street for their dinners during an +entire summer, because they could not get women to stay in their +houses as servants. They are willing to pay high wages, they are +generous livers, but such a thing as domestic service is out of the +question. If any lady comes from the city bringing two or three maids, +they are of far more interest in the village than their mistress, and +are besieged, waited upon, intrigued with, to leave their place, to +come and serve the village lady. + +What is the reason? The American farmer's daughter will not go out to +service, will not be called a servant, will not work in another +person's house as she will in her own. The Irish maid prefers the +town, and dislikes the country, where there is no Catholic church. +Such a story repeated all over the land is the story of American +service. + +We have, however, every day, ships arriving in New York harbour which +pour out on our shores the poor of all nations. The men seem to take +readily enough to any sort of work. Italians shovel snow and work on +railroads, but their wives and daughters make poor domestic servants. + +The best that we can get are the Irish who have been long in the +country. Then come the Germans, who now outnumber the Irish. French, +Swedes, Danes, Norwegians, all come in shoals. + +Of all these the French are by far the best. Of course, as cooks they +are unrivalled; as butler, waiter, footman, a well-trained French +serving-man is the very best. He is neat, economical, and respectful. +He knows his value and he is very expensive. But if you can afford +him, take him and keep him. + +French maids are admirable as seamstresses, and in all the best and +highest walks of domestic service, but they are difficult as to the +other servants. They make trouble about their food; they do not tell +the truth, as a rule. + +A good Irish nurse is the best and most tender, the most to be relied +on. Children love Irish servants; it is the best recommendation we can +give them. They are not good cooks as a rule, and are wanting in head, +management, and neatness; but they are willing; and a wise mistress +can make of them almost anything she desires. + +The Germans surpass them very much in thrift and in concentration, but +the Germans are stolid, and very far from being as gentle and willing +as the Irish. If a housekeeper gets a number of German servants in +training and thinks them perfect, she need not be astonished if some +fine morning she rises and finds them gone off to parts unknown. + +The Swedes are more reliable up to a certain point; they are never +stupid, they are rather fantastic, and very eccentric. They are also +full of poetry, and indulge in sublime longings. The Swedish language +is made up of eloquence and poetry as soft as the Italian; it has also +something of the flow and the magnificence of the Spanish. It is +freighted with picturesque and brilliant metaphor, and is richer than +ours in its expressions of gentleness, politeness, and courtesy. They +have a great talent for arguing with gentleness and courtesy, and of +protesting with politeness, and they learn our language with singular +ease. I once had a Swedish maid who argued me out of my desire to have +the dining-room swept, in better language than I could use myself. One +must, in hiring servants, take into account all these national +characteristics. The Swedes are full of talent, they can do your work +if they wish to, but ten chances to one they do not wish to. + +Gustavus Adolphus and Charles XII. were two types of Swedish +character. The Swedes of to-day, like them, are full of dignity and +lofty aspiration; they love brilliant display; they have audacious and +adventurous spirits; one can imagine them marching to victory; but all +this makes them, in this country, "too smart" to be servants. + +They are excellent cooks. A Swedish woman formerly came to my house to +cook for dinner parties, and she was equal to any French _chef_. Her +price was five dollars; she would do all my marketing for me, and +serve the dinner most perfectly,--that is, render it up to the men +waiters. I rarely had any fault to find; if I had, it was I who was in +the wrong. She came often to instruct my Irish cook; but had I +attempted any further intercourse, I felt that it would have been I +who would have had to leave the house, and not my excellent cook. They +have every qualification for service excepting this: they will not +obey,--they are captains. + +The Norwegians are very different. We must again remember that at home +they are poor, frugal, religious, and capable of all sacrifice; they +will work patiently here for seven years in order to go back to +Norway, to that poetical land, whose beauty is so unspeakable. These +girls who come from the herds, who have spent the summer on the plains +in a small hut and alone, making butter and cheese, are strong, +patient, handsome, fresh creatures, with voices as sweet as lutes, and +most obedient and good,--their thoughts ever of father and mother and +home. Would there were more of them. If they were a little less +awkward in an American house they would be perfect. + +As for the men, they are the best farm-laborers in the world. They +have a high, noble, patient courage, a very slow mind, and are fond of +argument. The Norwegian is the Scotchman of Scandinavia, as the Swede +is the Irishman. There are no better adopted citizens than the +Norwegians, but they live here only to go back to Norway when they +have made enough. Deeply religious, they are neither narrow nor +ignoble. They would be perfect servants if well trained. + +The Danes are not so simple; they are a mercantile people, and are +desperately fond of bargaining. They are also, however, most +interesting. Their taste for art is vastly more developed than that of +either the Swedes or the Norwegians. A Danish parlour-maid will +arrange the _bric-à-brac_ and stand and look at it. To go higher in +their home history, they are making great painters. As servants they +are hardly known enough amongst us to be criticised; those I have seen +have been neat, faithful, and far more obedient than their cleverer +Swedish sisters. + +Could I have my choice for servants about a country house they should +be Norwegians, in a city house, French. + +In Chicago, the ladies speak highly of the German servants, if they do +not happen to be Nihilists, which is a dreadful possibility. At the +South they still have the negro, most excellent when good, most +objectionable when bad. Certainly freedom has not improved him as to +manners, and a coloured coachman in Washington can be far more +disagreeable than an Irishman, or a French cabby during the +Exposition, which is saying a great deal. + +The excellence, the superiority, the respectful manners of English +servants at home has induced many ladies to bring over parlour maids, +nurses, cooks, from England, with, however, but small success. I need +but copy the following from the "London Queen," to show how different +is the way of speaking of a servant, and to a servant in London from +that which obtains in New York. It is _verbatim_:-- + +"The servants should rise at six-thirty, and the cook a little +earlier; she then lights the kitchen fire, opens the house, sweeps the +hall, cleans the steps, prepares upstairs and downstairs breakfast. +Meantime the house parlourmaid does the dining-room, takes up hot +water to bedrooms, lays the table, and so forth, while the housemaid +dusts the day nursery and takes up the children's breakfast. Supposing +the family breakfast is not wanted before eight-thirty, that meal +should be taken, in both kitchen and nursery, before eight o'clock. +As soon as this is over the cook must tidy her kitchen, look over her +stores, contents of pantry, etc., and be ready by nine-thirty to take +her orders for the day. She will answer the kitchen bell at all times, +and perhaps the front door in the morning, and will be answerable +besides for ordinary kitchen work, for the hall, kitchen stairs, all +the basement, and according to arrangement possibly the dining-room. +She must have fixed days for doing the above work, cleaning tins, etc. +The cook also clears away the breakfast. As soon as the housemaid has +taken up the family breakfast, she, the housemaid, must begin the +bedrooms, where the second scullery-maid may help her as soon as she +has done helping the cook. The house parlour-maid will be responsible +for the drawing-room and sitting-room and all the bedrooms, also +stairs and landing, having regular days for cleaning out one of each +weekly, being helped by the second scullery-maid. She should be +dressed in time for lunch, wait on it, and clear away. She will answer +the front door in the afternoon, take up five o'clock tea, lay the +table and wait at dinner. The scullery maid must clear the kitchen +meals and help in all the washing up, take up nursery tea, help the +cook prepare late dinner, carry up the dishes for late dinner, clear +and wash up kitchen supper. The nurse has her dinner in the kitchen. +Servants' meals should be breakfast, before the family, dinner +directly after upstairs lunch, tea at five, supper at nine. They +should go to bed regularly at ten o'clock. Now as to their fare. For +breakfast a little bacon or an egg, or some smoked fish; for dinner, +meat, vegetables, potatoes, and pudding. If a joint has been sent up +for lunch, it is usual for it to go down to the servants' table. + +"Allow one pint and a half of beer to each servant who asks for it, or +one bottle. Tea, butter, and sugar are given out to them. The weekly +bills for the servants shall be about two dollars and a half." + +The neatness of all this careful housekeeping would be delightful if +it could be carried out with us, or if the servant would accept it. +But imagine a New York mistress achieving it! The independent voter +would revolt, his wife would never accept it. English servants lose +all their good manners when they come over here, and do not appear at +all as they do in London. + +American servants are always expected to eat what goes down from the +master's table, and there is no such thing as making one servant wait +upon another in our free and independent country. There are households +in America where many servants are kept in order by a very clever +mistress, but it is rarely an order which lasts for long. It is a +vexed question, and the freedom with which we take a servant, without +knowing much of her character, must explain a great deal of it. +Foreign servants find out soon their legal rights, and their +importance. Here where labour is scarce, it is not so easy to get a +good footman, parlour maid, or cook; the great variety and antipathy +of race comes in. The Irishman will not work on a railroad with the +Italian, and we all know the history of the "Heathen Chinee." That is +repeated in every household. + +Mr. Winans, in Scotland, hires a place which reaches from the North +Sea to the Atlantic; he spends two hundred thousand dollars a year on +it. He has perhaps three hundred servants, every one of them perfect. +Imagine his having such a place here! How many good servants could he +find; how long would they stay? How long does a French _chef_, at ten +thousand dollars a year, stay? Only one year. He prefers to return to +France. + +Indeed, French servants, poorly paid and very poorly fed at home, are +the hardest to keep in this country; they all wish to go back. It is a +curious fact that they grow impertinent and do not seem to enjoy the +life. They go back to Europe, and resume their good manners as if +nothing had happened. It must be in the air. + +It is, however, possible for a lady to get good servants and to keep +them for a while, if she has great executive ability and a natural +leadership; but the whole question is one which has not yet been at +all mastered. + +There is no "hook and eye" between the ship loaded down with those who +want work and those who want work done. The great lack of respect in +the manners of servants in hotels is especially noticeable to one +returning from Europe. A woman, a sort of care-taker on a third-story +floor, will sing while a lady is talking to her, not because she +wishes to sing at all, but to establish her independence. In Europe +she would say, "Yes, my Lady," or "No, my Lady" when spoken to. + +It is to be feared that the Declaration of Independence is between us +and good service. We must be content if we find one or two amiable +Irish, or old negroes, who will serve us because of the love they bear +us, and for our children's sake, whom they love as if they were their +very own. + +This is, however, but taking the seamy side, and the humbler side. +Many opulent people in America employ thirty servants, and their house +goes on with much of European elegance. It is not unusual in a fine +New York house to find a butler and four men in the dining-room; a +_chef_ and his assistants in the kitchen; a head groom and his men in +the stables; a coachman, who is a very important functionary; and +three women in the nursery besides the nursery governess, who acts as +the amanuensis of the lady; the lady's maid, whose sole duty is to +wait on her lady, and perhaps her young lady; a parlour maid or two; +and two chambermaids, a laundress and her assistants. + +Of course the men in such a vast establishment do not sleep in the +house, perhaps with one or two exceptions; the valet and the head +footman may be kept at home, as they may be needed in the night, for +errands, etc. But our American houses are not built to accommodate so +many. One lady, the head of such an establishment, said that she had +"never seen her laundress." A different staircase led to the servants' +room; her maid did all the interviewing with this important personage. + +If a lady can find a competent housekeeper to direct this large +household, it is all very well, but that is yet almost impossible, and +the life of a fashionable woman in New York, who is the head of such a +house, is apt to be slavery. The housekeeper and the butler are seldom +friends, therefore the hostess has to reconcile these two conflicting +powers before she can give a dinner; the head footman walks off +disgusted and leaves a vacant place, etc. + +The households of men of foreign birth, who understand dealing with +different nationalities, are apt to get on very well with thirty +servants; doubtless such men import their own servants. + +In a household where one man alone is kept, he is expected to open the +front door and to do all the work of the dining-room, and must have an +assistant in the pantry. The cook, if a woman, generally demands and +needs one; if a man, he demands two, for a _chef_ will not do any of +the menial work of cookery. He is a pampered official. + +In England, the housekeeper engages the servants and supervises them. +She has charge of the stores and the house linen, and in general is +responsible for the economical and exact management of all household +details, and for the comfort of guests and the family. She is expected +to see that her employers are not cheated, and this in our country +makes her unpopular. A bad housekeeper is worse than none, as of +course her powers of stealing are endless. + +The butler is responsible for the silver and wine. He must be absolute +over the footman. It is he who directs the carving and passing of +dishes, and then stands behind the chair of his mistress. All the +men-servants must be clean shaven; none are permitted to wear a +mustache, that being the privilege of the gentlemen. + +A lady's maid is not expected to do her own washing, or make her own +bed in Europe; but in this country, being required to do all that, and +to eat with the other servants, she is apt to complain. A French maid +always complains of the table. She must dress hair, understand +dress-making, and clear starching, be a good packer, and always at +hand to dress her lady and to sit up for her when she returns from +parties. Her wages are very high and she is apt to become a tyrant. + +It is very difficult to define for an American household the duties of +servants, which are so well defined in England and on the continent. +Every lady has her own individual ideas on this subject, and servants +have _their_ individual ideas, which they do not have in Europe. I +heard an opulent gentleman who kept four men-servants in his house, +and three in his stable, complain one snowy winter that he had not one +who would shovel snow from his steps, each objecting that it was not +his business; so he wrote a note to a friendly black man, who came +around, and rendered it possible for the master of the house to go +down to business. This was an extreme case, but it illustrates one of +the phases of our curious civilization. + +The butler is the important person, and it will be well for the lady +to hold him responsible; he should see to it that the footmen are neat +and clean. Most servants in American houses wear black dress-coats, +and white cravats, but some of our very rich men have now all their +flunkies in livery, a sort of cut-away dress-coat, a waistcoat of +another colour, small clothes, long stockings, and low shoes. Powdered +footmen have not yet appeared. + +If we were in England we should say that the head footman is to attend +the door, and in houses where much visiting goes on he could hardly do +anything more. Ladies, however, simplify this process by keeping a +"buttons," a small boy, who has, as Dickens says, "broken out in an +eruption of buttons" on his jacket, who sits the livelong day the +slave of the bell. + +The second man seems to do all the work, such as scrubbing silver, +sweeping, arranging the fireplaces, and washing dishes; and what the +third man does, except to black boots, I have never been able to +discover. I think he serves as valet to the gentlemen and the growing +boys, runs with notes, and is "Jeames Yellowplush" generally. I was +once taken over her vast establishment by an English countess, who +was most kind in explaining to me her domestic arrangements; but I did +not think she knew herself what that third man did. I noticed that +there were always several footmen waiting at dinner. + + "They also serve who only stand and wait." + +One thing I do remember in the housekeeper's room. There sat a very +grand dame carving, and giving the servants their dinner. She rose and +stood while my lady spoke to her, but at a wave of the hand from the +countess all the others remained seated. The butler was at the other +end of the table looking very sheepish. The dinner was a boiled leg of +mutton, and some sort of meat pie, and a huge Yorkshire pudding,--no +vegetables but potatoes; pitchers of ale, and bread and cheese, +finished this meal. The third footman, I remember, brought in +afternoon tea; perhaps he filled that place which is described in one +of Miss Mulock's novels:-- + +"Dolly was hired as an off maid, to do everything which the other +servants would not do." + +The etiquette of the stable servants was also explained to me in +England. The coachman is as powerful a person in the equine realm as +is the butler in the house. The head groom and his assistants always +raise their finger to their hats when spoken to by master, or +mistress, or the younger members of the family, or visitors, and in +the case of royalty all stand with hats off, the coachman on the box +slightly raising his, until the Prince of Wales, or his peers, are +seated. + +In some houses I was told that the upper servants had their meals +prepared by a kitchen maid, and that they had a different table from +the scullery maids. + +The nursery governess was a person to be pitied; she was an educated +girl, still the servant of the head nurse. She passed her entire life +with the children, yet ate by herself, unless perhaps with the very +young children. The head governess ate luncheon with the family, and +came in to the parlour with the young ladies in the evening. Generally +this personage was expected to sing and play for the amusement of the +company. Now, imagine a set of servants thus trained, brought to +America. The men soon learn that their vote is as good as the +master's, and if they are Irishmen it is a great deal better. They +soon cease to be respectful. This is the first break in the chain. A +man, a Senator, was asked out to dinner in Albany; the lady of the +house said, "I have a great respect for Senator ----; he used to wait +on this table." + +That is a glorious thing for the flag, for the United States, but +there is a missing link in the golden chain of household order. It is +a difficult task to produce here the harmony of an English household. +Our service at home is like our diplomatic service; we have no trained +diplomats, no gradation of service, but in the case of our foreign +ministers, they have risen to be the best in the world. We have plenty +of talent at top; it is the root of the tree which puzzles us. + +We may make up our minds that no longer will the American girl go out +to service. It is a thousand pities that she will not. It is not +ignoble to do household work well. The châtelaines of the Middle Ages +cooked and served the meals with their own fair hands. Training-schools +are greatly needed; we should follow the nurses' training-school. + +Our dinner-tables in America are generally long and narrow, fitted to +the shape of the dining-room. Once I saw in England, in a great +house, a table so narrow that one could almost have shaken hands with +one's opposite neighbour. The ornaments were high, slender vases +filled with grasses and orchids, far above our heads. One or two +matchless ornaments of Dresden, the gifts of monarchs, alone +ornamented the table. This was a very sociable dinner-table and rather +pleasing. Then came the round table, so vast that the footmen must +have mounted up on it to place the centre piece, like poor distraught +Lady Caroline Lamb, whose husband came in to find her walking up and +down the table, telling the butler to "produce pyramidal effects." +There is also the fine broad parallelogram, suited to a baronial hall; +and this is copied in our best country houses. As no conversation of a +confidential character is ever allowed at an English table until all +the servants have left the room, so it is not considered good-breeding +to allow a servant to talk to the mistress or the young ladies of what +she hears in the servants' hall. The gossip of couriers and maids at a +foreign watering-place reaches American ears, and unluckily gets into +American newspapers sometimes. It is a wise precaution on the part of +the English never to listen to this. As we have conquered everything +else in America, perhaps we shall conquer the servant question, to the +advantage of both parties. We should try to keep our servants a longer +time with us. + +There are some houses where the law of change goes on forever, and +there are some where the domestic machine runs without friction. The +hostess may be a person with a talent for governing, and may be +inspired with a sixth sense. If she is she can make her composite +family respectful, helpful, and happy; but it must be confessed that +it is as yet a vexed question, one which gives us trouble and will +give us more. Those people are the happiest who can get on with three +or four servants, and very many families live well and elegantly with +this number, while more live well with two. + +To mark the difference in feeling as between those who employ and +those who serve, one little anecdote may apply. At a watering-place in +Europe I once met an English family, of the middle class. The lady +said to her maid, "Bromley, your master wishes you to be in at nine +o'clock this evening." + +Bromley said, "Yes, my lady." + +An American lady stood near with her maid, who flushed deeply. + +"What is the matter, Jane?" asked her lady. + +"I never could stand having any one called my master," said the +American. + +This intimate nerve of self-love, this egotism, this false idea of +independence affects women more than men, and in a country where both +can go from the humblest position to the highest, it produces a +"glistering grief." The difficulty of getting good servants prevents +many families from keeping house. It brings on us the foreign reproach +that we live in hotels and boarding-houses. It is at this moment the +great unsolved American Question. What shall we do with it? + + + + +SOMETHING ABOUT COOKS. + + "Last night I weighed, quite wearied out, + The question that perplexes still; + And that sad spirit we call doubt + Made the good naught beside the ill. + + "This morning, when with rested mind, + I try again the selfsame theme, + The whole is altered, and I find + The balance turned, the good supreme." + + +What amateur cook has not had these moments of depression and +exaltation as she has weighed the flour and sugar, stoned the raisins, +and mixed the cake, or, even worse in her young novitiate, has +attempted to make a soup and has begun with the formula which so often +turns out badly:-- + +"Take a shin of beef and put it in a pot with three dozen carrots, a +dozen onions, two dozen pieces of celery, twelve turnips, a fowl, and +two partridges. It must simmer six hours, etc." Yes, and last week and +the week before her husband said, "it was miserable." How willingly +would she allow the claim of that glorious old coxcomb, Louis Eustache +Ude, who had been cook to two French kings and never forgave the world +for not permitting him to call himself an artist. + +"Scrapers of catgut," he says, "call themselves artists, and fellows +who jump like a kangaroo claim the title; yet the man who has under +his sole direction the great feasts given by the nobility of England +to the allied sovereigns, and who superintended the grand banquet at +Crockford's on the occasion of the coronation of Victoria, was denied +the title prodigally showered on singers, dancers, and comedians, +whose only quality, not requiring the microscope to discern, is +vanity." + +Ude was the most eccentric of cooks. He was _maître d'hôtel_ to the +Duke of York, who delighted in his anecdotes and mimicry. In his book, +which he claims is the only work which gives due dignity to the great +art, he says: "The chief fault in all great peoples' cooks is that +they are too profuse in their preparations. Suppers are after all only +ridiculous proofs of the extravagance and bad taste of the givers." He +mentions great wastes which have seared his already seared conscience +thus: + +"I have known balls where the next day, in spite of the pillage of a +pack of footmen, which was enormous, I have seen thirty hams, one +hundred and fifty to two hundred carved fowls, and forty or fifty +tongues given away. Jellies melt on all the tables; pastries, patties, +aspics, and lobster salads are heaped up in the kitchen and strewed +about in the passages; and all this an utter waste, for not even the +footmen would eat this; they do not consider it a legitimate repast to +dine off the remnants of a last night's feast. Footmen are like cats; +they only like what they steal, but are indifferent to what is given +them." + +This was written by the cook of the bankrupt Duke of York, noted for +his extravagance; but how well it would apply to-day to the banquet of +many a _nouveau riche_, to how many a hotel, to how much of our +American housekeeping. Ude was a poet and an enthusiast. Colonel Damer +met him walking up and down at Crockford's in a great rage, and asked +what was the matter. "Matter! _Ma foi!_" answered he; "you saw that +man just gone out? Well he ordered red mullet for his dinner. I made +him a delicious little sauce with my own hand. The mullet was marked +on the carte two shillings. I added sixpence for the sauce. He refuses +to pay sixpence for the sauce. The imbecile! He seems to think red +mullets come out of the sea with my sauce in their pockets." + +Carême, one of the greatest of French cooks, became eminent by +inventing a sauce for fast-days. He then devoted several years to the +science of roasting in all its branches. He studied design and +elegance under Robert Lainé. His career was one of victory after +victory. He nurtured the Emperor Alexander, kept alive Talleyrand +through "that long disease, his life," fostered Lord Londonderry, and +delighted the Princess Belgratine. A salary of a thousand pounds a +year induced him to become _chef_ to the Regent; but he left Carlton +House, he would return to France. The Regent was inconsolable, but +Carême was implacable. "No," said the true patriot, "my soul is +French, and I can only exist in France." Carême, therefore, overcome +by his feelings, accepted an unprecedented salary from Baron +Rothschild and settled in Paris. + +Lady Morgan, dining at the Baron's villa in 1830, has left us a sketch +of a dinner by Carême which is so well done that, although I have +already alluded to it, I will copy _verbatim_: "It was a very sultry +evening, but the Baron's dining-room stood apart from the house and +was shaded by orange trees. In the oblong pavilion of Grecian marble +refreshed by fountains, no gold or silver heated or dazzled the eye, +but porcelain beyond the price of all precious metals. There was no +high-spiced sauce in the dinner, no dark-brown gravy, no flavour of +cayenne and allspice, no tincture of catsup and walnut pickle, no +visible agency of those vulgar elements of cooking of the good old +times, fire and water. Distillations of the most delicate viands had +been extracted in silver, with chemical precision. Every meat +presented its own aroma,"--it was not cooked in a gas stove,--"every +vegetable its own shade of verdure. The mayonnaise was fixed in ice, +like Ninon's description of Sevigné's heart, '_une citronille frité à +la neige_.' The tempered chill of the _plombière_ which held the place +of the eternal _fondus_ and _soufflets_ of our English tables, +anticipated and broke the stronger shock of the exquisite avalanche, +which, with the hue and odour of fresh-gathered nectarines, satisfied +every sense and dissipated every coarser flavour. With less genius +than went to the composition of that dinner, men have written epic +poems." + +Comparing Carême with the great Beauvilliers, the greatest restaurant +cook in Paris from 1782 to 1815, a great authority in the matter says: +"There was more _aplomb_ in the touch of Beauvilliers, more curious +felicity in Carême's. Beauvilliers was great in an _entrée_, Carême +sublime in an _entremet_; we should put Beauvilliers against the world +for a _rôti_, but should wish Carême to prepare the sauce were we +under the necessity of eating an elephant or our great grandfather." + +Vatel was the great Condé's cook who killed himself because the turbot +did not arrive. Madame de Sevigné relates the event with her usual +clearness. Louis XIV. had long promised a visit to the great Condé at +Chantilly, the very estate which the Duc d'Aumale has so recently +given back to France, but postponed it from time to time fearing to +cause Condé trouble by the sudden influx of a gay and numerous +retinue. The old château had become a trifle dull and a trifle mouldy, +but it got itself brushed up. Vatel was cook, and his first +mortification was that the roast was wanting at several tables. It +seemed to him that his great master the captain would be dishonoured, +but the king had brought a larger retinue than he had promised. "He +had thought of nothing but to make this visit a great success." +Gourville, one of the prince's household, finding Vatel so excited, +asked the prince to reassure him, which he did very kindly, telling +him that the king was delighted with his supper. But Vatel mournfully +answered: "Monseigneur, your kindness overpowers me, but the roast was +wanting at two tables." The next morning he arose at five to +superintend the king's dinner. The purveyor of fish was at the door +with only two baskets. "And is this all?" asked Vatel. "Yes," said the +sleepy man. Vatel waited at the gates an hour; no more fish. Two or +three hundred guests, and only two packages. He whispered to himself, +"The joke in Paris will be that Vatel tried to save the prince the +price of two red mullets a month." His hand fell on his rapier hilt, +he rushed up-stairs, fell on the blade; as he expired the cart loaded +with turbot came into the yard. Voila! + +Times have changed. Cooks now prefer living on their masters to dying +for them. + +The Prince de Loubise, inventor of a sauce the discovery of which has +made him more glorious than twenty victories, asked his cook to draw +him up a bill of fare, a sort of rough estimate for a supper. +Bertrand's first estimate was fifty hams. "What, Bertrand! Are you +going to feast the whole army of the Rhine? Your brains are surely +turning." Bertrand was blandly contemptuous. "My brains are surely +turning? No, Monseigneur, only one ham will appear on the table, but +the rest are indispensable for my _espagnoles_, my garnishing." + +"Bertrand, you are plundering me," stormed the prince. "This article +shall not pass." The blood of the cook was up. "My lord," said he, +sternly, "you do not understand the resources of our art. Give the +word and I will so melt down these hams that they will go into a +little glass bottle no bigger than my thumb." The prince was abashed +by the genius of the spit, and the fifty hams were purchased. + +The Duke of Wellington liked a good dinner, and employed an artist +named Felix. Lord Seaforth, finding Felix too expensive, allowed him +to go to the Iron Duke, but Felix came back with tears in his eyes. + +"What is the matter," said Lord Seaforth; "has the Duke turned rusty?" + +"No, no, my lord! but I serve him a dinner which would make +Francatelli or Ude die of envy, and he say nothing. I go to the +country and leave him to try a dinner cooked by a stupid, dirty +cook-maid, and he say nothing; that is what hurt my feelings." + +Felix lived on approbation; he would have been capable of dying like +Vatel. + +Going last winter to see _le Bourgeoise Gentilhomme_ at the Comédie +Française, I was struck with the novelty of the dinner served by this +hero of Molière's who is so anxious to get rid of his money. All the +dishes were brought in by little fellows dressed as cooks, who danced +to the minuet. + +In a later faithful chronicle I learn that a certain marquis of the +days of Louis XVI. invented a musical spit which caused all the +snowy-garbed cooks to move in rhythmical steps. All was melody and +order. "The fish simmered in six-eight time, the ponderous roasts +circled gravely, the stews blended their essences to solemn anthems. +The ears were gratified as the nose was regaled; this was an idea +worthy of Apecius." + +So Molière, true to the spirit of his time, paid this compliment to +the Marquis. + +Béchamel was cook to Louis XIV., and invented a famous sauce. + +Durand, who was cook to the great Napoleon, has left a curious record +of his tempestuous eating. Francatelli succeeded Ude in England, was +the _chef_ at Chesterfield House, at Lord Kinnaird's, and at the +Melton Club. He held the post of _maître d'hôtel_ for a while but was +dismissed by a cabal. + +The gay writer from whose pages we have gathered these desultory facts +winds up with an advice to all who keep French cooks. "Make your +_chef_ your friend. Take care of him. Watch over the health of this +man of genius. Send for the physician when he is ill." + +Imagine the descent from these poets to the good plain cook,--you can +depend upon the truth of this description,--with a six weeks' +reference from her last place. Imagine the greasy soups, the mutton +cutlets hard as a board, the few hard green peas, the soggy potatoes. +How awful the recollections of one who came in "a week on trial!" +Whose trial? Those who had to eat her food. It is bad to be without a +cook, but ten times worse to have a bad one. + +But if Louis Eustache Ude, the cook _par excellence_ of all this +little study, lamented over the waste in great kitchens, how much more +should he revolt at that wholesale destruction of food which might go +to feed the hungry, nourish and sustain the sick, and perhaps save +many a child's life. What should be done with the broken meats of a +great household? The cook is too apt to toss all into a tub or basket, +to swell her own iniquitous profits. The half-tongues, ends of ham, +roast beef, chicken-legs, the real honest relics of a generous kitchen +would feed four or five poor families a week. What gifts of mercy to +hospitals would be the half of a form of jelly, the pudding, the blanc +mange, which are thrown away by the careless! + +In France the Little Sisters of the Poor go about with clean dishes +and clean baskets, to collect these morsels which fall from the rich +man's table. It is a worthy custom. + +While studying the names of these great men like Ude and Carême, Vatel +and Francatelli, what shades of dead _pâtissiers_, spirits of extinct +_confiseurs_, rise around us in savoury streams and revive for us the +past of gastronomic pleasure! Many a Frenchman will tell you of the +iced meringues of the Palais Royal and the _salades de fraises au +marasquin_ of the Grand Seize as if they were things of the past. The +French, gayer and lighter handed at the moulding of pastry, are apt to +exceed all nations in this delicate, delicious _entremet_. The _vol au +vent de volaille_, or chicken pie, with its delicate filling of +chicken, mushroom, truffles, and its enveloping pastry, is never +better than at the Grand Hôtel at Aix les Bains, where one finds the +perfection of good eating. "Aix les Bains," says a resident physician, +"lies half-way between Paris and Rome, with its famous curative baths +to correct the good dinners of the one, and the good wines of the +other." Aix adds a temptation of its own. + +The French have ever been fond of the playthings of the kitchen,--the +tarts, custards, the frothy nothings which are fashioned out of the +evanescent union of whipped cream and spun sugar. Their politeness, +their brag, their accomplishments, their love of the external, all +lead to such dainties. It was observed even so long ago as 1815, when +the allies were in Paris, that the fifteen thousand _pâtés_ which +Madame Felix sold daily in the _Passage des Panoramas_ were beginning +to affect the foreign bayonets; and no doubt the German invasion may +have been checked by the same dulcet influence. + +There is romance and history even about pastry. The _baba_, a species +of savoury biscuit coloured with saffron, was introduced into France +by Stanislaus, the first king of Poland, when that unlucky country was +alternately the scourge and the victim of Russia. The dish was perhaps +oriental in origin. It is made with _brioche_ paste, mixed with +madeira, currants, raisins, and potted cream. + +French jellies are rather monotonous as to flavour, but they look very +handsome on a supper-table. A _macédoine_ is a delicious variety of +dainty, and worthy of the French nation. It is wine jelly frozen in a +mould with grapes, strawberries, green-gages, cherries, apricots, or +pineapple, or more economically with slices of pears and apples boiled +in syrup coloured with carmine, saffron, or cochineal, the flavour +aided by angelica or brandied cherries. An invention of Ude and one +which we could copy here is jelly _au miroton de pêche_:-- + + Get half a dozen peaches, peel them carefully and boil them, + with their kernels, a short time in a fine syrup, squeeze six + lemons into it, and pass it through a bag. Add some clarified + isinglass and put some of it into a mould in ice; then fill up + with the jelly and peaches alternately and freeze it. + +Fruit cheeses are very pleasant, rich conserves for dessert. They can +be made with apricots, strawberries, pineapple, peaches, or +gooseberries. The fruit is powdered with sugar and rubbed through a +colander; then melted isinglass and thick cream is added, whipped over +ice and put into the mould. + +The French prepare the most ornamental ices, both water and cream, but +they do not equal in richness or flavour those made in New York. + +Pancakes and fritters, although English dishes, are very popular in +France and very good. Apple fritters with sherry wine and sugar are +very comforting things. The French name is _beignet de pomme_. +Thackeray immortalizes them thus:-- + + "Mid fritters and lollypops though we may roam, + On the whole there is nothing like _beignet de pomme_. + Of flour half a pound with a glass of milk share, + A half-pound of butter the mixture will bear. + _Pomme! Pomme! Beignet de pomme!_ + Of _beignets_ there's none like the _beignet de pomme_! + + "A _beignet de pomme_ you may work at in vain + If you stir not the mixture again and again. + Some beer just to thin it may into it fall, + Stir up that with three whites of eggs added to all. + _Pomme! Pomme! Beignet de pomme!_ + Of _beignets_ there's nothing like _beignet de pomme_! + + "Six apples when peeled you must carefully slice, + And cut out the cores if you'll take my advice; + Then dip them in butter and fry till they foam, + And you'll have in six minutes your _beignet de pomme_. + _Pomme! Pomme! Beignet de pomme!_ + Of _beignets_ there's nothing like _beignet de pomme_!" + +In the _Almanach de Gourmands_ there appeared a philosophical treatise +on pastry and pastry cooks, probably by the learned Giedeaud de la +Reynière himself. Pastry, he says, is to cooking what rhetorical +metaphors are to oratory,--life and ornament. A speech without +metaphors, a dinner without pastry, are alike insipid; but, in like +manner, as few people are eloquent, so few can make perfect pastry. +Good pastry-cooks are as rare as good orators. + +This writer recommends the art of the rolling-pin to beautiful women +as being at once an occupation, a pleasure, and a sure way of +recovering embonpoint and freshness. He says: "This is an art which +will chase _ennui_ from the saddest. It offers varied amusement and +sweet and salutary exercise for the whole body; it restores appetite, +strength, and gayety; it gathers around us friends; it tends to +advance an art known from the most remote antiquity. Woman! lovely and +charming woman, leave the sofas where _ennui_ and hypochondria prey +upon the springtime of your life, unite in the varied moulds sugar, +jasmine, and roses, and form those delicacies that will be more +precious than gold when made by hands so dear to us." What woman could +refuse to make a pudding and any number of pies after that? + +There seems to be nothing left to eat after all this perilous sweet +stuff but a devilled biscuit at ten o'clock. + + "'A well devilled biscuit!' said Jenkins, enchanted, + 'I'll have after dinner,--the thought is divine!' + The biscuit was brought and he now only wanted, + To fully enjoy it, a glass of good wine. + He flew to the pepper and sat down before it, + And at peppering the well-buttered biscuit he went; + Then some cheese in a paste mixed with mustard spread o'er it, + And down to the kitchen the devil was sent. + + "'Oh, how!' said the cook, 'can I thus think of grilling? + When common the pepper, the whole will be flat; + But here's the cayenne, if my master be willing + I'll make if he pleases a devil with that.' + So the footman ran up with the cook's observation + To Jenkins, who gave him a terrible look; + 'Oh, go to the devil!'--forgetting his station-- + Was the answer that Jenkins sent down to the cook." + +A slice of _pâté de foie gras_, olives stuffed with anchovy, broiled +bones, anchovy on toast, Welsh rarebit, devilled biscuit, devilled +turkey-legs, devilled kidneys, _caviare_, devilled crabs, soft-shell +crabs, shrimp salad, sardines on toast, broiled sausages, etc., are +amongst the many appetizers which _gourmets_ seek at ten or twelve +o'clock, to take the taste of the sweets out of their mouths, and to +prepare the pampered palate perhaps for punch, whiskey, or brandy and +soda. + + + + +THE FURNISHING OF A COUNTRY HOUSE. + + +The hostess should, in furnishing her house, provide a number of +bath-tubs. The tin ones, shaped like a hat, are very convenient, as +are also india-rubber portable baths. If there is not a bath-room +belonging to every room, this will enable an Englishman to take his +tub as cold as he pleases, or allow the American to take the warmer +sponge bath which Americans generally prefer. + +The house should also be well supplied with lunch-baskets for picnics +and for the railway journey. These can be had for a small sum, and are +well fitted up with drinking-cups, knives, forks, spoons, corkscrews, +sandwich-boxes, etc. These and a great supply of unbreakable cups for +the lawn-tennis ground are very useful. + +There should be also any number of painted tin pails, and small +pitchers to carry hot water; several services of plain tea things, and +Japanese waiters, on which to send tea to the bedrooms; and in every +room should be placed a table, thoroughly furnished with +writing-materials, and with all the conveniences for writing and +sealing a letter. + +Shakspeare's bequest to his wife of his second-best bed has passed as +a bit of post-mortem ungallantry, which has dimmed his fame as a model +husband; but to-day that second-best bed would be a very handsome +bequest, not only because it was Shakspeare's, but because it was +doubtless a "tester," for which there is a craze. All the old +four-posters, which our grandmothers sent to the garret, are on their +way back again to the model bedroom. With all our rage for ventilation +and fresh air, we no longer fear the bed curtains which a few years +ago were supposed to foster disease and death; because the model +bedroom can now be furnished with a ventilator for admitting the +fresh, and one permitting the egress of the foul air. Each gas bracket +is provided with a pipe placed above it, which pierces the wall and +through which the product of combustion is carried out of the house. +This is a late sanitary improvement in London, and is being introduced +in New York. + +As for the bed curtains, they are hung on rods with brass rings, no +canopy on top, so that the curtains can be shaken and dusted freely. +This is a great improvement on the old upholstered top, which recalls +Dickens's description of Mrs. Todger's boarding-house, where at the +top of the stairs "the odour of many generations of dinners had +gathered and had never been dispelled." In like manner the unpleasant +feeling that perhaps whole generations of sleepers had breathed into +the same upholstery overhead, used to haunt the wakeful, in old +English inns, to the murdering of sleep. + +There is a growing admiration, unfortunately, for tufted bedsteads. +They are in the long run neither clean nor wholesome, and not easily +kept free from vermin; but they are undeniably handsome, and recall +the imperial beds of state apartments, where kings and queens are +supposed to seek that repose which comes so unwillingly to them, but +so readily to the plough-boy. These upholstered, tufted, satin-covered +bedsteads should be fitted with a canopy, and from this should hang a +baldachin and side curtains. Certain very beautiful specimens of this +regal arrangement, bought in Italy, are in the Vanderbilt palaces in +New York. Opulent purchasers can get copies at the great +furnishing-houses, but it is becoming difficult to get the real +antiques. Travellers in Brittany find the most wonderful carved +bedsteads built into the wall, and are always buying them of the +astonished fisher-folk, who have no idea how valuable is their +smoke-stained, carved oak. + +But as to the making up of the bed. There are nowadays cleanly springs +and hair mattresses, in place of the old feather-beds; and as to stiff +white bedcovers, pillowslips and shams, false sheets and valenciennes +trimmings, monogrammed and ruffled fineries, there is a truce. They +were so slippery, so troublesome, and so false withal, that the beds +that have known them shall know them no more forever. They had always +to be unpinned and unhooked before the sleeper could enter his bed; +and they were the torment of the housemaid. They entailed a degree of +washing and ironing which was endless, and yet many a young +housekeeper thought them indispensable. That idea has gone out +completely. The bed now is made up with its fresh linen sheets, its +clean blankets and its Marseilles quilt, with square or long pillow as +the sleeper fancies, with bolster in plain linen sheath. Then over the +whole is thrown a light lace cover lined with Liberty silk. This may +be as expensive or as cheap as the owner pleases. Or the spreads may +be of satin covered with Chinese embroidery, Turkish Smyrniote, or +other rare things, or of the patchwork or decorative art designs now +so fashionable. One light and easily aired drapery succeeds the four +or five pieces of unmanageable linen. If the bed is a tester and the +curtains of silk or chintz, the bed-covering should match in tint. In +a very pretty bedroom the walls should be covered with chintz or silk. + +The modern highly glazed tile paper for walls and ceiling is an +admirable covering, as it refuses to harbour dirt, and the housemaid's +brush can keep it sweet and clean. Wall papers are so pretty and so +exquisite in design that it seems hardly necessary to do more than +mention them. Let us hope the exasperating old rectangular patterns, +which have confused so many weary brains and haunted so many a +feverish pillow, are gone forever. + +The floors should be of plain painted wood, varnished, than which +nothing can be cleaner; or perhaps of polished or oiled wood of the +natural colour, with parquetried borders. If this is impossible cover +with dark-stained mattings, which are as clean and healthful as +possible. These may remain down all winter, and rugs may be laid over +them at the fireplace and near the bed, sofa, etc. Readily lifted and +shaken, rugs have all the comfort of carpets, and none of their +disadvantages. + +Much is said of the unhealthfulness of gas in bedrooms, but if it does +not escape, it is not unhealthful. The prettiest illumination is by +candles in the charming new candlesticks in tin and brass, which are +as nice as Roman lamps. + +On the old bedsteads of Cromwell's time we find a shelf running across +the head of the bed, just above the sleeper's head,--placed there for +the posset cup. This is now utilized for a safety lamp, for those who +indulge in the pernicious practice of reading in bed; but it is even +better used as a receptacle for the book, the letter-case, the many +little things which an invalid may need, and it saves calling a +nurse. + +All paint used in a model bedroom should be free from poison. The +fireplace should be tiled, and the windows made with a deep beading on +the sill. This is a piece of wood like the rest of the frame, which +comes up two or three inches in front of the lower part of the window. +The object of this is to admit of the lower sash being raised without +causing a draught. The room is thus ventilated by the air which +filters through the slight aperture between the upper and lower +sashes. Above all things have an open fireplace in the bedroom. +Abolish stoves from that sacred precinct. Use wood for fuel if +possible; if not, the softest of cannel-coal. + +Have brass rods placed, on which to hang portières in winter. +Portières and curtains may be cheaply made of ingrain carpet +embroidered; or of Turkish or Indian stuffs; splendid Delhi pulgaries, +a mass of gold silk embroidered, with bits of looking-glass worked in; +of velvet; camel's-hair shawls; satin, chintz, or cretonne. Costly thy +portières as thy purse can buy; nothing is so pretty and so +ornamental. + +Glazed chintzes may be hung at the windows, without lining, as the +light shines through the flowers, making a good effect. Chenille +curtains of soft rich colours are appropriate for the modern bedroom. +Madras muslin curtains will do for the windows, but are not heavy +enough for portières. + +There are hangings made of willow bamboo, which can be looped back, or +left hanging, which give a window a furnished look, without +intercepting the light. Low wooden tables painted red, tables for +writing materials, brackets on the walls for vases, candlesticks, and +photograph screens, a long couch with many pillows, a Shaker +rocking-chair, a row of hanging book-shelves,--these, with bed and +curtains in fresh tints, make a pretty room in a country house. + +If possible, people who entertain much should have a suite of bedrooms +for guests, so that no one need be turned out of one's room to make +way for a guest. + +Brass beds are to be recommended as cleanly, handsome, and durable. +Many ladies have, however, found fault with them because they show the +under mattress, where the clothes are tucked in over the upper one. +This can be remedied by making a valance which is finished with a +ruffle at the top, which can be fluted, the whole tied on by tapes. +Two or three of these in white will be all that a housekeeper needs, +and if made of pretty coloured merino to match the room, they will +last clean a long time. + +Every bedroom should have, if possible, a dressing-room, where the +wash-stand, wardrobe, bath-tub, box for boots and shoes, box for +soiled clothes, and toilet-table, perhaps, can be kept. In the new +sanitary houses in London, the water cistern is placed in view behind +glass in these rooms, so that if anything is the matter with the water +supply, it can be remedied immediately. However, in old fashioned +houses, where dressing-rooms cannot be evoked, screens can be so +placed as to conceal the unornamental objects. + +A toilet-table should be ornamental and not hidden, with its curtains, +pockets, looking-glasses, little bows, shelves for bottles, devices +for secret drawers for love letters, and so on. Ivory brushes with the +owner's monogram, all sorts of pretty Japanese boxes, and +dressing-cases, silver-backed brushes and mirrors, buttonhooks, +knives, scissors can be neatly laid out. + +A little table for afternoon tea should stand ready, with a tray of +Satsuma or old Worcester, with cups and tea equipage, and a copper +kettle with alcohol lamp should stand on a bracket on the wall. In the +heating of water, a trivet should be attached to the grate, and a +little iron kettle might sing forever on the hob. Ornamental ottomans +in plush covers, which open and disclose a wood box, should stand by +the fireplace. Chameleon glass lamps with king-fisher stems are pretty +on the mantel-piece, which can be upholstered to match the bed; and +there may be vases in amber, primrose, cream-colour, pale blue, and +ruby. No fragrant flowers or growing plants should be allowed in a +bedroom. There should be at least one clock in the room, to strike the +hour with musical reiteration. + +As for baths, the guest should be asked if he prefers hot or cold +water, and the hour at which he will have it. If a tin hat-bath, or an +india-rubber tub is used, the maid should enter and arrange it in this +manner: first lay a rubber cloth on the floor and then place the tub +on it. Then bring a large pail of cold water, and a can of hot. Place +near the tub a towel-rack hung with fresh towels, both damask and +Turkish, and if a full-length Turkish towel be added it will be a +great luxury. If the guest be a gentleman, and no man-servant be kept, +this should all be arranged the night before, with the exception of +course of the hot water, which can be left outside the door at any +hour in the morning when it is desired. If it is a stationary tub, of +course the matter is a simple one, and depends on the turn of a couple +of faucets. + +Some visitors are very fussy and dislike to be waited on; to such the +option must be given: "Do you prefer to light your own fire, to turn +on your bath, to make your own tea, or shall the maid enter at eight +o'clock and do it for you?" Such questions are often asked in an +English country house. Every facility for doing the work would of +course be supplied to the visitor. + +The bedroom being nowadays made so very attractive, the guest should +stay in it as much as possible, if he or she find that the hostess +likes to be alone; in short, absent yourself occasionally. Do your +letter-writing and some reading in your room. Most people prefer this +freedom and like to be let alone in the morning. + +At a country house, gentlemen should be very particular to dress for +dinner. If not in the regulation claw-hammer, still with a change of +garment. There is a very good garment called a smokee, which is worn +by gentlemen in the summer, a sort of light jacket of black cloth, +which goes well with either black or white cravat; but with all the +_laisser aller_ of a country visit, inattention to the proprieties of +dress is not included. + +A guest must go provided with a lawn-tennis costume, if he plays that +noble game which has become the great consolation of our rising +generation. No doubt the hostess blesses the invention of this great +time killer, as she sees her men and maidens trooping out to the +ground, under the trees. This suggests the subject of out-of-door +refreshment, the claret cup, the champagne cup, the shandy gaff, the +fresh cider, and the thousand and one throat-coolers, for which our +American genius seems to have been inspired to meet the drain of a +very dry climate, and which we shall consider elsewhere. + + + + +ENTERTAINING IN A COUNTRY HOUSE. + + We who love the country salute you who love the town. I praise + the rivulets, the rocks overgrown with moss, and the groves of + the delightful country. And do you ask why? I live and reign + as soon as I have quitted those things which you extol to the + skies with joyful applause, and like a priest's fugitive-slave + I reject luscious wafers; I desire plain bread, which is more + agreeable than honied cakes.--HORACE, _Ode_ X. + + +Poets have been in the habit of praising a country life since the days +of Homer, but Americans have not as a people appreciated its joys. As +soon as a countryman was able to do it, he moved to the largest city +near him, presumably New York, or perhaps Paris. The condition of +opulence, much desired by those who had been bred in poverty, +suggested at once the greater convenience of a town life, and the busy +work-a-day world, to which most Americans are born, necessitates the +nearness to Wall Street, to banks, to people, and to the town. + +City people were content formerly to give their children six weeks of +country air, and old New Yorkers did not move out of the then small +city, even in the hot months. The idea of going to the country to live +for pleasure, to find in it a place in which to spend one's money and +to entertain, has been, to the average American mind, a thing of +recent growth. Perhaps our climate has much to do with this. People +bred in the country feared to meet that long cold winter of the +North, which even to the well-to-do was filled with suffering. Who +does not remember the ice in the pitcher of a morning, which must be +broken before even faces were washed? + +Therefore the furnace-heated city house, the companionship, the +bustle, the stir, and convenience of a city has been, naturally +enough, preferred to the loneliness of the country. As Hawthorne once +said, Americans were not yet sufficiently civilized to live in the +country. When he went to England, and saw a different order of things, +he understood why. + +England, a small place with two thousand years of civilization, with +admirable roads, with landed estates, with a mild winter, with a taste +for sport, with dogs, horses, and well-trained servants, was a very +different place. + +It may be years before we make our country life as agreeable as it is +in England. We have to conquer climate first. But the love of country +life is growing in America. Those so fortunate as to be able to live +in a climate like that of southern California can certainly quote +Horace with sympathy. Those who live so near to a great city as to +command at once city conveniences and country air and freedom, are +amongst the fortunate of the earth. And to hundreds, thousands of +such, in our delightfully prosperous new country, the art of +entertaining in a country house assumes a new interest. + +No better model for a hostess can be found than an Englishwoman. There +is, when she receives her guests, a quiet cordiality, a sense of +pleasurable expectancy, an inbred ease, grace, suavity, composure, and +respect for her visitors, which seems to come naturally to a +well-bred Englishwoman; that is to say, to the best types of the +highest class. To be sure they have had vast experience in the art of +entertaining; they have learned this useful accomplishment from a long +line of well-trained predecessors. They have no domestic cares to +worry them. At the head of her own house, an Englishwoman is as near +perfection as a human being can be. + +There is the great advantage of the English climate, to begin with. It +is less exciting than ours. Nervous women are there almost unknown. +Their ability to take exercise, the moist and soft air they breathe, +their good appetite and healthy digestion give English women a +physical condition almost always denied to an American. + +Our climate drives us on by invisible whips; we breathe oxygen more +intoxicating than champagne. The great servant question bothers us +from the cradle to the grave; it has never entered into an English +woman's scheme of annoyance, so that in an English hostess there is a +total absence of fussiness. + +English women spend the greater part of the year in travelling, or at +home in the country. Town life is with them a matter of six weeks or +three months at the most. They are fond of nature, of walking, of +riding; they share with the men a more vigorous physique than is given +to any other race. A French or Italian woman dreads a long walk, the +companionship of a dozen dogs, the yachting and the race course, the +hunting-field and the lawn tennis pursued with indefatigable +vigilance; but the fair English girl, with her blushing cheeks, her +dog, her pony, and her hands full of wild flowers, is a character +worth crossing the ocean to see. She is the product of the highest +civilization, and as such is still near the divine model which nature +furnishes. She has the underlying charm of simplicity, she is the +very rose of perfect womanhood. She may seem shy, awkward, and +reserved, but what the world calls pride or coldness may turn out to +be hidden virtue, or reserve, or modesty. + +English home education is a seminary of infinite importance; a girl +learns to control her speech, to be always calm and well-bred. She has +been toned down from her youth. She has been carefully taught to +respect the duties of her high position; she has this advantage to +counterbalance the disadvantage which we freeborn citizens think may +come with an overpride of birth,--she has learned the motto _noblesse +oblige_. The English fireside is a beacon light forever to the soldier +in the Crimea, to the colonist in Australia, to the grave official in +India, to the missionary in the South Seas, to the English boy +wherever he may be. It sustains and ennobles the English woman at home +and abroad. + +As a hostess, the English woman is sure to mould her house to look +like home. She has soft low couches for those who like them, +high-backed tall chairs for the tall, low chairs for the lowly. She +has her bookcases and pretty china scattered everywhere, she has +work-baskets and writing-tables and flowers, particularly wild ones, +which look as if she had tossed them in the vases herself. Her house +looks cheerful and cultivated. + +I use the word advisedly, for all taste must be cultivated. A state +apartment in an old English house can be inexpressibly dreary. High +ceilings, stiff old girandoles, pictures of ancestors, miles of +mirrors, and the Laocoön or other specimens of Grecian art, which no +one cares for except in the Vatican, and the ceramic and historical +horrors of some old collector, who had no taste,--are enough to +frighten a visitor. But when a young or an experienced English +hostess has smiled on such a house, there will be some delightful +lumber strewn around, no end of pretty brackets and baskets and +curtains and screens, and couches piled high with cushions; and then +the quaint carvings, the rather affected niches, the mantelpiece +nearly up to the ceiling, as in Hogarth's picture,--all these become +humanized by her touch. The spirit of a hostess should aim at the +combination of use and beauty. Some finer spirits command both, as +Brunelleschi hung the dome at Florence high in air, and made a thing +of beauty, which is a joy forever, but did not forget to build under +it a convenient church as well. As for the bedrooms in an English +country house, they transcend description, they are the very +apotheosis of comfort. + +The dinners are excellent, the breakfast and lunch comfortable, +informal, and easy, the horses are at your disposal, the lawn and +garden are yours for a stroll, the chapel lies near at hand, where you +can study architecture and ancient brass. There are pleasant people in +the house, you are let alone, you are not being entertained. That most +dreadful of sensations, that somebody has you on his mind, and must +show you photographs and lift off your _ennui_ is absent; you seem to +be in Paradise. + +English people will tell you that house parties are dull,--not that +all are, but some are. No doubt the jaded senses lose the power of +being pleased. A visit to an English house, to an American who brings +with her a fresh sense of enjoyment, and who remembers the limitations +of a new country, one who loves antiquity, history, old pictures, and +all that time can do, one who is hungry for Old World refinements, to +such an one a visit to an English country house is delightful. To a +worn-out English set whose business it has been for a quarter of a +century to go from one house to another, no doubt it is dull. Some +unusual distraction is craved. + +"To relieve the monotony and silence and the dull, depressing cloud +which sometimes settles on the most admirably arranged English +dinner-party, even an American savage would be welcomed," says a +modern novel-writer. How much more welcome then is a pretty young +woman who, with a true enthusiasm and a wild liberty, has found her +opportunity and uses it, plays the banjo, tells fortunes by the hand, +has no fear of rank, is in her set a glacier of freshness with a heart +of fire, like Roman punch. + +How much more gladly is a young American woman welcomed, in such a +house, and how soon her head is turned. She is popular until she +carries off the eldest son, and then she is severely criticised, and +by her spoiled caprices becomes a heroine for Ouida to rejoice in, and +the _fond_ of a society novel. + +But the glory is departing from many a stately English country house. +Fortune is failing them; they are, many of them, to rent. Rich +Americans are buying their old pictures. The Gainsboroughs, the Joshua +Reynoldses, the Rembrandts, which have been the pride of English +country houses, are coming down, charmed by the silver music of the +almighty dollar; the old fairy tale is coming true,--even the +furniture dances. + +We have the money and we have the vivacity, according to even our +severest critics; we have now to cultivate the repose of an English +hostess, if we would make our country houses as agreeable as she does. + +We cannot improvise the antiquity, or the old chapel, or the brasses; +we cannot make our roads as fine as those which enable an English +house party to drive sixteen miles to a dinner; in fact we must admit +that they have been nine hundred years making a lawn even. But we must +try to do things our own way, and use our own advantages so that we +can make our guests comfortable. + +The American autumn is the most glorious of seasons for entertaining +in a country house. Nature hangs our hillsides then with a tapestry +that has no equal even at Windsor. The weather, that article which in +America is so apt to be good that if it is bad we apologize for it, is +more than apt to be good in October, and makes the duties of a hostess +easy then, for Nature helps to entertain. + +It is to be feared that we have not yet learned to be guests. Trusting +to that boundless American hospitality which has been apt to say, +"Come when you please and stay as long as you can," we decline an +invitation for the 6th, saying we can come on the 9th. This cannot be +done when people begin to give house-parties. We must go on the 6th or +not at all. + +We should also define the limits of a visit, as in England; one is +asked on Wednesday to arrive at five, to leave at eleven on Saturday. +Then one does not overstay one's welcome. Host and hostess and guest +must thoroughly understand one another on this point, and then +punctuality is the only thing to be considered. + +The opulent, who have butler, footman, and French cooks, need read no +further in this chapter, the remainder of which will be directed to +that larger class who have neither, and who have to help themselves. +No lady should attempt to entertain in the country who has not a good +cook, and one or two attendant maids who can wait well and perform +other duties about the house. With these three and with a good deal of +knowledge herself, a hostess can make a country house attractive. + +The dining-room should be the most agreeable room in the house, shaded +in the morning and cool in the afternoon,--a large room with a +hard-wood floor and mats, if possible, as these are clean and cool. + +Carving should be done by one of the servants at a side table. There +is nothing more depressing on a warm evening than a smoking joint +before one's plate. A light soup only should be served, leaving the +more substantial varieties for cold weather. + +Nowadays the china and glass are so very pretty, and so very cheap, +that they can be bought and used and left in the house all winter +without much risk. If people are living in the country all winter a +different style of furnishing, and a different style of entertaining +is no doubt in order. + +It is well to have very easy laws about breakfast, and allow a guest +to descend when he wishes. If possible give your guest an opportunity +to breakfast in his room. So many people nowadays want simply a cup of +tea, and to wait until noon before eating a heavy meal; so many desire +to eat steaks, chops, toast, eggs, hot cakes, and coffee at nine +o'clock, that it is difficult for a hostess to know what to do. Her +best plan, perhaps, is to have an elastic hour, and let her people +come down when they feel like it. In England the maid enters the +bedroom with tea, excellent black tea, a toasted muffin, and two +boiled eggs at eight o'clock, a pitcher of hot water for the +wash-stand, and a bath. No one is obliged to appear until luncheon, +nor even then if indisposed so to do. Dinner at whatever hour is a +formal meal, and every one should come freshly dressed and in good +form, as the English say. + +The Arab law of hospitality should be printed over every lintel in a +country house: "Welcome the coming, speed the parting guest;" "He who +tastes my salt is sacred; neither I nor my household shall attack him, +nor shall one word be said against him. Bring corn, wine, and fruit +for the passing stranger. Give the one who departs from thy tents the +swiftest horse. Let him who would go from thee take the fleet +dromedary, reserve the lame one for thyself." If these momentous hints +were carried out in America, and if these children of the desert, with +their grave faces, composed manners, and noble creed, could be +literally obeyed, we fear country-house visiting would become almost +too popular. + +But if we cannot give them the fleet dromedary, we can drive them to +the fast train, which is much better than any dromedary. We can make +them comfortable, and enable them to do as they like. Unless we can do +that, we should not invite any one. + +Unless a guest has been rude, it is the worst taste to criticise him. +He has come at your request. He has entered your house as an altar of +safety, an ark of refuge. He has laid his armour down. Your kind +welcome has unlocked his reserve. He has spoken freely, and felt that +he was in the presence of friends. If in this careless hour you have +discovered his weak spot, be careful how you attack it. The intimate +unreserve of a guest should be respected. + +And upon the guest an equal, nay, a superior conscientiousness should +rest, as to any revelation of the secrets he may have found out while +he was a visitor. No person should go from house to house bearing +tales. We do not go to our friend's house to find the skeleton in the +closet. No criticisms of the weaknesses or eccentricities of any +member of the family should ever be heard from the lips of a guest. +"Whose bread I have eaten, he is henceforth my brother," is another +Arab proverb. + +Speak well always of your entertainers, but speak little of their +domestic arrangements. Do not violate the sanctity of the fireside, or +wrong the shelter of the roof-tree which has lent you its protection +for even a night. + +The decorations for a country ballroom, in a rural neighbourhood, have +called forth many an unknown genius in that art which has become the +well-known profession of interior decoration. The favourite place in +Lenox, and at many a summer resort, has been the large floor of a new +barn. Before the equine tenants begin to champ their oats, the youths +and maids assume the right to trip the light fantastic toe on the +well-laid hard floor. The ornamentations at such a ball at Lenox were +candles put in pine shields, with tin holders, and decorations of corn +and wheat sheaves, tied with scarlet ribbons, surrounding pumpkins +which were laid in improvised brackets, hastily cut out of pine, with +hatchets, by the young men. Magnificent autumn leaves were arranged +with ferns as garlands, and many were the devices for putting candles +and kerosene lamps behind these so as to give almost the effect of +stained glass, without causing a general conflagration. + +The effect of a pumpkin surrounded by autumn leaves recalls the +Gardens of the Hesperides. No apple like those golden apples which we +call pumpkins was ever seen there. To be sure they are rather large to +throw to a goddess, and might bowl her down, but they look very +handsome when tranquilly reposing. + +A sort of Druidical procession might be improvised to help along this +ball, and the hostess would amuse her company for a week with the +preparations. + +First, get a negro fiddler to head it, dressed like Browning's Pied +Piper in gay colours, and playing his fiddle. Then have a procession +of children, dressed in gay costumes; following them, "two milk-white +oxen garlanded" with wreaths of flowers and ribbons, driven by a boy +in Swiss costume; then a goat-cart with the baby driving two goats, +also garlanded; next a lovely Alderney cow, also decorated, +accompanied by a milkmaid, carrying a milking-stool; then another long +line of children, followed by the youths and maids, bearing the +decorations for the ballroom. Let all these parade the village street +and wind up at the ballroom, where the cow can be milked, and a +surprise of ice cream and cake given to the children. This is a +Sunday-school picnic and a ball decoration, all in one, and the +country lady who can give it will have earned the gratitude of +neighbours and friends. It has been done. + +In the spring the decorations of a ballroom might be early wild +flowers and the delicate ground-pine, far more beautiful than smilax, +and also ferns, the treasures of the nearest wood. + +Wild flowers, ferns, and grasses, the ground-pine, the checkerberry, +and the partridge berry make the most exquisite garlands, and it is +only of late--when a few great geniuses have discovered that the field +daisy is the prettiest of flowers, that the best beauty is that which +is at our hands wherever we are, that the greatest rarity is the grass +in the meadow--that we have reached the true meaning of interior +decoration. + +Helen Hunt, in one of her prettiest papers, describes the beauty of +kinnikinick, a lovely vine which grows all over Colorado. Although we +have not that, we can even in winter find the hemlock boughs, the +mistletoe, the holly, for our decorations. Of course, hot-house +flowers and smilax, if they can be obtained, are very beautiful and +desirable, but they are not within the reach of every purse, or of +every country house. + +Sheaves of wheat, tied with fine ribbons and placed at intervals +around a room, can be made to have the beauty of an armorial bearing. +These, alternating with banners and hemlock boughs, are very +effective. All these forms which Nature gives us have suggested the +Corinthian capital, the Ionic pillar, the most graceful of Greek +carvings. The acanthus leaf was the inspiration of the architect who +built the Acropolis. + +Vine leaves, especially after they begin to turn, are capable of +infinite suggestion, and we all remember the recent worship of the +sunflower. Hop vines and clematis, especially after the last has gone +to seed, remain long as ornaments. + +As for the refreshments to be served,--the oyster stew, the ice cream, +the good home-made cake, coffee, and tea are within the reach of every +country housekeeper, and are in their way unrivalled. Of course, if +she wishes she can add chicken salad, boned turkey, _pâté de foie +gras_, and punch, hot or cold. + +If it is in winter, the coachmen outside must not be forgotten. Some +hot coffee and oysters should be sent to these patient sufferers, for +our coachmen are not dressed as are the Russians, in fur from head to +foot. If possible, there should be a good fire in the kitchen, to +which these attendants on our pleasure could be admitted to thaw out. + + + + +A PICNIC. + + "Come hither, come hither, the broom was in blossom all over + yon rise, + There went a wild murmur of brown bees about it with songs from + the wood. + We shall never be younger, O Love! let us forth to the world + 'neath our eyes-- + Ay! the world is made young, e'en as we, and right fair is her + youth, and right good." + + +Appetites flourish in the free air of hills and meadows, and after +drinking in the ozone of the sea, one feels like drinking something +else. There is a very good story of a reverend bishop who with a +friend went a-fishing, like Peter, and being very thirsty essayed to +draw the cork of a claret bottle. In his zeal he struck his bottle +against a stone, and the claret oozed out to refresh the thirsty +earth, instead of that precious porcelain of human clay of which the +bishop was made. His remark to his friend was, "James, you are a +layman, why don't you say something?" + +Now to avoid having our layman or our reverend wish to say something, +let us try to suggest what they should eat and what they should drink. + +There are many kinds of picnics,--fashionable ones at Newport and +other watering-places, where the French waiters of the period are told +to get up a repast as if at the Casino; there are clam-bakes which are +ideal, and there are picnics at Lenox and at Sharon, where the hotel +keeper will help to fill the baskets. + +But the real picnic, which calls for talent and executive ability, +should emanate from some country house, where two or three other +country houses co-operate and help. Then what jolly drives in the +brakes, what queer old family horses and antediluvian wagons, what +noble dog-carts, and what prim pony phaetons can join in the +procession. The day should be fine, and the place selected a hillside +with trees, commanding a fine view. This is at least desirable. The +necessity for a short walk, a short scramble after leaving the horses, +should not be disregarded. + +The night before the picnic, which presumably starts early, the lady +of the house should see to it that a boiled ham of perfect flavour is +in readiness, and she may flank it with a boiled tongue, four roasted +chickens, a game pie, and any amount of stale bread to cut into +sandwiches. + +Now a sandwich can be at once the best and the worst thing in the +world, but to make it the best the bread should be cut very thin, the +butter, which must be as fresh as a cowslip, should be spread with +deft fingers, then a slice of ham as thin as a wafer with not too much +fat must be laid between, with a _soupçon_ of mustard. The prepared +ham which comes in cans is excellent for making sandwiches. Cheese +sandwiches, substituting a thin slice of American fresh cheese for the +ham, are delicious, and some rollicking good-livers toast the cheese. + +Tongue, cold beef, and even cold sausages make excellent varieties of +sandwich. To prevent their becoming the "sand which is under your +feet" cover them over night with a damp napkin. + +Chicken can be eaten for itself alone, but it should be cut into very +convenient fragments, judiciously salted and wrapped in a very white +napkin. + +The game or veal pie must be in a strong earthen dish, and having been +baked the day before, its pieces will have amalgamated with the crust, +and it will cut into easily handled slices. + +All must be packed in luncheon baskets with little twisted cornucopias +holding pepper and salt, hard-boiled eggs, the patty by itself, +croquettes, if they happen to be made, cold fried oysters, excellent +if in batter and well-drained after cooking; no article must be +allowed to touch another. + +If cake and pastry be taken, each should have a separate basket. Fruit +also should be carefully packed by itself, for if food gets mixed and +mussy, even a mountain appetite will shun it. + +A bottle of olives is a welcome addition, and pickles and other +relishes may be included. Sardines are also in order. + +Now what to drink? Cold tea and iced coffee prepared the night before, +the cream and sugar put in just before starting, should always be +provided. They are capital things to climb on, to knit up the +"ravelled sleeve of care," and if somewhat exciting to the nerves, +will be found the best thirst-quenchers. + +These beverages should be carefully bottled and firmly corked,--and +don't forget the corkscrew. Plenty of tin cups, or those strong glass +beer-mugs which you can throw across the room without breaking, should +also be taken. + +Claret is the favourite wine for picnics, as being light and +refreshing. Ginger ale is excellent and cheap and compact. +"Champagne," says Walter Besant in his novel "By Celia's Arbour" is a +wine as Catholic as the Athanasian Creed, because it goes well with +chicken and with the more elaborate _pâté de foie gras_. + +Some men prefer sherry with their lunch, some take beer. If you have +room and a plentiful cellar, take all these things. But tea and coffee +and ginger ale will do for any one, anywhere. + +It has been suggested by those who have suffered losses from +mischievous friends, that a composite basket containing everything +should be put in each carriage, but this is refining the matter. + +Arrived at the picnic-ground, the whole force should be employed by +the hostess as an amiable body of waiters. The ladies should set the +tables, and the men bring water from the spring. The less ceremony the +better. + +Things have not been served in order, they never are at a picnic, and +the cunning hostess now produces some claret cup. She has made it +herself since they reached the top of the mountain. Two bottles of +claret to one of soda water, two lemons, a glass of sherry, a cucumber +sliced in to give it the most perfect flavour, plenty of sugar and +ice; and where had she hidden that immense pitcher, a regular brown +toby, in which she has brewed it? + +"I know," said an _enfant terrible_; "I saw her hiding it under the +back seat." + +There it is, filled with claret cup, the most refreshing drink for a +warm afternoon. Various young persons of opposite sexes, who have been +looking at each other more than at the game pie, now prepare to +disappear in the neighbouring paths, under a pretence but feebly made +of plucking blackberries,--artless dissemblers! + +Mamma shouts, "Mary, Caroline, Jane, Tom, Harry, be back before five, +for we must start for home." May she get them, even at half-past six. +From a group of peasants over a bunch of sticks in the Black Forest, +to a queen who delighted to picnic in Fontainebleau, these _al fresco_ +entertainments are ever delicious. We cannot put our ears too close to +the confessional of Nature. She has always a new secret to tell us, +and from the most artificial society to that which is primitive and +rustic, they always carry the same charm. It is the Antæus trying to +get back to Mother Earth, who strengthens him. + +In packing a lunch for a fisherman, or a hunter, the hostess often has +to explain that brevity is the soul of wit. She must often compress a +few eatables into the side pocket, and the bottle of claret into the +fishing-basket. If not, she can palm off on the man one of those tin +cases which poor little boys carry to school, which look like books +and have suggestive titles, such as "Essays of Bacon," "Crabbe's +Tales," or "News from Turkey," on the back. If the fisherman will take +one of these his sandwiches will arrive in better order. + +The Western hunter takes a few beans and some slices of pork, some say +in his hat, when he goes off on the warpath. The modern hunter or +fisher, if he drive to the meet or the burn, can be trusted with an +orthodox lunch-basket, which should hold cold tea, cold game-pie, a +few olives, and a bit of cheese, and a large reserve of sandwiches. +When we grow more celestial, when we achieve the physical theory of +another life, we may know how to concentrate good eating in a more +portable form than that of the sandwich, but we do not know it yet. + +Take an egg sandwich,--hard-boiled eggs chopped, and laid between the +bread and butter. Can anything be more like the sonnet?--complete in +only fourteen lines, and yet perfection! Only indefinite chicken, +wheaten flour, the milk of the cow, all that goes to make up our daily +food in one little compact rectangle! Egg sandwich! It is immense in +its concentration. + +Some people like to take salads and apple pies to picnics. There are +great moral objections to thus exposing these two delicacies to the +rough experiences of a picnic. A salad, however well dressed, is an +oily and slippery enjoyment. Like all great joys, it is apt to escape +us, especially in a lunch basket. Apple pie, most delicate of pasties, +will exude, and you are apt to find the crust on the top of the +basket, and the apple in the bottom of the carriage. + +If you will take salad, and will not be taught by experience, make a +perfect _jardinière_ of all the cold vegetables, green peas, beans, +and cauliflower, green peppers, cucumbers, and cold potatoes, and take +this mixture dry to the picnic. Have your mayonnaise in a bottle, and +dress the salad with it after sitting down, on a very slippery, ferny +rock, at the table. Truth compels the historian to observe, that this +is delicious with the ham, and you will not mind in the least, until +the next day, the large grease-spot on the side breadth of your gown. + +As for the apple pie, that is taken at the risk of the owner. It had +better be left at home for tea. + +Of course, _pâté de foie gras_, sandwiches, boned turkey, jellied +tongue, the various cold birds, as partridges, quails, pheasant, and +chicken, and raw oysters, can be taken to a very elaborate picnic near +a large town. Salmon dressed with green sauce, lobster salad, every +kind of salad, is in order if you can only get it there, and +"_caviare_ to the general." Cold terrapin is not to be despised; eaten +on a bit of bread it is an excellent dainty, and so is the cold fried +oyster. + +Public picnics, like Sunday-school picnics, fed with ice cream and +strawberries; or the clam bake, a unique and enjoyable affair by the +sea, are in the hands of experts, and need no description here. The +French people picnic every day in the _Bois de Boulogne_, the woods of +Versailles, and even on their asphalt, eating out of doors when they +can. It is a very strange thing that we do not improve our fine +climate by eating our dinners and breakfasts with the full draught of +an unrivalled ozone. + + + + +PASTIMES OF LADIES. + + Her feet beneath her petticoat, + Like little mice, stole in and out, + As if they feared the light; + But oh, she dances such a way! + No sun upon an Easter day + Is half so fine a sight. + SIR JOHN SUCKLING. + + +The "London Times" says that the present season has seen "driving jump +to a great height of favour amongst fashionable women." + +It is a curious expression, but enlightens us as to the liberty which +even so great an authority takes with our common language. There is no +doubt of the fact that the pony phaeton and the pair of ponies are +becoming a great necessity to an energetic woman. The little pony and +the Ralli cart, as a ladies' pastime, is a familiar figure in the +season at Newport, at a thousand country places, at the seaside, in +our own Central Park, and all through the West and South. + +It has been much more the custom for ladies in the West and South to +drive themselves, than for those at the North; consequently they drive +better. Only those who know how to drive well ought ever to attempt +it, for they not only endanger their own lives, but a dozen other +lives. Whoever has seen a runaway carriage strike another vehicle, and +has beheld the breaking up, can realize for the first time the +tremendous force of an object in motion. The little Ralli cart can +become a battering-ram of prodigious force. + +No form of recreation is so useful and so becoming as horseback +exercise. No English woman looks so well as when turned out for +out-of-door exercise. And our American women, who buy their habits and +hats in London, are getting to have the same _chic_. Indeed, so +immensely superior is the London habit considered, that the French +circus-women who ride in the Bois, making so great a sensation, go +over to London to have their habits made, and thus return the +compliment which English ladies pay to Paris, in having all their +dinner gowns and tea gowns made there. Perhaps disliking this sort of +copy, the Englishwomen are becoming careless of their appearance on +horseback, and are coming out in a straw hat, a covert coat, and a +cotton skirt. + +The soft felt hat has long been a favourite on the Continent, at +watering-places for the English; and it is much easier for the head. +Still, in case of a fall it does not save the head like a hard, +masculine hat. + +We have not yet, as a nation, taken to cycling for women; but many +Englishwomen go all over the globe on a tricycle. A husband and wife +are often seen on a tricycle near London, and women who lead sedentary +lives, in offices and schools, enjoy many of their Saturday afternoons +in this way. + +Boating needs to be cultivated in America. It is a superb exercise for +developing a good figure; and to manage a punt has become a common +accomplishment for the riverside girls. Ladies have regattas on the +Thames. + +Fencing, which many actresses learn, is a very admirable process for +developing the figure. The young Princesses of Wales are adepts in +this. It requires an outfit consisting of a dainty tunic reaching to +the knees, a fencing-jacket of soft leather with tight sleeves, +gauntlet gloves, a mask, a pair of foils, and costing about fifteen +dollars. + +American women as a rule are not fond of walking. There must be +something in the nature of an attraction or a duty to rouse our +delicate girls to walk. They will not do it for their health alone. +Gymnastic teaching is, however, giving them more strength, and it +would be well if in every family of daughters there were some +calisthenic training, to develop the muscles, and to induce a more +graceful walk. + +To teach a girl to swim is almost a duty, and such splendid physical +exercises will have a great influence over that nervous distress which +our climate produces with its over-fulness of oxygen. + +If girls do not like to walk, they all like to dance, and it is not +intended as a pun when we mention that "a great jump" has been made +back to the old-fashioned dancing, in which freedom of movement is +allowed. Those who saw Mary Anderson's matchless grace in the Winter's +Tale all tried to go and dance like her, and to see Ellen Terry's +spring, as the pretty Olivia, teaches one how entirely beautiful is +this strong command of one's muscles. From the German cotillion, back +to the Virginia reel, is indeed a bound. + +Our grandfathers knew how to dance. We are fast getting back to them. +The traditions of Taglioni still lingered fifty years ago. The +earliest dancing-masters were Frenchmen, and our ancestors were taught +to _pirouette_ as did Vestris when he was so obliging as to say after +a royal command, "The house of Vestris has always danced for that of +Bourbon." + +The galop has, during the long langour of the dance, alone held its +own, in the matter of jollity. The glide waltz, the redowa, the +stately minuet, give only the slow and graceful motions. The galop has +always been a great favourite with the Swedes, Danes, and Russians, +while the redowa reminds one of the graceful Viennese who dance it so +well. The mazourka, danced to wild Polish music, is a poetical and +active affair. + +The introduction of Hungarian bands and Hungarian music is another +reason why dancing has become a "hop, skip and a bound," without +losing dignity or grace. Activity need not be vulgar. + +The German cotillion, born many years ago at Vienna to meet the +requirements of court etiquette, is still the fashionable dance with +which the ball closes. Its favours, beginning with flowers and ribbons +and bits of tinsel, have now ripened into fans, bracelets, gold +scarf-pins and pencil-cases, and many things more expensive. Favours +may cost five thousand dollars for a fashionable ball, or dance, as +they say in London. + +The German is a dance of infinite variety, and to lead it requires a +man of head. One such leader, who can construct new figures, becomes a +power in society. The waltz, galop, redowa, and polka step can all be +utilized in it. There is a slow walk in the quadrille figure, a +stately march, the bows and courtesies of the old minuet, and above +all, the _tour de valse_, which is the means of locomotion from place +to place. The changeful exigencies of the various figures lead the +forty or fifty, or the two hundred to meet, exchange greetings, dance +with each other, and change their geographical position many times. +Indeed no army goes through more evolutions. + +A pretty figure is _La Corbeille, l'Anneau, et la Fleur_. The first +couple performs a _tour de valse_, after which the gentleman presents +the lady with a basket, containing a ring and a flower, then resumes +his seat. The lady presents the ring to one gentleman, the flower to +another, and the basket to the third. The gentleman to whom she +presents the ring selects a partner for himself, the gentleman who +receives the flower dances with the lady who presents it, while the +other gentleman holds the basket in his hand and dances alone. + +The kaleidoscope is one of the prettiest figures. The four couples +perform a _tour de valse_, then form as for a quadrille; the next four +couples in order take positions behind the first four couples, each of +the latter couples facing the same as the couples in front. At a +signal from the leader, the ladies of the inner couples cross right +hands, move entirely round and turn into places by giving left hands +to their partners. At the same time the outer couples waltz half round +to opposite places. At another signal the inner couples waltz entirely +round, and finish facing outward. At the same time the outer couples +_chassent croisé_ and turn at corners with right hands, then +_dechassent_ and turn partners with left hands. Valse _générale_ with +_vis à vis_. + +_La Cavalier Trompé_ is another favourite figure. Five or six couples +perform a _tour de valse_. They afterwards place themselves in ranks +of two, one couple behind the other. The lady of the first gentleman +leaves him and seeks a gentleman of another column. While this is +going on the first gentleman must not look behind him. The first lady +and the gentleman whom she has selected separate and advance on +tip-toe on each side of the column, in order to deceive the gentleman +at the head, and endeavour to join each other for a waltz. If the +first gentleman is fortunate enough to seize his lady, he leads off in +a waltz; if not, he must remain at his post until he is able to take a +lady. The last gentleman remaining dances with the last lady. + +To give a German in a private house, a lady has all the furniture +removed from her parlours, the floor covered with crash over the +carpet, and a set of folding-chairs for the couples to sit in. A bare +wooden floor is preferable to the carpet and crash. + +It is considered that all taking part in a German are introduced to +one another, and on no condition whatever must a lady, so long as she +remains in the German, refuse to speak or to dance with any gentleman +whom she may chance to receive as a partner. Every American should +learn that he can speak to any one whom he meets at a friend's house. +The roof is an introduction, and, for the purpose of making his +hostess comfortable, the guest should, at dinner-party and dance, +speak to his next neighbour. + +The laws of the German are so strict, and to many so tiresome, that a +good many parties have abjured it, and merely dance the round dances, +the lancers and quadrilles, winding up with the Sir Roger de Coverley +or the Virginia Reel. + +The leader of the German must have a comprehensive glance, a quick ear +and eye, and a great belief in himself. General Edward Ferrero, who +made a good general, declared that he owed all his success in war to +his training as a dancing-master. With all other qualities, the leader +of the German must have tact. It is no easy matter to get two hundred +people into all sorts of combinations and mazes and then to get them +out again, to offend nobody, and to produce that elegant kaleidoscope +called the German. + +The term _tour de valse_ is used technically, meaning that the couple +or couples performing it execute the round dance designated by the +leader once round the room. Should the room be small, they make a +second tour. After the introductory _tour de valse_ care must be taken +by those who perform it not to select ladies and gentlemen who are on +the floor, but from among those who are seated. When the leader claps +his hands to warn those who are prolonging the valse, they must +immediately cease dancing. + +The favours for the German are often fans, and this time-honoured, +historic article grows in beauty and expense every day. And what +various memories come in with the fan! It was created in primeval +ages. The Egyptian ladies had fans of lotus leaves; and lately a +breakfast was given all in Egyptian fashion, except the eating. The +Roman ladies carried immense fans of peacocks' feathers. They did not +open and shut like ours, opening and shutting being a modern +invention. The _flabilliferaor_ or fan-bearer, was some young +attendant, generally female, whose common business it was to carry her +mistress's fan. There is a Pompeian painting of Cupid as the +fan-bearer of Ariadne, lamenting her desertion by Theseus. In Queen +Elizabeth's day the fan was usually made of feathers, like that still +used in the East. The handle was richly ornamented and set with +stones. A fashionable lady was never without her fan, which was held +to her girdle by a jewelled chain. That fashion, with the large +feathers, has returned in our day. Queen Elizabeth dropped a +silver-handled fan into the moat at Arnstead Hall, which occasioned +many madrigals. Sir Francis Drake presented to his royal mistress a +fan of feathers, white and red, enamelled with a half-moon of +mother-of-pearl. Poor Leicester gave her, as his New Year's gift in +1574, a fan of white feathers set in a handle of gold, adorned on one +side with two very fair emeralds, and fully garnished with rubies and +diamonds, and on each side a white bear,--his cognizance,--and two +pearls hanging, a lion rampant and a white, muzzled bear at his foot. +Just before Christmas in 1595 Elizabeth went to Kew, and dined at my +Lord Keeper's house, and there was handed her a fine fan with a handle +garnished with diamonds. + +Fans in Shakspeare's time seem to have been composed of ostrich and +other feathers, fastened to handles. Gentlemen carried fans in those +days, and in one of the later figures of the German they now carry +fans. According to an old manuscript in the Ashmolean Museum, Sir +Edward Cole rode the circuit with a prodigious fan, which had a long +stick with which he corrected his daughters. Let us hope that that +custom will not be reintroduced. + +The vellum fans painted by Watteau, and the lovely fans of Spain +enriched with jewels are rather too expensive for favours for the +German; one very rich entertainer gave away tortoise-shell fans with +jewelled sticks, two years ago, at Delmonico's. Fans of silk, +egg-shaped, and painted with birds, were used for an Easter German. + +Ribbons were used for a cotillon dinner with very good effect. "From +the chandelier in the centre of the dining room," we read, "depended +twenty scarfs of grosgrain ribbon, each three and a half yards long +and nine inches wide, heavily fringed and richly adorned at both ends +with paintings of flowers and foliage. These scarfs were so arranged +that an end of each came down to the place one of the ladies was to +occupy at the table, and care was taken in their selection to have +colours harmonizing with the ladies' dress and complexion." + +These cotillion dinners have been a pretty fashion for two or three +winters, as they enable four or five young hostesses to each give a +dinner, the whole four to meet with their guests at one house for a +small German, after the dinner. Each hostess compares her list with +that of her neighbour, that there shall be no confusion. It is +believed that this device was the invention of the incomparable Mr. +McAllister, to whom society owes a great deal. Fashionable society +like the German must have a leader, some one who will take trouble, +and think out these elaborate details. Nowhere in Europe is so much +pains taken about such details as with us. + +The _menus_ of these cotillion dinners are often water-colour +paintings, worthy of preservation; sometimes a scene from one of +Shakspeare's plays, sometimes a copy of some famous French +picture,--in either case something delightfully artistic. + +For a supper after a dance the dishes are placed on the table, and it +is served _en buffet_; but for a sit-down supper, served at little +tables, the service should be exactly like a dinner except that there +is no soup or fish. + +The manner of using flowers in America at such entertainments is +simply bewildering. A climbing rose will seem to be going everywhere +over an invisible trellis; delicate green vines will depend from the +chandelier, dropping roses; roses cover the entire table-cloth; or +perhaps the flowers are massed, all of yellow, or of white, or red, or +pink. + +Nothing could exceed the magnificence of the great baskets of white +and yellow chrysanthemums, roses, violets, and carnations, at a +breakfast given to the Comte de Paris, at Delmonico's on October 20th, +and at the subsequent dinner given him by his brother officers of the +Army of the Potomac. His royal arms were in white flowers, the _fleur +de lis_ of Joan of Arc, on a blue ground of flowers. Jacqueminot Roses +went up and down the table, with the words "Grand Army of the Potomac" +in white flowers. + +The orchid, that most regal and expensive of all flowers, a single +specimen often costing many dollars, was used by a lady to make an +imitation fire, the wood, the flames, and all consisting of flowers +placed in a most artistic chimney-piece. + +Indeed, the cost of the cut flowers used in New York in one winter for +entertaining is said to be five millions of dollars. Orchids have this +advantage over other flowers--they have no scent; and that in a mixed +company and a hot room is an advantage, for some people cannot bear +even the perfume of a rose. + +A large lump of ice, with flowers trained over it, is a delightfully +refreshing adornment for a hot ballroom. In grand party decorations, +like one given by the Prince of Wales to the Czarina of Russia, ten +tons of ice were used as an ornamental rockery. In smaller rooms the +glacier can be cut out and its base hidden in a tub, lights put behind +it and flowers and green vines draped over it. The effect is magical. +The flowers are kept fresh, the white column looks always well, and +the coolness it diffuses is delicious. It might, by way of contrast +to the Dark Continent, be a complimentary decoration for a supper to +be given to Mr. Stanley, to ornament the ballroom with Arctic +bowlders, around which should be hung the tropical flowers and vines +of Africa. + + + + +PRIVATE THEATRICALS. + + A poor thing, my masters, not the real thing at all, a base + imitation, but still a good enough mock-orange, if you cannot + have the real thing.--OLD PLAY. + + +Some of our opulent citizens in the West, particularly in that +wondrous city Chicago, which is nearer to Aladdin's Lamp than anything +else I have seen, have built private theatres in their palaces. This +is taking time by the forelock, and arranging for a whole family of +coming histrionic geniuses. + +When all the arrangements for private theatricals must be +improvised,--and, indeed, it is a greater achievement to play in a +barn than on the best stage,--the following hints may prove +serviceable. + +Wherever the amateur actor elects to play, he must consider the +extraneous space behind the acting arena necessary for his exits and +entrances, and his theatrical properties. In an ordinary house the +back parlour, with two doors opening into the dining-room, makes an +ideal theatre, for the exits can be masked and the space is especially +useful. At least one door opening into another room is absolutely +necessary, if no better arrangement can be made. The best stage, of +course, is like that of a theatre, raised, with space at the back and +sides, for the players to retire to, and issue from. But if nothing +better can be managed, a pair of screens and a curtain will do. + +It is hardly necessary to say that all these arrangements depend on +the requirements of the play and its legitimate business, which may +demand a table, a bureau, a piano, or a bed. That very funny piece +"Box and Cox" needs nothing but a bed, a table, and a fireplace. And +here we would say to the youthful actor, Select your play at first +with a view to its requiring little change of scene, and not much +furniture. A young actor needs space. He is embarrassed by too many +chairs and tables. Then choose a play which has so much varied +incident that it will play itself. + +The first thing is to build the stage. Any carpenter will lay a few +stout boards on end pieces, which are simply squared joists, and for +very little money will take away the boards and joists afterwards, so +that a satisfactory stage can be built for a few dollars. Sometimes, +ingenious boys build their own stage with a few boxes, but this is apt +to be dangerous. Very few families are without an old carpet which +will serve for a stage covering; and if this is lacking, green baize +is very cheap. A whole stage fitting, curtains and all, can be made of +green baize. + +Footlights may be made of tin, with bits of candle put in; or a row of +old bottles of equal height, with candles stuck in the mouth, make a +most admirable and cheap set of footlights. + +The curtain is always difficult to arrange, especially in a parlour. A +light wooden frame should be made by the carpenter,--firm at the +joints, and as high as the room allows. Attached to the stage, at the +foot, this frame forms three sides of a square. The curtain must be +firmly nailed to the top piece. A stiff wire should be run along the +lower edge of the curtain, and a number of rings attached to the back +of it, in squares,--three rows, of four rings each, extending from top +to bottom. Three cords are now fastened to the wire, and passing +through the rings are run over three pulleys on the upper piece of the +frame. It is well for all young managers of garret theatres to get up +one of these curtains, even with the help of an upholsterer, as the +other draw-curtain never works so securely, and often hurts the +_dénouement_ of the play. When the drop curtain above described is +used, one person holds all the strings, and it pulls together. + +Now for the stage properties. They are easily made. A boy who can +paint a little will indicate a scene, with black paint, on a white +ground; tinsel paper, red flannel, and old finery will supply the +fancy dresses. + +A stage manager who is a natural born leader is indispensable. Certain +ambitious amateurs performed the opera of "Patience" in New York. It +would have been a failure but for the musical talent of the two who +took the title _rôles_, and the diligent six weeks' training which the +players received at the hand of the principal actor in the real +operetta. This seems very dear for the whistle, when one can go and +hear the real tune. It is in places where the real play cannot be +heard, that amateur theatricals are of importance. + +Young men at college get up the best of all amateur plays, because +they are realistic, and stop at nothing to make strong outlines and +deep shadows. They, too, buy many properties like wigs and dresses, +and give study and observation to the make-up of the character. + +If they need a comic face they have an artist from the theatre put it +on with a camel's-hair pencil. An old man's face, or a brigand's is +only a bit of water-colour. A pretty girl can be made out of a heavy +young man by rouge, chalk, and a blond wig. For a drunkard or a +villain, a few purple spots are painted on chin, cheek, forehead and +nose, judiciously. + +Young girls are apt, in essaying private theatricals, to sacrifice too +much to prettiness. This is a fatal mistake; one must even sacrifice +native bloom if the part requires it, or put on rouge, if necessary. + +As amusement is the object, the plays had better be comedy than +tragedy; and no such delicate wordy duels as the "Scrap of Paper," +should be attempted, as that requires the highest skill of two great +actors. + +After reading the part and committing the lines to memory, young +actors must submit to many and long rehearsals. After many of these +and much study, they must not be discouraged if they grow worse +instead of better. Perseverance conquers all things, and at last they +reach the dress rehearsal. This is generally a disappointment, and +time should be allowed for two dress rehearsals. It is a most +excellent and advantageous discouragement, if it leads the actors to +more study. + +The stage manager has a difficult _rôle_ to play, for he may discover +that his actors must change parts. This nearly always excites a +wounded self-love, and ill-feeling. But each one should bear in mind +that he is only a part of a perfect whole, and be willing to sacrifice +himself. + +If, however, plays are not successful and cease to amuse, the amateur +stage can be utilized for _tableaux vivants_, which are always pretty, +and may be made very artistic. The principle of a picture, the +pyramidal form, should be closely observed in a tableau. + +There should be a square of black tarletan or gauze nailed before the +picture, between the players and the footlights. The drop curtain +must be outside of this, and go up and down very carefully, at a +concerted signal. + +Although the pure white light of candles, or lime light, is the best +for such pictures, very pretty effects can be easily made by the +introduction of coloured lights, such as are produced by the use of +nitrate of strontia, chlorate of potash, sulphuret of antimony, +sulphur, oxymuriate of potassa, metallic arsenic, and pulverized +charcoal. Muriate of ammonia makes a bluish-green fire, and many +colours can be obtained by a little study of chemistry. + +To make a red fire, take five ounces of nitrate of strontia dry, and +one and a half ounces finely powdered sulphur; also five drachms +chlorate of potash, and four drachms sulphuret of antimony. Powder the +last two separately in a mortar, then mix them on paper and having +mixed the other ingredients, previously powdered, add these last and +rub the whole together on paper. To use, mix a little spirits of wine +with the powder, and burn in a flat iron plate or pan; the effect is +excellent on the picture. + +Sulphate of copper when dissolved in water turns it a beautiful blue. +The common red cabbage gives three colours. Slice the cabbage and pour +boiling water on it. When cold add a small quantity of alum, and you +have purple. Potash dissolved in the water will give a brilliant +green. A few drops of muriatic acid will turn the cabbage water into +crimson. Put these various coloured waters in globes, and with candles +behind them they will throw the light on the picture. + +Again, if a ghastly look be required, and a ghost scene be in order, +mix common salt with spirits of wine in a metal cup, and set it upon +a wire frame over a spirit lamp. When the cup becomes heated, and the +spirits of wine ignites, the other lights in the room should be +extinguished, and that of the spirit lamp hidden from the observer. A +light will be produced that will make the players seem like the +witches in Macbeth, "that look not like the inhabitants of the earth, +but yet are of it." + +The burning of common salt produces a very weird effect; for salt has +properties other than the conservative, preserving, hospitable +qualities which legend and the daily needs of mankind have ascribed to +it. + +A very pretty effect for Christmas Eve may be made by throwing these +lights on the highly decorated tree. A set of Christmas tableaux can +be arranged, giving groups of the early Christians going into the +Catacombs as the Pagans are going out, with a white shaft of light +making a cross between them. A picture representing the Christmas of +each nationality can be made, as for instance the Russian, the +Norwegian, the Dane, the Swede, the German, the English of three +hundred years ago. These are all possible to a family in which are +artistic boys and girls. + +The grotesque is lost in a tableau where there seems to be an æsthetic +need of the heroic, the refined, and the historic. A double action may +be represented with good effect, and here can be used the coloured +lights. Angels above, for instance, can well be in another colour than +sleeping children below. + +To return for a moment to the first use of the stage, the play. It is +a curious thing to see the plays which amateurs act well. The "Rivals" +is one of these, and so is "Everybody's Friend." "The Follies of a +Night" plays itself, and "The Happy Pair" goes very well. "A Regular +Fix," one of Sothern's plays, is exceptionally funny, as is "The +Liar," in which poor Lester Wallack was so very good. "Woodcock's +Little Game," too, is excellent. + +Cheap and unsophisticated theatricals, such as schoolboys and girls +can get up in the garret or the basement, are those which give the +most pleasure. But so strong is the underlying love of the drama that +youth and maid will attempt the hard and sometimes discouraging work, +even in cities where professional work is so very much better. + +The private amateur player should study to be accurate as to costume. +Pink-satin Marie Antoinette slippers must not be worn with a Greek +dress; classic sandals are easily made. + +It is an admirable practice to get up a play in French. It helps to +conquer the _délicatesse_ of the language. The French _répertoire_ is +very rich in easily acted plays, which any French teacher can +recommend. + +Imitation Negro minstrels are funny, and apt to be better than the +original. A funny man, a mimic, one who can talk in various dialects, +is a precious boon to an amateur company. Many of Dion Boucicault's +Irish characters can be admirably imitated. + +In this connection, why not call in the transcendent attraction of +music? Now that we have lady orchestras, why not have them on the +stage, or let them be asked to play occasional music between the acts, +or while the tableaux are on? It adds a great charm. + +The family circle in which the brothers have learned the key bugle, +cornet, trombone, and violoncello, and the sisters the piano and harp, +and the family that can sing part songs are to be envied. What a +blessing in the family is the man who can sing comic songs, and who +does not sing them too often. + +A small operetta is often very nicely done by amateurs. We need not +refer to the lamented "Pinafore," but that sort of thing. Would that +Sir Arthur would write another "Pinafore!" but, alas! there was never +but one. + +A private theatre is a great addition to a large country house, and it +can be made cheaply and well by a modern architect. It can be used as +a ballroom on off evenings, as a dining-room, or for any other +gathering. + +Nothing can be more improving for young people than to study a play. +Observe the expressions of the Oberammergau peasants, their +intellectual and happy faces, "informed with thought," and contrast +them with the faces of the German and Bavarian peasants about them. +Their old pastor, Deisenberg, by training them in poetry and +declamation, by founding his well-written play on their old +traditions, by giving them this highly improving recreation for their +otherwise starved lives, made another set of human beings of them. +They have a motive in life besides the mere gathering in of a +livelihood. + +So it would be in any country neighbourhood, however rustic and +remote, if some bright woman would assemble the young people at her +house and train them to read and recite, lifting their young souls +above vulgar gossip, and helping them to understand the older +dramatists, to even attempt Shakspeare. Funny plays might be thrown in +to enliven the scene, but there should be a good deal of earnest work +inculcated as well. Music, that most divine of all the arts, should be +assiduously cultivated. All the Oberammergau school-masters must be +musicians, and all the peasants learn how to sing. What a good thing +it would be if our district school-teachers should learn how to teach +their scholars part songs. + +When the art of entertaining has reached its apotheosis, we feel +certain that we can have this influence emanating from every opulent +country house, and that there will be no more complaint of dulness. + + + + +HUNTING AND SHOOTING. + + My love shall hear the music of my hounds: + Uncouple in the western valley; let them go,-- + Dispatch, I say, and find the Forester. + We will, fair Queen, up to the mountain's top. + MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM. + + +Fashion is at her best when she makes men and women love horses, dogs, +boating, swimming, and all out-of-door games,--when she preaches +physical culture. It is a good thing to see a man play lawn-tennis +under a hot sun for hours; you feel that such a man could storm a +battery. Nothing is more encouraging to the lover of all physical +culture than the hunting, shooting, boating, and driving mania in the +United States. + +"Hunting" and "shooting" are sometimes used as synonymous terms in +America; in England they mean quite different things. Hunting is +riding to hounds without firearms, letting the dogs kill the fox; +while shooting is to tramp over field, mountain, and through forest +with dogs and gun, to kill deer, grouse, or partridge. The 12th of +August is the momentous day, the first of the grouse shooting. Every +one who can afford it, or who has a friend who can afford it, is off +for the moors on the 11th, hoping to fill his bag. The 1st of +September, partridge, and the 1st of October, pheasant shooting, are +gala days, and the man is little thought of who cannot handle a gun. + +In August inveterate fox-hunters meet at four or five o'clock in the +morning for cub-hunting, which amusement is over by eleven or twelve. +As the winter comes on the real hunting begins, and lasts until late +in March. In the midland counties it is the special sport. Melton, in +Leicestershire, is a noted hunting rendezvous. People, many Americans +among them, take boxes there for the season, with large stables, and +beguile the evenings with dinners, dancing, and card-parties. It is a +sort of winter watering-place without any water, where the wine flows +in streams every night, and where the brandy flask is filled every +morning, "in case of accidents" while out with the hounds. An +enthusiast in riding can be in the saddle ten or twelve hours out of +every day, except Sunday, which is a dull day at Melton. + +All the houses within such a neighbourhood are successively made the +rendezvous or meet of the hunt. People come from great distances and +send their horses by rail; others drive or ride in, and send their +valuable hunters by a groom, who walks them the whole way. The show of +"pink" is generally good. "Pink" means the scarlet hunting-coat worn +by the gentlemen, the whippers-in, etc. The weather fades these coats +to a pale pink very much esteemed by the older men. They suggest the +scars of a veteran warrior, hence the name. Some men hunt in black, +but always in top boots. These boots are a cardinal point in a +sportsman's dandyism. + +Once or twice during the season a hunt breakfast is given in the house +where the meet takes place. This is a pretty scene. All sorts of neat +broughams, dog-carts, and old family chariots bring the ladies, who +wear as much scarlet as good taste will allow. + +Ladies, with their children, come to these breakfasts, which are +sumptuous affairs. Great rounds of cold beef, game patties, and salads +are spread out. All sorts of drinks, from beer up to champagne, are +offered. One of the ladies of the house sits at the head of the table, +with a large antique silver urn before her, and with tea and coffee +ready for those who wish these beverages. + +Some girls come on horseback, and look very pretty in their habits. +These Dianas cut slices of beef and make impromptu sandwiches for +their friends outside who have not dismounted. The daughters of the +house stand on the steps while liveried servants hand around cake and +wine, and others carry foaming tankards of ale, and liberal slices of +cheese, among the farmers and attendants of the kennel. + +It is an in-door and an out-door feast. The hounds are gathered in a +group, the huntsman standing in the centre cracking his whip, and +calling each hound by his name. Two or three masters of neighbouring +packs are talking to the master of the hounds, a prominent gentleman +of the county, who holds fox-hunting as something sacred, and the +killing of a fox otherwise than in a legitimate manner as one of the +seven deadly sins. + +Twelve o'clock strikes, and every one begins to move. Generally the +throw off is at eleven, but in honour of this breakfast a delay has +been allowed. The huntsman mounts his horse and blows his horn; the +hounds gather around him, and the whole field starts out. They are +going to draw the covers at some large plantation above the park. The +earths, or fox-holes, have been stopped for miles around, so that the +fox once started has no refuge to make for, and is compelled to give +the horses a run. It is a fine, manly sport, for with all the odds +against him, the fox often gets away. + +It is a pretty sight. The hounds go first, with nose to the ground, +searching for the scent. The hunters and whippers-in, professional +sportsmen, in scarlet coats and velvet jockey caps, ride immediately +next to them, followed by the field. In a little while a confusion of +rumours and cries is heard in the wood, various calls are blown on the +horn, and the frequent cracking of high whips, which sound is used to +keep the hounds in order, has all the effect of a succession of pistol +shots. Hark! the fox has broken cover, and a repeated cry of "Tally +Ho!" bursts from the wood. Away go the hounds, full cry, and what +sportsmen call their music, something between a bay and a yelp, is +indeed a pleasant sound, heard as it always is under circumstances +calculated to give it a romantic character. Many ladies and small boys +are amongst the followers of the chase. As soon as a boy can sit on +his pony he begins to follow the hounds. A fox has no tail and no feet +in hunting parlance, he has only a brush and pads. The lady who is in +at the death receives the brush, and the man the pads, as a rule. + +The hunt is a privileged institution in England, and can make gaps in +hedges and break down walls with impunity. The farmer never complains +if his wheat and turnip fields are ruined by the sport, nor does a +lady complain if her flower garden and ornamental arbour be laid in +ruins. The wily fox who has made such a skilful run must be followed +at any cost. + +Shooting is, however, the favourite sport of all Englishmen. Both +pheasants and partridges are first carefully reared; the eggs +generally purchased in large quantities, hatched by hens, and the +birds fed through the summer with meal and other appropriate food. The +gamekeepers take the greatest pride in the rearing of these birds. +The pheasant is to the Englishman what the ibis was to the Egyptian. + +They are let loose in the woods only when nearly full-grown. When the +covers are full, and a good bag is to be expected, the first of +October is a regular feast-day; a large party is asked, and a variety +of costumes makes the scene picturesque. Red or purple stockings, +knickerbockers of stout cloth or velveteen, a shooting-jacket of rough +heavy material, and stout shoes make up the costume. The ladies +collect after breakfast to see the party start out, a rendezvous is +agreed upon, and luncheon or tea brings them together at either two or +five o'clock, under a sheltering hedge on the side of a wood. The +materials for an ample meal are brought to the appointed place, and a +gay picnic ensues. + +Though shooting is a sport in which more real personal work is done by +those who join in it, and in which skill is a real ingredient, still +it is neither so characteristic nor so picturesque as fox-hunting. +There, a firm seat in the saddle, a good horse, and a determination to +ride straight across country, are all that is needed for the majority +of the field. In shooting much patience is required, besides accuracy +of aim, and a judicious knowledge of when and how to shoot. + +When we consider that hunting is the fashion which Americans are +trying to follow, in a country without foxes, we must concede that +success must be the result of considerable hard study. The fox is an +anise-seed bag, but stone walls and high rail fences often make a +stiffer country to ride over than any to be found abroad. In England +there are no fences. + +As an addition to the art of entertaining, hunting is a very great +boon, and a hunt breakfast at the Westchester Hunting Club is as +pretty a sight as possible. + +In America, the sport began in Virginia in the last century, and no +doubt in our great West and South it will some day become as +recognized an institution as in England. We have room enough for it, +too much perhaps. Shooting should become, from the Adirondacks to the +Mississippi, a recognized sport, as it was once a necessity. If +Americans could devote five months of the year to sport, as the +Englishmen do, they might rival Great Britain. Unfortunately, +Americans are bringing down other kinds of game. We cannot help +thinking, however, that shooting a buck in the Adirondacks is a more +manly sport than shooting one in England. + +No one who has ever had the privilege will forget his first drive +through the delights of an English park. The herds of fallow deer that +haunt the ferny glades beneath the old oaks and beeches, are kept both +for show and for the table; for park-fed venison is a more delicious +morsel than the flesh of the Scotch red deer, that runs wild on the +moor. White, brown, and mottled, with branching antlers which serve +admirably for offensive and defensive weapons, the deer browse in +groups; the does and fawns generally keeping apart from the more +lordly bucks. The park-keeper knows them all, and when one is shot, +the hides, hoofs, and antlers become his perquisites. + +The method of shooting a buck is, however, this: The keeper's +assistant drives the herd in a certain direction previously agreed +upon. The sight is a very pretty one. The keeper stations himself, +rifle in hand, in the fork of some convenient tree along the route. He +takes aim at the intended victim, and at the ominous report the +scared herd scampers away faster than ever, leaving their comrade to +the knives of the keeper. It is very much like going out to shoot a +cow. There is occasionally an attempt to renew the scenes of Robin +Hood and Sherwood Forest, and the hounds are let out, but it is a sham +after all, as they are trained not to kill the deer. The stag in this +instance is given a start, being carried bound in a cart to a certain +point, whence he is released and the chase commences. Thus the same +stag may be hunted a number of times and be none the worse for +it,--which is not the way they do it in the Adirondacks. + +American venison is a higher flavoured meat than English, and should +be only partly roasted before the fire, then cut in slices half-raw, +placed on a chafing-dish with jelly and gravy, and warmed and cooked +before the guest to ensure perfection. + +A Polish officer of distinction has sent me the following account of +hunting in his province:-- + +"We do not hunt the fox as in England. He is shot when met in a drive, +or worried out of his subterranean castle by a special breed of dogs, +the Dachshund, or Texel; or if young cubs are suspected to be in the +hole the exits so far as known are closed, a shaft sunk to the centre, +and the whole brood extinguished. + +"We ride to hounds after hare, and the speed of a fox-hunt is nothing +when compared with a cruise of the hare; for the greyhound, used for +the latter, can beat any fox hound in racing. No one would ever think +of water-killing deer as is done in the Adirondacks, and woe unto him +who kills a doe! + +"The old-fashioned way to kill the wild boar is to let him run at you, +then kneel on one knee holding a hunting knife, or cutlass, +double-edged. The boar infuriated by the dogs rushes at you. If well +directed, the knife enters his breast and heart; if it does not, then +look out. This is what is called pig-sticking in India. Old Emperor +William hunted the boar in the Royal Forests near Berlin, and King +Humbert does the same in the mountains near Rome. + +"Bird hunting, that of snipe, woodcock, partridge, quail, and +waterfowl, is done in the same way as here, excepting the use of duck +batteries. + +"There is very little big game to be found in Europe, that is, in the +civilized parts of it, but in some forests belonging to royalty and +that ilk, the elk, the stag, the bear, and the wild boar, present +themselves as a target, and bison are to be found in Russia. The elk +is purely royal game in Prussia. + +"Southern or Upper Silesia is called the Prussian Ireland, and was +famous for hunting-parties; ladies would join, and we would drive home +with lighted torches attached to our sleighs." + +These accounts of hunting-parties are introduced into the Art of +Entertaining as they each and all contain hints which may be of use to +the future American entertainer. + + + + +THE GAME OF GOLF. + + +As an addition to one's power of entertaining one's self, "golf +affords a wide field of observation for the philosopher and the +student of human nature. To play it aright requires nerve, endurance, +and self-control, qualities which are essential to success in all +great vocations; on the other hand, golf is peculiarly trying to the +temper, although it must be said that when the golfer forgets himself +his outbursts are usually directed against inanimate objects, or +showered upon his own head." How it may take possession of one is well +described in this little poem from the "St. James Gazette:"-- + + "Would you like to see a city given over, + Soul and body, to a tyrannizing game? + If you would, there's little need to be a rover, + For St. Andrews is that abject city's name. + + "It is surely quite superfluous to mention, + To a person who has been here half an hour, + That Golf is what engrosses the attention + Of the people, with an all-absorbing power. + + "Rich and poor alike are smitten with the fever; + 'Tis their business and religion both to play; + And a man is scarcely deemed a true believer + Unless he goes at least a round a day. + + "The city boasts an old and learned college, + Where you'd think the leading industry was Greek; + Even there the favoured instruments of knowledge + Are a driver, and a putter, and a cleek. + + "All the natives and the residents are patrons + Of this royal, ancient, irritating game; + All the old men, all the young men, maids and matrons, + With this passion burn in hard and gem-like flame. + + "In the morning, as the light grows strong and stronger, + You may see the players going out in shoals; + And when night forbids their playing any longer, + They will tell you how they did the different holes. + + "Golf, golf, golf, and golf again, is all the story! + Till despair my overburdened spirit sinks; + Till I wish that every golfer was in glory, + And I pray the sea may overflow the links. + + "Still a slender, struggling ray of consolation + Comes to cheer me, very feeble though it be; + There are two who still escape infatuation, + One's my bosom friend McFoozle, t'other's me. + + "As I write the words McFoozle enters blushing, + With a brassy and an iron in his hand; + And this blow, so unexpected and so crushing, + Is more than I am able to withstand. + + "So now it but remains for me to die, sir. + Stay! There is another course I may pursue. + And perhaps, upon the whole, it would be wiser, + I will yield to fate and be a golfer, too!" + +"The game of golf," says Andrew Lang, its gifted poet and its +historian, "has been described as putting little balls into holes +difficult to find, with instruments which are sadly inadequate and +illy adapted to the purpose." Its learned home is St. Andrews, in +Scotland, although its advocates give it several classic +starting-points. Learned antiquarians seem to think that the name +comes from a Celtic word, meaning club. It is certainly an ancient +game, and some variation of it was known on the Continent under +various names. + +The game requires room. A golf-course of nine holes should be at least +a mile and a half long, and a hundred and twenty feet wide. It is +usual to so lay out the course that the player ends where he began. +All sorts of obstructions are left, or made artificially,--running +water, railway embankments, bushes, ditches, etc. + +The game is played with a gutta-percha ball, about an inch and a +quarter in diameter, and a variety of clubs, with wooden or iron +heads, whose individual use depends on the position in which the ball +lies. It is usual for each player to be followed by a boy, who carries +his clubs and watches his ball, marking it down as it falls. Games are +either singles,--that is, when two persons play against one another, +each having a ball,--or fours, when there are two on each side, +partners playing alternately on one ball. + +The start is made near the club house at a place called the tee. Down +the course, anywhere from two hundred and fifty to five hundred yards +distant, is a level space, fifty feet square, called a putting-green, +and in its centre is a hole about four and a half inches in diameter +and of the same depth. This is the first hole, and the contestant who +puts his ball into it in the fewest number of strokes wins the hole. +As the score is kept by strokes, the ball that is behind is played +first. In this way the players are always together. + +For his first shot from the tee, the player uses a club called the +driver. It has a wooden head and a long, springy, hickory handle. With +this an expert will drive a ball for two hundred yards. It is needless +to say that the beginner is not so successful. After the first shot a +cleek is used; or if the ball is in a bad hole, a mashie; if it is +necessary to loft it, an iron, and so on,--the particular club +depending, as we have said, on the position in which the ball lies. + +The first hole won, the contestants start from a teeing-ground close +by it, and fight for the second hole, and so on around the +course,--the one who has won the most holes being the winner. + +"A fine day, a good match, and a clear green" is the paradise of the +golfer, but it still can be played all the year and even, by the use +of a red ball, when snow is on the ground. In Scotland and athletic +England it is a game for players of all ages, though in nearly all +clubs children are not allowed. It can be played by both sexes. + +A beginner's inclination is to grasp a golf club as he would a cricket +bat, more firmly with the right hand than with the left, or at times +equally firm with both hands. Now in golf, in making a full drive, the +club when brought back must be held firmly with the left hand and more +loosely with the right, because when the club is raised above the +shoulder, and brought round the back of the neck, the grasp of one +hand or the other must relax, and the hand to give way must be the +right hand and not the left. The force of the club must be brought +squarely against the ball. + +The keeping of one's balance is another difficulty. In preparing to +strike, the player bends forward a little. In drawing back his club he +raises, or should raise, his left heel from the ground, and at the end +of the upward swing stands poised on his right foot and the toe or +ball of the left foot. At this point there is danger of his losing his +balance, and as he brings the club down, falling either forward or +backward, and consequently either heeling or toeing the ball, instead +of hitting it with the middle of the face. Accuracy of hitting +depends greatly on keeping a firm and steady hold of the ground with +the toe of the left foot, and not bending the left knee too much. + +To "keep your eye on the ball" sounds an injunction easy to be obeyed, +but it is not always so. In making any considerable stroke, the +player's body makes or should make a quarter turn, and the difficulty +is to keep the head steady and the eye fixed upon the ball while doing +this. + +Like all other games, golf has its technical terms; the +"teeing-ground," "putting," the "high-lofting stroke," the "approach +shot," "hammer-hurling," "topping," "slicing," "hooking," "skidding," +and "foozling" mean little to the uninitiated, but everything to the +golfer. + +Let us copy _verbatim_ the following description of the Links of St. +Andrews, the Elysium of the braw Scots: + +"The Links occupy a crook-necked stretch of land bordered on the east +by the sea and on the left by the railway and by the wide estuary of +the Eden. The course, out and in, is some two miles and a half in +length, allowing for the pursuit of balls not driven quite straight. +Few pieces of land have given so much inexpensive pleasure for +centuries. The first hole is to some extent carpeted by grass rather +longer and rougher than the rest of the links. On the left lie some +new houses and a big hotel; they can only be 'hazards' on the outward +tack to a very wild driver indeed." + +These "hazards" mean, dear reader, that if you and I are stopping at +that big hotel, we may have our eyes put out by a passing ball; small +grief would that be to a golfer! + +"On the right it is just possible to 'heel' the ball over heaps of +rubbish into the sea sand. The natural and orthodox hazards are few. +Everybody should clear the road from the tee; if he does not the ruts +are tenacious. The second shot should either cross or fall short of +the celebrated Swilcan Burn. This tributary of ocean is extremely +shallow, and meanders through stone embankments, hither and thither, +between the tee and the hole. The number of balls that run into it, or +jump in from the opposite bank, or off the old stone footbridge is +enormous! People 'funk' the burn, top their iron shots, and are +engulfed. Once you cross it, the hole whether to right or left is +easily approached. + +"The second hole, when the course is on the left, is guarded near the +tee by the 'Scholar's Bunker,' a sand face which swallows a topped +ball. On the right of the course are whins, much scantier now than of +old; on the left you may get into long grass, and thence into a very +sandy road under a wall, a nasty lie. The hole is sentinelled by two +bunkers and many an approach lights in one or the other. The +putting-green is nubbly and difficult. + +"Driving to the third hole, on the left you may alight in the railway, +or a straight hit may tumble into one of three little bunkers, in a +knoll styled 'the Principal's Nose.' There are more bunkers lying in +wait close to the putting-green. + +"The driver to the fourth hole has to 'carry' some low hills and +mounds; then comes a bunker that yawns almost across the course, with +a small outpost named Sutherlands, which Englishmen profanely desired +to fill up. This is impious. + +"The long bunker has a buttress, a disagreeable round knoll; from +this to the hole is open country if you keep to the right, but it is +whinny. On the left, bunkers and broken ground stretch, and there is a +convenient sepulchre of hope here, and another beyond the hole. + +"As you drive to the fifth hole you may have to clear 'hell,' but +'hell' is not what it was. The first shot should carry you to the +broken spurs of a table land, the Elysian fields, in which there yawn +the Beardies, deep, narrow, greedy bunkers. Beyond the table land +there is a gorge, and beyond it again a beautiful stretch of land and +the putting-green. To the right is plenty of deep bent grass and +gorse. This is a long hole and full of difficulties, the left side +near the hole being guarded by irregular and dangerous bunkers. + +"The sixth or heathery hole has lost most of its heather, but is a +teaser. A heeled ball from the tee drops into the worst whins of the +course in a chaos of steep, difficult hills. A straight ball topped +falls into 'Walkinshaw's Grave,' or if very badly topped into a little +spiteful pitfall; it is the usual receptacle of a well-hit second ball +on its return journey. Escaping 'Walkinshaw's Grave' you have a +stretch of very rugged and broken country, bunkers on the left, bent +grass on the right, before you reach the sixth hole. + +"The next, the high hole, is often shifted. It is usually placed +between a network of bunkers with rough grass immediately beyond it. +The first shot should open the hole and let you see the uncomfortable +district into which you have to play. You may approach from the left, +running the ball up a narrow causeway between the bunkers, but it is +usually attempted from the front. Grief, in any case, is almost +unavoidable." + +It is evident the Scotch pleasure in "contradeectin'" is emphasized in +golf. + +One gets a wholesome sense of invigorating sea air, healthy exercise, +and that delightful smell of the short, fresh grass. One sees "the +beauty of the wild aerial landscape, the delicate tints of sand, and +low, far-off hills, the distant crest of Lochnager, the gleaming +estuary, and the black cluster of ruined towers above the bay, which +make the charm of St. Andrews Links." + +Golf has come to our country, and is becoming a passion. There is a +club at Yonkers and one at Cedarhurst, but that on the Shinnecock +Hills, on Long Island, will probably be the great headquarters of golf +in the United States, as this club owns eighty acres beautifully +adapted to the uses of the game, and has a large club-house, designed +by Stanford White. + +So we may expect an American historian to write an account of this +fine vigorous game, in some future Badminton Library of sports and +pastimes; and we shall have our own dear "fifth hole, which offers +every possible facility to the erratic driver for coming to grief," if +we can be as "contradeectin'" as a Scot. You never hear one word about +victory; this golf literature is all written in the minor key,--but it +is a gay thing to look at. + +The regular golf uniform is a red jacket, which adds much to the +gayety of a green, and has its obvious advantages. + +"Ladies' links should be laid out on the model, though on a smaller +scale, of the long round, containing some short putting-holes, some +larger holes admitting of a drive or two of seventy or eighty yards, +and a few suitable hazards. We venture to suggest seventy or eighty +yards as the average limit of a drive, advisedly not because we doubt +a lady's power to make a longer drive, but because that cannot be well +done without raising the club above the shoulder. Now we do not +presume to dictate, but we must observe that the posture and gestures +requisite for a full swing are not particularly graceful when the +player is clad in female dress. + +"Most ladies put well, and all the better because they play boldly for +the hole, without considering too much the lay of the ground; and +there is no reason why they should not practise and excel in wrist +shots with a lofting-iron or cleek. Their right to play, or rather the +expediency of their playing, the long round is much more doubtful. If +they choose to play at times when the male golfers are feeding or +resting, no one can object; but at other times, must we say it? they +are in the way, just because gallantry forbids to treat them exactly +as men. The tender mercies of the golfer are cruel. He cannot afford +to be merciful, because, if he forbears to drive into the party in +front he is promptly driven into from behind. It is a hard lot to +follow a party of ladies with a powerful driver behind you, if you are +troubled with a spark of chivalry or shyness. + +"As to the ladies playing the long round with men as their partners, +it may be sufficient to say, in the words of a promising young player +who found it hard to decide between flirtation and playing the game, +'It is mighty pleasant, but it is not business.'" + +To learn this difficult game requires months of practice, and great +nerve and talent for it. I shall not attempt to define what is meant +by "dormy," "divot," "foozle," "gobble," "grip," or "gully." "_Mashy_, +a straight-faced niblich," is one of these definitions. + +Horace G. Hutchinson's book on golf is a most entertaining work,--if +for no other reason than that its humour, the pleasant out-of-door +atmosphere, the true enthusiasm for the game, and the illustrations, +which are very well drawn, all make it an addition to one's knowledge +of athletic sports. + +That golf has taken its place amongst the arts of entertaining, we +have no better proof than the very nice description of it in Norris's +novel of "Marcia." This clever writer introduces a scene where "Lady +Evelyn backs the winner" in the following sprightly manner:-- + +"Not many years ago all golfers who dwelt south of the Tweed were +compelled, when speaking of their favourite relaxation, to take up an +apologetic tone; they had to explain with humility, and with the +chilling certainty of being disbelieved, that an immense amount of +experience, dexterity, and self-command are requisite in order to make +sure of hitting a little ball across five hundred yards of broken +ground, and depositing it in a small hole in four or five strokes; but +now that golf links have been established all over England there is no +longer any need to make excuses for one of the finest games that human +ingenuity or the accident of circumstances have ever called into +existence. The theory of the game is simplicity itself,--you have only +to put your ball into a hole in one or less strokes than your +opponent; but the practice is full of difficulty, and what is better +still, full of endless variety, so that you may go on playing golf +from the age of eight to that of eighty, and yet never grow tired of +it. Indeed, the circumstance that gray-haired enthusiasts are to be +seen enjoying themselves thoroughly, and losing their tempers +ludicrously, wherever 'the royal and ancient sport' has taken root, +has caused certain ignorant persons to describe golf contemptuously as +the old gentleman's game. Such criticisms, however, come only from +those who have not attempted to acquire the game." + +We advise all incipient golfers to read "Marcia," and to see how well +golf and love-making can go together. + +Golf has its poetic and humoristic literature; and as we began with +its poetic side we may end with its broadest, latest joke:-- + +Two well-known professional golfers were playing a match. We will call +them Sandy and Jock. On one side of the golf course was a railway, +over which Jock drove his ball, landing it in some long grass. They +both hunted for a long while for the missing ball. Sandy wanted Jock +to give in and say that the ball was lost; but Jock would not consent, +as a lost ball meant a lost hole. They continued to look round, and +Jock slyly dropped another ball, and then came back and cried, "I've +found the ba', Sandy." + +"Ye're a leear," said Sandy, "for here it's in ma pooch." + +We commend also "Famous Golf Links," by Hutchinson as clear and +agreeable reading. + + + + +OF GAMES. + + Come, thou complaisant cards, and cheat me + Of a bad night, and miserable dreams. + SHAKSPEARE. + + 'Tis pleasant, through the loopholes of retreat, + To peep at such a world,--to see the stir + Of the great Babel, and not feel the crowd. + COWPER. + + +There is no amusement for a town or country-house, where people like +to stay at home, so perfectly innocent and amusing as games which +require a little brain. + +It is a delightful feature of our modern civilization that books are +cheap, and that the poets are read by every one. That would be a +barren house where we did not find Scott, Byron, Goldsmith, +Longfellow, Tennyson, Browning, Bret Harte, and Jean Ingelow. + +Therefore, there would be little embarrassment should we ask the +members of the circle around the evening lamp to write a parody on +"Evangeline," "Lady Clara Vere de Vere," "Hervé Riel," or "The Heathen +Chinee." The result is amusing. + +Amongst games requiring memory and attention, we may mention Cross +Purposes, The Horned Ambassador, I Love my Love with an A, the Game of +the Ring, which is arithmetical, The Deaf Man, The Goose's History, +Story Play, which consists in putting a word into a narrative so +cleverly that it will not readily be guessed, although several may +tell different stories with the word repeated. The best way to play +this is to have some word which is not the word, like "ambassador," if +the word be "banana" for instance, so by thus repeating "ambassador" +the listener maybe baffled. The Dutch Conceit, My Lady's Toilette, +Scheherazade's Ransom are also very good. This last deserves a +description. Three of the company sustain the parts of the Sultan, the +Vizier, and the Princess. The Sultan takes his seat at the end of the +room, and the Vizier then leads the Princess before him with her hands +bound behind her. The Vizier then makes an absurd proclamation that +the Princess, having exhausted all her stories is about to be +punished, unless a sufficient ransom be offered. All the rest of the +company then advance in turn, and propose enigmas which must be solved +by the Sultan or Vizier; sing the first verse of a song, to which the +Vizier must answer with the second verse; or recite any well-known +piece of poetry in alternate lines with the Vizier. Forfeits must be +paid, either by the company when successfully encountered by the +Sultan and Vizier, or by the Vizier when unable to respond to his +opponents; and the game goes on till the forfeits amount to any +specified number on either side. Should the company be victorious and +obtain the greater number of forfeits, the Princess is released and +the Vizier has to execute all the penalties that may be imposed upon +him. If otherwise, the Princess is led to execution. For this purpose +she is seated on a low stool. The penalties for the forfeits, which +should be previously prepared, are written on slips of paper and put +in a basket, which she holds in her hands, tied behind her. The owners +of the forfeits advance, and draw each a slip of paper. As each +person comes forward the Princess guesses who it is, and if right, the +person must pay an additional forfeit, the penalty for which is to be +exacted by the Princess herself. When all the penalties have been +distributed, the hands and eyes of the Princess are released, and she +then superintends the execution of the various punishments that have +been allotted to the company. + +Another very good game is to send one of the company out, and as he +comes in again to address him in the supposed character of General +Scott, the Duke of Wellington, or of some Shakspearean hero. This, +amongst bright people, can be very amusing. The hero thus addressed +must find out who he is himself,--a difficult task for any one to +discover, even with leading questions. + +The Echo is another nice little game. It is played by reciting some +story, which Echo is supposed to interrupt whenever the narrator +pronounces certain words which recur frequently in his narrative. +These words relate to the profession or trade of him who is the +subject of the story. If, for example, the story is about a soldier +the words which would recur most frequently would naturally be +uniform, gaiters, _chapeau bras_, musket, plume, pouch, sword, sabre, +gun, knapsack, belt, sash, cap, powder-flask, accoutrements, and so +on. Each one of the company, with the exception of the person who +tells the story, takes the name of soldier, powder-flask, etc., except +the name accoutrements. When the speaker pronounces one of these +words, he who has taken it for his name, ought, if the word has been +said only once, to pronounce it twice; if it has been said twice, to +pronounce it once. When the word "accoutrements" is uttered the +players, all except the soldier, ought to repeat the word +"accoutrements" either once or twice. + +These games are amusing, as showing how defective a thing is memory, +how apt it is to desert us under fire. It is very interesting to mark +the difference of character exhibited by the players. + +Another very funny game is Confession by a Die, played with cards and +dice. It would look at first like a parody on Mother Church, but it +does not so offend. A person takes some blank cards, and counting the +company, writes down a sin for each. The unlucky sinner when called +upon must not only confess, but, by throwing the dice, also confess as +many sins as they indicate, and do penance for them all. These can, +with a witty leader, be made very amusing. + +The Secretary is another good game. The players sit at a table with +square pieces of paper and pencils, and each one writes his own name, +handing the paper, carefully folded down, to the secretary, who +distributes them, saying, "Character." Then each one writes out an +imaginary character, hands it to the secretary, who says, "Future." +The papers are again distributed, and the writers forecast the future. +Of course the secretary throws in all sorts of other questions, and +when the game is through, the papers are read. They form a curious and +heterogeneous piece of reading; sometimes such curious bits of +character-reading crop out that one suspects complicity. But if +honestly played it is amusing. + +The Traveller's Tour is interesting. One of the party announces +himself as the traveller. He is given an empty bag, and counters, with +numbers on, are distributed amongst the players. Thus if twelve +persons are playing the numbers must count up to twelve,--a set of +ones to be given to one, twos to two, and so on. Then the traveller +asks for information about the places to which he is going. The first +person gives it if he can; if not, the second, and so on. If the +traveller considers it correct information or worthy of notice he +takes from the person one of his counters as a pledge of the +obligation he is under to him. The next person in order takes up the +next question, and so on. After the traveller reaches his destination +he empties his bag and sees to whom he has been indebted for the +greatest amount of information. He then makes him the next traveller. +Of course this opens the door for all sorts of witty rejoinders, +according as the players choose to exaggerate the claims of certain +hotels, and to invent hits at certain watering-places. + +The rhyming game is amusing. "I have a word that rhymes with game." + +_Interlocutor._--"Is it something statesmen crave?" + +_Speaker._--"No, it is not fame." + +_Interlocutor._--"Is it something that goes halt?" + +_Speaker._--"No, it is not lame." + +_Interlocutor._--"Is it something tigers need?" + +_Speaker._--"No, it is not to tame." + +_Interlocutor._--"Is it something we all would like?" + +_Speaker._--"No, it is not a good name." + +_Interlocutor._--"Is it to shoot at duck?" + +_Speaker._--"Yes, and that duck to maim." Such words as "nut," +"thing," "fall," etc., which rhyme easily, are good choices. The two +who play it must be quick-witted. + +The game of Crambo, in which each player has to write a noun on one +piece of paper, and a question on another, is curious. As, for +instance, the drawer gets the word "Africa" and the question "Have you +an invitation to my wedding?" He must write a poem in which he answers +the question and brings in the other word. + +The game of Preferences has had a long and successful career. It is a +very good addition to the furniture of a country parlour to possess a +blank-book which is left lying on the table, in which each guest +should be asked to write out answers to the following questions: + +Who is your favourite hero in history? + +Who is your favourite heroine? + +Who is your favourite king? + +Who is your favourite queen? + +What is your favourite Christian name for a man? + +What is your favourite Christian name for a woman? etc. + +The game of Authors, especially when created by the persons who wish +to play it, is very interesting. The game can be bought and is a very +common one, as perhaps every one knows, but it can be rendered +uncommon by the preparation of the cards among the members of the +family. There are sixty-four cards to be prepared, each bearing the +name of a favourite author and any three of his works. The entire set +is numbered from one to sixty-four. Any four cards containing the name +and works of the same author form a book. + +Or the names of kings and queens and the learned men of their reigns +may be used, instead of authors; it is a very good way to study +history. The popes can be utilized, with their attendant great men, +and after playing the game for a season one has no difficulty in +fixing the environment of the history of an epoch. + +As the numbers affixed to the cards may be purely arbitrary, the +count at the end will fluctuate with great impartiality. The Dickens +cards may count but one, while Tupper will be named sixteen. Carlyle +will only count two, while Artemas Ward will be sixty. King Henry +VIII., who set no small store by himself, may be No. I in the kingly +game, while Edward IV. will be allowed a higher numeral than he was +allotted in life. + +Now we come to a game which interests old and young. None are so +apathetic but they relish a peep behind the dark curtain. The +apple-paring in the fire, the roasted chestnut and the raisin, the +fire-back and the stars, have been interrogated since time began. The +pack of cards, the teacup, the dream-book, the board with mystic +numbers, the Bible and key, have been consulted from time immemorial. +The makers of games have given in their statistics, and they declare +there are no games so popular as those which foretell the future. + +Now this tampering with gruesome things which may lead to bad dreams +is not recommended, but so long as it is done for fun and an evening's +amusement it is not at all dangerous. The riches which are hidden in a +pack of fortune-telling cards are very comforting while they last. +They are endless, they are not taxed, they have few really trying +responsibilities attached, they bring no beggars. They buy all we +want, they are gained without headache or backache, they are inherited +without stain, and lost without regret. Of what other fortune can we +say so much? + +Who is not glad to find a four-leaved clover, to see the moon over his +right shoulder, to have a black cat come to the house? She is sure to +bring good fortune! + +The French have, however, tabularized fortune-telling for us. Their +peculiar ability in arranging ceremonials and _fêtes_, and their +undoubted genius for tactics and strategy, show that they might be +able to foresee events. Their ingenuity, in all technical +contrivances, is an additional testimony in the right direction, and +we are not surprised that they have here, as is their wont, given us +the practical help which we need in fortune-telling. + +Mademoiselle Lenormand, the sorceress who foretold Napoleon's +greatness and to many of the great people of France their downfall and +misfortunes, has left us thirty-six cards in which we can read the +decrees of fate. Lenormand was a clever sybil. She knew how to mix +things, and throw in the inevitable bad and the possible good so as at +least to amuse those who consulted her. + +In this game, which can be bought at any bookstore, the _cavalier_, +for instance, is a messenger of good fortune, the clover leaf a +harbinger of good news, but if surrounded by clouds it indicates great +pain, but if No. 2 lies near No. 26 or 28 the pain will be of short +duration, and so on. + +Thus Mlle. Lenormand tells fortunes still, although she has gone to +the land of certainty, and has herself found out whether her symbols +and emblems and her combinations really did draw aside the curtain of +the future with invisible strings. Amateur sybils playing this game +can be sure that they add to the art of entertaining. + +The cup of tea, and the mysterious wanderings of the grounds around +the cup, is used for divination by the old crone in an English +farmhouse, while the Spanish gypsy uses chocolate grounds for the same +purpose. That most interesting of tragic sybils, Norna of the Fitful +Head, used molten lead. + +Cards from the earliest antiquity have been used to tell fortunes. +Fortuna, courted by all nations, was in Greek Tyche, or the goddess of +chance. She differed from Destiny, or Fate, in so far as that she +worked without law, giving or taking at her own good pleasure. Her +symbols were those of mutability, a ball, a wheel, a pair of wings, a +rudder. The Romans affirmed that when she entered their city she threw +off her wings and shoes, determined to live with them forever. She +seems to have thought better of it, however. She was the sister of the +Parcae, or Fates, those three who spin the thread of life, measure it, +and cut it off. The power to tell fortunes by the hand is easily +learned from Desbarolles' book, is a very popular accomplishment, and +never fails to amuse the company and interest the individual. + +It must not be made, however, of too much importance. It never amuses +people to be warned that they may expect an early and violent death. + +Then comes Merelles, or Blind Men's Morris, which can be played on a +board or on the ground, but which now finds itself reduced to a +parlour game. This takes two players. American Bagatelle can be played +alone or with an antagonist. Chinese puzzles, which are infinitely +amusing, and all the great family of the Sphinx, known as puzzles, are +of infinite service to the retired, the invalid, and weary people for +whom the active business of life is at an end. + +We may describe one of these games as an example. It is called The +Blind Abbot and his Monks. It is played with counters. Arrange eight +external cells of a square so that there may be always nine in each +row, though the whole number may vary from eighteen to thirty-six. A +convent in which there were nine cells was occupied by a blind abbot +and twenty-four monks, the abbot lodging in the centre cell and the +monks in the side cells, three in each, giving a row of nine persons +on each side of the building. The abbot suspecting the fidelity of his +brethren often went out at night and counted them. When he found nine +in each row, the old man counted his beads, said an _Ave_, and went to +bed contented. The monks, taking advantage of his failing sight, +contrived to deceive him, so that four could go out at night, yet have +nine in a row. How did they do it? + +The next night, emboldened by success, the monks returned with four +visitors, and then arranged them nine in a row. The next night they +brought in four more belated brethren, and again arranged them nine in +a row, and again four more. Finally, when the twelve clandestine monks +had departed, and six monks with them, the remainder deceived the +abbot again by presenting a row of nine. Try it with the counters, and +see how they so abused the privileges of conventual seclusion! + +Then try quibbles: "How can I get the wine out of a bottle if I have +no corkscrew and must not break the glass or make a hole in it or the +cork?" + +The _raconteur_, or story-teller, is a potent force. Any one who can +memorize the stories of Grimm, or Hans Christian Anderson, or +Browning's "Pied Piper," or Ouida's "Dog of Flanders," or Dr. Holmes' +delightful "Punch Bowl," and tell these in a natural sort of way is a +blessing. But this talent should never be abused. The man who, in cold +blood, fires off a long poetical quotation at a dinner, or makes a +speech when he is not asked, in defiance of the goose-flesh which is +creeping down his neighbours' backs, is a traitor to honour and +religion, and should be dragged to execution with his back to the +horses, like a Nihilist. It is only when these extempore talents can +be used without alarming people that they are useful or endurable. + +Perhaps we might make our Christmas Holidays a little more gay. There +are old English and German customs beyond the mistletoe, and the tree, +and the rather faded legend of Santa Claus. There are worlds of +legendary lore. We might bring back the Leprechaun, the little +fairy-man in red, who if you catch him will make you happy forever +after, and who has such a strange relationship to humanity that at +birth and death the Leprechaun must be tended by a mortal. To follow +up the Banshee and the Brownie, to light the Yule log, to invoke the +Lord of Misrule, above all to bring back the waits or singing-boys who +come under the window with an old carol, and the universal study of +symbolism,--all this is useful at Christmastide, when the art of +entertaining is ennobled by the song "Glory to God in the highest, and +on earth peace, good-will toward men." + +The supper-table has unfortunately fallen into desuetude, probably on +account of our exceedingly late dinners. We sup out, we sup at a ball, +but rarely have that informal and delightful meal which once wound up +every evening. + +Mrs. Elizabeth Montague, in her delightful letters, talks about the +"Whisk, and the Quadrille parties, with a light supper," which amused +the ladies of her day. We still have the "Whisk," but what has become +of _lansquenet_, quadrille basset, piquet, those pretty and courtly +games? + +Whist! Who shall pretend to describe its attractions? What a relief to +the tired man of affairs, to the woman who has no longer any part in +the pageant of society! What pleasure in its regulating, shifting +fortunes. We have seen, in its parody on life, that holding the best +cards, even the highest ones, does not always give us the game. We +have noticed that with a poor hand, somebody wins fame, success, and +happiness. We have all felt the injustice of the long suit, which has +baffled our best endeavours. We play our own experience over again, +with its faithless kings and queens. The knave is apt to trip us up, +on the green cloth as on the street. + +So long as cards do not lead to gambling, they are innocent enough. +The great passion for gambling is behind the game of boaston, played +appropriately for beans. We all like to accumulate, to believe that we +are fortune's favourite. What matter if it be only a few more beans +than one's neighbour? + +That is a poorly furnished parlour which has not a chess table in one +corner, a whist table properly stocked, and a little solitaire table +for Grandma. Cribbage and backgammon boards, cards of every variety, +bezique counters and packs, and the red and white champions for the +hard-fought battle-field of chess, should be at hand. + +Playing cards made their way through Arabia from India to Europe, +where they first arrived about the year 1370. They carried with them +the two rival arts, engraving and painting. They were the _avants +couriers_ of engraving on wood and metal, and of the art of printing. + +Cards, begun as the luxuries of kings and queens, became the necessity +of the gambler, the solace of all who like games. They have been one +of the worst curses and one of the greatest blessings of poor human +nature. + + "When failing health, or cross event, + Or dull monotony of days, + Has brought us into discontent + Which darkens round us like a haze"-- +then the arithmetical progression of a game has sometimes saved the +reason. They are a priceless boon to failing eyesight. + +Piquet, a courtly game, was invented by Etienne Vignoles, called La +Hire, one of the most active soldiers of the reign of Charles VII. +This brave soldier was an accomplished cavalier, deeply imbued with a +reverence for the manners and customs of chivalry. Cards continued +from his day to follow the whim of the court, and to assume the +character of the period, through the regency of Marie de Medicis, the +time of Anne of Austria and of Louis XIV. The Germans were the first +people to make a pack of cards assume the form of a scholastic +treatise; the king, queen, knight, and knave tell of English customs, +manners, and nomenclature. + +The highly intellectual game of Twenty Questions can be played by +three or four people or by a hundred. It is an unfailing delight by +the wood fire in the remote house in the wood, or by the open window +looking out on the lordly Hudson of a summer's night. It only needs +that one bright mind shall throw the ball, and half a dozen may catch. +Mr. Lowell once said there was no subject so erudite, no quotation so +little known, that it could not be reached in twenty questions. + +But we are not all as bright as James Russell Lowell. We can, however, +all ask questions and we can all guess; it is our Yankee privilege. +The game of Twenty Questions has led to the writing of several books. +The best way to begin is, however, to choose a subject. Two persons +should be in the secret. The questioner begins: Is it animal, +vegetable or mineral? Is it a manufactured object? Ancient or modern? +What is its shape, size and colour? What is its use? Where is it now? +The object of the answerer is of course to baffle, to excite +curiosity; it is a mental battledore and shuttlecock. + +It is strange that the pretty game of croquet has gone out of favour. +It is still, however, to be seen on some handsome lawns. Twenty years +ago it inspired the following lines:-- + +CROQUET. + + "A painter must that poet be + And lay with brightest hues his palette + Who'd be the bard of Croquet'rie + And sing the joys of hoop and mallet. + + "Given a level lawn in June + And six or eight, enthusiastic, + Who never miss their hoops, or spoon, + And are on duffers most sarcastic; + + "Given the girl whom you adore-- + And given, too, that she's your side on, + Given a game that's not soon o'er, + And ne'er a bore the lawn espied on; + + "Given a claret cup as cool + As simple Wenham Ice can make it, + Given a code whose every rule + Is so defined that none can break it; + + "Given a very fragrant weed-- + Given she doesn't mind your smoking, + Given the players take no heed + And most discreetly keep from joking; + + "Given all these, and I proclaim, + Be fortune friendly or capricious, + Whether you win or lose the game, + You'll find that croquet is delicious." + + + + +ARCHERY. + + "The stranger he made no muckle ado, + But he bent a right good bow, + And the fattest of all the herds he slew + Forty good yards him fro: + 'Well shot! well shot!' quoth Robin Hood." + + "Aim at the moon, if you ambitious are, + And failing that, you may bring down a star." + + +Fashion has brought us again this pretty and romantic pastime, which +has filled the early ballads with many a picturesque figure. Now on +many a lawn may be seen the target and the group in Lincoln green. +Indeed, it looks as if archery were to prove a very formidable rival +to lawn tennis. + +The requirements of archery are these: First, a bow; secondly, arrows; +thirdly, a quiver, pouch, and belt; fourthly, a grease pot, an +arm-guard or brace, a shooting-glove, a target and a scoring-card. + +The bow is the most important article in archery, and also the most +expensive. It is usually from five to six feet in length, made of a +simple piece of yew or of lance-wood and hickory glued together back +to back. The former is better for gentlemen, the latter for ladies, as +it is adapted for the short, sharp, pull of the feminine arm. The wood +is gradually tapered, and at each end is a tip of horn; the one from +the upper end being longer than the other or lower end. The strength +of bows is marked in pounds, varying from twenty-five to forty pounds +in strength for ladies, for gentlemen from fifty to eighty pounds. One +side of the bow is flat, called the back, the other, called the belly, +is rounded. Nearly in the middle, where the hand should take hold, it +is lapped round with velvet, and that part is called the handle. In +each of the tips of the horns is a notch for the string, called the +nock. + +Bow strings are made of hemp or flax, the former being the better +material, for though at first they stretch more, yet they wear longer +and stand a harder pull, and are, as well, more elastic in the +shooting. In applying a fresh string to a bow, be careful in opening +it not to break the composition that is on it. Cut the tie, take hold +of the eye which will be found ready worked at one end, let the other +part hang down, and pass the eye over the upper end of the bow. If for +a lady, it may be held from two to two and a half inches below the +nock; if for a gentleman, half an inch lower, varying it according to +the length and strength of the bow. Then run your hand along the side +of the bow and string to the bottom nock. Turn it around that and fix +it by the noose, called the timber noose, taking care not to untwist +the string in making it. This noose is simply a turn back and twist, +without a knot. When strung a lady's bow will have the string about +five inches from the belly, and a gentleman's about half an inch more. +The part opposite the handle is bound round with waxed silk in order +to prevent its being frayed by the arrow. As soon as a string becomes +too soft and the fibres too straight, rub it with beeswax and give it +a few turns in the proper direction, so as to shorten it, and twist +its strands a little tighter. A spare string should always be provided +by the shooter. + +Arrows are differently shaped by various makers; some being of uniform +thickness throughout, while others are protuberant in the middle; some +again are larger at the point than at the feather end. They are +generally made of white deal, with joints of iron or brass riveted on, +and have a piece of heavy wood spliced to the deal, between it and the +point, by which their flight is improved. At the other end a piece of +horn is inserted, in which is a notch for the string. They are armed +with three feathers glued on, one of which is a different colour from +the others, and is intended to mark the proper position of the arrow +when placed on the string, this one always pointing from the bow. +These feathers, properly applied, give a rotary motion to the arrow, +which causes its flight to be straight. They are generally from the +wing of the turkey or the goose. The length and weight of the arrows +vary, the latter in England being marked in sterling silver coin and +stamped in the arrow in plain figures. It is usual to paint a crest or +a monogram or distinguishing rings on the arrow, just between the +feathers by which they may be known in shooting at the target. + +The quiver is merely a tin case painted green, intended for the +security of the arrows when not in use. The pouch and belt are worn +round the waist, the latter containing those arrows which are actually +being shot. A pot to hold grease for touching the glove and string, +and a tassel to wipe the arrows are hung at the belt. The grease is +composed of beef suet and wax melted together. The arm is protected +from the blow of the string by the brace, a broad guard of strong +leather buckled on by two straps. A shooting-glove, also of thin tubes +of leather, is attached to the wrist by three flat pieces, ending in +a circular strap buckled around it. This glove prevents the soreness +of the fingers, which soon comes after using the bow without it. + +The target consists of a circular mat of straw, covered with canvas +painted in a series of circles. It is usually from three feet six +inches to four feet in diameter, the centre is gilt, and called the +gold; the ring about it is called the red, after which comes the inner +white, then the black, and finally the outer white. These targets are +mounted on triangular stands, from fifty to a hundred yards apart; +sixty being the usual shooting distance. + +A scoring-card is provided with columns for each colour, which are +marked with a pin. The usual score for a gold hit, or the bull's-eye, +is 9, the red 7, inner white 5, black 3, and outer white, 1. + +To string the bow properly it should be taken by the handle in the +right hand. Place one end on the ground, resting in the hollow of the +right foot, keeping the flat side of the bow, called the back, toward +your person. The left foot should be advanced a little, and the right +placed so that the bow cannot slip sideways. Place the heel of the +left hand upon the upper limb of the bow, below the eye of the string. +Now while the fingers and thumb of the left hand slide the eye towards +the notch in the horn, and the heel pushes the limb away from the +body, the right hand pulls the handle toward the person and thus +resists the action of the left, by which the bow is bent, and at the +same time the string is slipped into the nock, as the notch is termed. +Take care to keep the three outer fingers free from the string, for if +the bow should slip from the hand, and the string catch them, they +will be severely pinched. In shooting in frosty weather, warm the bow +before the fire or by friction with a woollen cloth. If the bow has +been lying by for a long time, it should be well rubbed with boiled +linseed oil before using it. + +To unstring the bow hold it as in stringing, then press down the upper +limb exactly as before, and as if you wished to place the eye of the +string in a higher notch. This will loose the string and liberate the +eye, when it must be lifted out of the notch by the forefinger, and +suffered to slip down the limb. + +Before using the bow hold it in a perpendicular direction, with the +string toward you, and see if the line of the string cuts the middle +of the bow. If not, shift the eye and noose of the string to either +side, so as to make the two lines coincide. This precaution prevents a +very common cause of defective shooting, which is the result of an +uneven string throwing the arrow on one side. After using it unstring +it, and at a large shooting-party unloose your bow after every round. +Some bows get bent into very unmanageable shapes. + +The general management of the bow should be on the principle that damp +injures it, and that any loose floating ends interfere with its +shooting. It should therefore be kept well varnished, and in a +waterproof case, and it should be carefully dried after shooting in +damp weather. If there are any ends hanging from the string cut them +off close, and see that the whipping, in the middle of the string, is +close and well-fitting. The case should be hung up against a dry, +internal wall, not too near the fire. In selecting your bow be careful +that it is not too strong for your power, and that you can draw the +arrow to its head without any trembling of the hand. If this cannot be +done after a little practice, the bow should be changed for a weaker +one; for no arrow will go true, if it is discharged by a trembling +hand. If an arrow has been shot into the target on the ground, be +particularly careful to withdraw it by laying hold close to its head, +and by twisting it around as it is withdrawn, in the direction of its +axis. Without this precaution it may be easily bent or broken. + +In shooting at the target the first thing is to nock the arrow, that +is, to place it properly on the string. In order to effect this, take +the bow in the left hand, with the string toward you, the upper limb +being toward the right. Hold it horizontally while you take the arrow +by the middle; pass it on the under side of the string and the upper +side of the bow, till the head reaches two or three inches past the +left hand. Hold it there with the forefinger or thumb, while you +remove the right hand down to the neck; turn the arrow till the cock +feather comes uppermost, then pass it down the bow, and fix it on the +working part of the string. In doing this all contact with the +feathers should be avoided, unless they are rubbed out of place, when +they may be smoothed down by passing them through the hand. + +The body should be at right angles with the target, but the face must +be turned over the left shoulder, so as to be opposed to it. The feet +must be flat on the ground, with the heels a little apart, the left +foot turned toward the mark. The head and chest inclined a little +forward so as to present a full bust, but not bent at all below the +waist. Draw the arrow to the full length of the arm, till the hand +touches the shoulder, then take aim. The loosing should be quick, and +the string must leave the fingers smartly and steadily. The bow-head +must be as firm as a vise, no trembling allowed. + +The rules of an Archery Club are usually that a Lady Paramount be +annually elected; that there be a President, Secretary, and Treasurer; +that all members intending to shoot shall appear in the uniform of the +club, and that a fine shall be imposed for non-attendance. + +The Secretary sends out cards at least a week before each day of +meeting, acquainting members with the place and hour. + +There are generally four prizes for each meeting, two for each sex, +the first for numbers, the second for hits. No person is allowed to +take both on the same day. A certain sum of money is voted to the Lady +Paramount, for prizes for each meeting. + +In case of a tie for hits, numbers decide, and in case of a tie for +numbers, hits decide. The decision of the Lady Paramount is final. + +There is also a challenge prize, and a commemorative ornament is +presented to the winner of this prize. + +The distance for shooting is sixty or one hundred yards, and five-feet +targets are used. + +The dress or uniform of the club is decided by the Lady Paramount. + +The expenses of archery are not great, about the same as lawn tennis, +although a great many arrows are lost in the course of the season. +Bows and other paraphernalia last a long time. The lady archers are +apt to feel a little lame after the first two or three essays, but +they should practise a short time every morning, and always in a loose +waist or jacket. It will be found a very healthy and strengthening +practice and pastime. + +We must not judge of the merits of ancient bowmen from the practice of +archery in the present day. There are no such distances now assigned +for the marks as we find mentioned in old histories or poetic legends, +nor such precision, even at short lengths, in the direction of the +arrow. Few, if any, modern archers in long shooting reach four hundred +yards; or in shooting at a mark exceed eighty or a hundred. Archery +has been since the invention of gunpowder followed as a pastime only. +It is decidedly the most graceful game that can be practised, and the +legends of Sherwood Forest, of Maid Marion, Little John, Friar Tuck, +and the Abbot carry us back into the fragrant heart of the forest, and +bring back memories which are agreeable to all who have in them a drop +of Saxon blood. + +The usual dress is the Lincoln green of Robin Hood and his merry men, +and at Auburn in New York they have a famous club and shooting ground, +over the gate of which is painted this motto:-- + + "What is hit is history, + And what is missed is mystery." + +The traveller still sees in the Alpine Tyrol, and in some parts of +Switzerland, bands of archers who depend on the bow and arrow for +their game. But there is not that skill or that poetry attached to the +sport which made Locksley try conclusions with Hubert, in the presence +of Prince John, as we read in the immortal pages of Ivanhoe. + +The prize was to be a bugle horn mounted with silver, a silken baldric +richly ornamented, having on it a medallion of Saint Hubert, the +patron of sylvan sport. Had Robin Hood been beaten he would have +yielded up bow, baldric, and quiver to the provost of the sports; as +it was, however, he let fly his arrow, and it lighted upon that of his +competitor, which it split to shivers. + + + + +THE SEASON, BALLS, AND RECEPTIONS. + + "Good-night to the season! the dances, + The fillings of hot little rooms, + The glancings of rapturous glances, + The flarings of fancy costumes, + The pleasures which fashion makes duties, + The phrasings of fiddles and flutes, + The luxury of looking at beauties, + The tedium of talking to mutes, + The female diplomatists, planners + Of matches for Laura and Jane, + The ice of her Ladyship's manners! + The ice of his Lordship's champagne." + + +The season in London extends from May to August, often longer if +Parliament is in session. In Paris it is from May to the _Grand Prix_, +when it is supposed to end, about the 20th of June. In New York and +Washington it is all winter, from November 1st to Lent, with good +Episcopalians, and from November to May with the rest of mankind. + +It then begins again in July, with the people who go to Newport and to +Bar Harbor, and keeps up until September, when comes in Tuxedo and the +gayety of Long Island, and the Hudson. Indeed, with the gayety of +country-house life, hunting, lawn tennis and driving, it is hard to +say when the American season ends. + +There is one sort of entertainment which is a favourite everywhere and +very convenient. It is the afternoon reception or party by daylight. +The gas is lighted, the day excluded, the hostess and her guests are +in beautiful toilets; their friends come in street dresses and +bonnets; their male friends in frock coats. This is one of the +anomalies of fashion. These entertainments are very large, and a +splendid collation is served. The form of invitation is simply-- + + MRS. BROWNTON at home + Thursday, from 3 to 6. + +and unless an R. S. V. P. is appended, no reply is expected. These +receptions are favourites with housekeepers, as they avoid the +necessity of keeping the servants up at night. + +The drawback to this reception is that, in our busy world of America, +very few men can spare the time to call in the daytime, so the +attendance is largely feminine. + +On entering, the guest places a card on the table, or, if she cannot +be present, she should send a card in an envelope. + +After these entertainments, which are really parties, a lady should +call. They are different things entirely from afternoon tea, after +which no call is expected. If the reception is given to some +distinguished person, the lady stands beside her guest to present all +the company to him or her. + +If on the card the word "Music" is added, the guests should be +punctual, as, doubtless, they are to be seated, and that takes time. +No lady who gives a _musicale_ should invite more than she can seat +comfortably; and she should have her rooms cool, and her lights soft +and shaded. + +People with weak eyes suffer dreadfully from a glare of gas, and when +music is going on they cannot move to relieve themselves. The hostess +should think of all this. Who can endure the mingled misery of a hot +room, an uncomfortable seat, a glare of gas, and a pianoforte solo? + +A very sensible reformation is now in progress in regard to the +sending of invitations and the answering of the same. The post is now +freely used as a safe and convenient medium, and no one feels offended +if an invitation arrives with a two-cent stamp on the envelope. There +is no loss of caste in sending an invitation by post. + +Then comes the ball, or, as they always say in Europe, the dance, +which is the gayest of all things for the _débutante_. The popular +form for an invitation to an evening party is as follows:-- + + MRS. HAMMOND + Requests the pleasure of + MR. and MRS. NORTON'S company + on Tuesday evening, December 23, at 9 o'clock. + R. S. V. P. Dancing. + +The card of the _débutante_, if the ball is given for one, is +enclosed. + +If a hostess gives her ball at some public place, like Delmonico's, +she has but little trouble. The compliment is not the same as if she +gave it in her own house, however. If there is room, a ball in a +private house is much more agreeable, and a greater honour to the +guest. + +Gentlemen who have not an acquaintance should be presented to the +young dancing set; but first, of course, to the _chaperon_. As, +however, the hostess cannot leave her post while receiving, she should +have two or three friends to help her. Great care should be taken that +there be no wall-flowers, no neglected girls. The non-dancers in an +American ball are like the non-Catholics in a highly doctrinal sermon: +they are nowhere, pushed into a corner where there is perhaps a +draught, and the smell of fried oysters. Such is the limbo of the +woman of forty or over, who in Europe would be the belle, the person +just beginning to have a career. For it is too true that the woman who +has learned something, who is still beautiful, the woman who has +maturity and experience, is pushed to the wall in America, while in +Europe she is courted and admired. Society holds out all its +attractive distractions and comforts to such a woman in Europe; in +America it keeps everything, even its comforts, for the very young. + +The fact that American ballrooms, or rather the parlours of our +ordinary houses, are wholly disproportioned to the needs of society, +has led to the giving of balls at Delmonico's and other public places. +If these are under proper patronage there is no reason why they should +not be as entertaining, as exclusive, and as respectable as a ball at +home. Any hostess or group of managers should, if they give up a ball +at home and use the large accommodations of Delmonico or the Assembly +Rooms, certainly consider the claims of chaperons and mammas who must +wearily sit through the German. It is to be feared that attention to +the mamma is not yet a grace in which even her daughter excels. Young +men who wish to marry mademoiselle had better pay her mother the +compliment of getting her a seat, and social leaders should also show +her the greatest attention, not alone from the selfish reason which +the poet commemorates:-- + + "Philosophy has got a charm,-- + I thought of Martin Tupper,-- + And offering mamma my arm, + I took her down to supper. + + "I gave her Pommery, _Côte d'Or_, + Which seethed in rosy bubbles; + I called this fleeting life a bore, + The world a sea of troubles." + +It is to be feared that the life of a _chaperon_ in America is not a +bed of roses, even if softened by all these attentions. + +Kept up late, pushed into a corner, the mother of a society girl +becomes only a sort of head-chambermaid. Were she in Europe, she would +be the person who would receive the compliments and the attention and +be asked to dance in the German. + +A competent critic of our manners spoke of this in the following +sensible words:-- + +"The evils arising from the excessive liberty permitted to American +girls cannot be cured by laws. If we ever root them out we must begin +with the family life, which must be reformed. For young people, +parental authority is the only sure guide. Coleridge well said that he +who was not able to govern himself must be governed by others; and +experience has shown us that the children of civilized parents are as +little able to govern themselves as the children of savages. The +liberty or license of our youth will have to be curtailed, as our +society is becoming more complex and artificial, like older societies +in Europe. The children will have to approximate to them in status, +and parents will have to waken to a sense of their responsibilities, +and subordinate their ambitions and their pleasures to their duties." +Mothers should go out more with their daughters, join in their +pleasures, and never permit themselves to be shelved. + +Society is in a transition state in America. In one or more cities of +the West and South it is considered proper for a young man to call for +a young girl, and drive with her alone to a ball. In Northern cities +this is considered very bad form. In Europe it would be considered a +vulgar madness, and a girl's character compromised. Therefore it is +better for the mother to keep her rightful place as guardian, +_chaperon_, friend, no matter how she is treated. + +Women are gifted with so much tact and so intuitive a faculty, that in +the conduct of fashionable life they need but few hints. + +The art of entertaining should be founded first, on good sense, a +quiet considerateness, a good heart, a spirit of friendliness; next, a +consideration of what is due to others and what is due to one's self. +There is always a social conscience in one's organization, which will +point aright; but the outward performance of conventional rules can +never be thoroughly learned, unless the heart is well-bred. + +Many ladies are now introducing dancing at crowded day receptions and +teas. Where people are coming and going this is objectionable, as the +hostess is expected to do too much, and the guests being in street +dress, while the hostess and her dancers are in low evening dress, the +appearance of the party is not ornamental. + +Evening parties are far more formal, and require the most elaborate +dress. Every lady who can wear a low-necked dress should do so. The +great drawback in New York is now the ridiculous lateness of the +hour--eleven or twelve--at which the guests arrive. + +If a card is written,-- + + MRS. BROWN at home Tuesday evening, + +some sticklers for etiquette say that she should not put R. S. V. P. +on her card. + +If she wishes an answer, she should say,-- + + MRS. BROWN + requests the pleasure of + MR. and MRS. CAMPBELL'S company. + R. S. V. P. + +Perhaps the latter is better form. It is more respectful. The "At +Home" can be used for large and informal receptions, where an +individual acceptance is not required. + +Garden parties are becoming very fashionable at watering-places, in +rural cities, and at country houses which are accessible to a town. No +doubt the garden party is a troublesome affair in a climate so +capricious as ours. The hostess has to be prepared for a sudden +shower, and to have two tables of refreshments. The effort to give the +out-of-door plays in this country, as in England, has often been +frustrated by a sudden shower, as at Mrs. Stevens' palace at Castle +Point. It is curious that they can and do give them in England, where +it always rains. However, these entertainments and hunting remain +rather as visitors than as old and recognized institutions. + +Americans all dance well, and are always glad to dance. Whether it be +assembly, hunt ball, or private party, the German cotillion finishes +the bail. It is an allegory of society in its complicated and +bewildering complications, its winding and unwinding of the tangled +chain. + +In every large city a set arises whose aim is to be exclusive. +Sometimes this privilege seems to be pushed too far. Often one is +astonished at the black sheep who leap into the well-defended +enclosures. In London, formerly, an autocratic set of ladies, well +known as Almacks, turned out the Duke of Wellington because he came in +a black cravat. In our republican country perpetual Almacks arise, +offensive and defensive,--a state of things which has its advantages +and disadvantages. It keeps up an interest in society. It is like the +fire in the engine: it makes the train move, even if it sends out +smoke and cinders which get into people's eyes and make them weep. It +is a part of the inevitable friction which accompanies the best +machinery; and if they have patience, those who are left out one +winter will be the inside aristocrats of the next, and can leave +somebody else out. + +Quadrilles, the Lancers, and occasionally a Virginia Reel, are +introduced to make the modern ball more interesting, and enable people +who cannot bear the whirl of the waltz to dance. The elderly can dance +a quadrille without loss of breath or dignity. Indeed, the Americans +are the only people who relegate the dance to the young alone. In +Europe the old gray-head, the old mustache, leads the German. +Ambassadors and generals, princes and potentates, go spinning around +with gray-haired ladies until they are seventy. Grandmothers dance +with their grandsons. Socrates learned to dance. In Europe it is the +elderly woman who receives the most flattering invitations to lead +the German. An ambassadress of fifty would be very much astonished if +the prince did not ask her to dance. + +The saltatory art is like the flight of a butterfly,--hard to +describe, impossible to follow. The _valse à deux temps_ keeps its +precedence in Europe as the favourite measure, varied with galop, +polka, and polka mazourka. We add, in America, Dancing in the Barn, +which is really a Spanish dance. + +The _Pavanne_ is worthy of study, and the _Minuet de la Cour_ is a +stately and beautiful thing, quite worthy of being learned, if it only +teaches our women how to make a courtesy. + +Each leader of the German is a potentate; he leads his troops through +new evolutions, and into combinations so vast, varied, and changeful +that it is impossible to do more than hint at them. + +The proper name for a private ball is "a dance." In London one never +talks of balls; it is always "a dance." Although supper is served +generally at a buffet, yet some leaders, with large houses, are +introducing little tables, which are more agreeable, but infinitely +inconvenient. The comfort, however, of being able to sit while eating, +and the fact that a party of four or six may enjoy their supper +together would certainly determine the question as to its +agreeableness. This is a London fashion, one set succeeding another at +the same table. It can only be carried out, however, in a very large +house or public place. The ball suppers in New York--indeed, all over +America--are very "gorgeous feeds" compared with those one sees in +Europe. The profusion of flowers, the hot oysters, boned turkey, +terrapin, and canvas-back duck, the salmon, the game patties, salads, +ices, jellies, and creams, all crowded in, sweetbreads and green peas, +_filet de boeuf_, constant cups of _bouillon_,--one feels Carlyle's +internal rat gnawing as one reads of them,--the champagne, the punch, +the fine glass, choice china, the drapery of German looms, the Queen +Anne silver, the porcelain of Sèvres and Dresden, the beauty of the +women, the smart dressing, make the ball supper an elegant, an +amazing, a princely sort of sight, saving that princes do not give +such feasts,--only Americans. + + + + +WEDDINGS. + + "Rice and slippers, slippers and rice! + Quaint old symbols of all that's nice + In a world made up of sugar and spice, + With a honeymoon always shining; + A world where the birds keep house by twos, + And the ring-dove calls, and the stock-dove coos, + And maids are many, and men may choose, + And never shall love go pining!" + + +If there were no weddings, there would be no art of entertaining. It +is the key-note, the initial letter, the "open sesame," of the great +business of society. Therefore certain general and very, perhaps, +unnecessary hints as to the conduct of weddings in all countries may +not be out of place here. + +In London a wedding in high life--or, as the French call it, +"higlif"--is a very sweeping affair. If we were to read the +descriptions in the "Court Journal" of one wedding trousseau alone, +furnished to a royal princess, or to Lady Gertrude Somebody, we should +say with Fielding that "dress is the principal accomplishment of men +and women." As for the wedding-cake which is built at Gunter's, it is +a sight to see,--almost as big as Mont Blanc. + +The importance of Gunter is assured by the "Epicure's Almanac," +published in 1815; and for many years this firm supplied the royal +family. When George III. was king, the royal dukes stopped to eat +Gunter's pies, in gratitude for the sweet repasts furnished them in +childhood; but now the Buzzards, of 197 Oxford Street, also are +specialists in wedding-cakes. + +Leigh Hunt, in one of his essays, described one Trumbull Walker as +"the artist who confined himself to that denomination," meaning +wedding-cake. His mantle fell on the Buzzards. + +This enormous cake, and the equally enormous bouquet are the chief +distinctive marks in which a London wedding differs from ours. To be +legal, unless by special license, weddings in England must be +celebrated before twelve o'clock. The reason given for this law is +that before 1820 gentlemen were supposed to be drunk after that hour, +and not responsible for what they promised at the altar. + +In France, a singular difference of dress on the part of the groom +exists. He always wears a dress-coat and white cravat, as do all his +ushers and immediate friends. It looks very strange to English and +American eyes. + +How does a wedding begin? As for the premonitory symptoms, they are in +the air for several weeks. It is whispered about amongst the +bridesmaids; it gets into the papers. It would be easy to write a +volume, and it would be a useful volume if it brought conviction to +the hearts of the offenders, of the wrong done to young ladies by the +newspapers who assume, without authority, to publish the news of an +engagement. Many a match has been broken off by such a premature +surmise, and the happiness of one or more persons injured for life. + +Young people like to approach this most important event of their lives +in a mutual confidence and secrecy; consequently society newspapers +should be very careful how they either report an engagement, or +declare that it is off. Sometimes rumors prejudicial to the gentleman +are circulated without sufficient reason, and of course much +ill-feeling is engendered. + +The first intimation of an engagement should come from the bride's +mother, and the young bride fixes the day of her wedding herself. Then +the father and mother, or guardians, of the young lady issue cards, +naming the day and hour of the wedding. + +Brides often give the attendant maidens their dresses; or if they do +not choose to do this, they suggest what they shall wear. + +Six ushers generally precede the party into the church, after having +seated the guests. These are generally followed by six bridesmaids, +who walk two and two. No one wears a veil but the bride herself, who +enters on her father's arm. Widows who marry again must not wear +white, or veils. The fact that the bride is in white satin, and often +with low neck and short sleeves, and the groom in full morning +costume, is much criticised in France. + +If the wedding occurs in the evening, the groom must wear a dress-coat +and white tie. + +The invitations to the wedding are very simple and explicit:-- + + GENERAL AND MRS. BROUNLOW + Request the pleasure of your company + at the marriage of their daughter + EXCLAIRMONDE + to + MR. GERALD FITZGERALD, + on Thursday, June 16th, at 12 o'clock, + St. Peter's Church. + +In asking a young lady to be her bridesmaid, the bride is supposed to +be prompted by claims of relationship or friendship, although fashion +and wealth and other considerations often influence these invitations. +As for the ushers, they must be unmarried men, and are expected to +manage all matters at the church. + +Music should play softly during the entrance of the family, before the +service. The mother of the bride, and her nearest relatives, precede +her into the church, and are seated before she enters, unless the +mother be a widow and gives the bride away. The ceremony should be +conducted with great dignity and composure on all sides; for +exhibitions of feeling in public are in the worst possible taste. At +the reception, the bride's mother yields her place as hostess for the +nonce, and is addressed after the bride. + +After two hours of receiving her friends, the young wife goes upstairs +to put on her dress for the journey, which may be of any colour but +black. Perhaps this is the time for a few tears, as she kisses mamma +good-by. She comes down, with her mother and sisters, meets the groom +in the hall, and dispenses the flowers of her bouquet to the smiling +maidens, each of whom struggles for a flower. + +The parents of the bride send announcement cards to persons not +invited to the wedding. + +Dinners to the young pair succeed each other in rapid succession. For +the first three months the art of entertaining is stretched to its +uttermost. + +A widow, in marrying again, should not use the name or initials of her +late husband. If she was Mary Steward, and had married Mr. Hamilton, +and being his widow, wishes to marry James Constable, her cards should +read: + + MR. AND MRS. STEWARD + Request the pleasure of your company + at the marriage of their daughter + MARY STEWARD-HAMILTON + to + MR. JAMES CONSTABLE. + +If she is alone, she can invite in her own name as Mrs. Mary Steward +Hamilton; or better still, a friend sends out the cards in her own +name, with simply the cards of Mrs. Mary Steward Hamilton, and of the +gentleman whom she is to marry. + +The custom of giving bridal presents has grown into an outrageous +abuse of a good thing. There has grown up a rivalry between families; +and the publicity of the whole thing, its notoriety and extravagance, +ought to be well rebuked. + +At the wedding refreshment-table, the bride sometimes cuts the cake +and allows the young people to search for a ring, but this is rather +bad for the gloves. + +At a country wedding, if the day is fine, little tables are set out on +the lawn. The ladies seat themselves, the gentlemen carry refreshments +to them. The piazzas can be decorated with autumn boughs, evergreens, +and flowers; the whole thing becomes a garden-party, and even the +family dogs should have a wreath of white flowers around their necks. + +Much ill feeling is apt to be engendered by the distinction which is +inevitably made in leaving out the friends who feel that they were +entitled to an invitation to the house. It is better to offend no one +on so important an occasion. + +Wedding-cards and wedding stationery should be simple, white without +glaze, and with no attempt at ornamentation. + +It is proper for the bride to have her left hand bare as she walks to +the altar, as it saves her the trouble of taking off a long glove. + +Child bridesmaids are very pretty and very much in favour. These +charming children, covered with flowers and looking very grave and +solemn, are the sweetest of heralds for a wedding procession. + +There is not, however, much difficulty except when Protestant marries +Catholic. Such a marriage cannot be celebrated at the High Altar; it +leads to a house wedding which is in the minds of many much more +agreeable, as saving the bride the journey to church. In this matter, +one of individual preference of course, the large and liberal American +mind can have a very wide choice. + +In France the couple must go to the _Mairie_, where an official in a +tricolour scarf, looking like Marat, marries them. This is especially +the case if husband or wife is a divorced person, the Catholic church +refusing to marry such. It is a curious fact, that in Catholic Italy a +civil marriage is the only legal marriage; therefore good Catholics +are all married twice. A mixed marriage in Catholic countries is very +difficult; but in our country, alas! the wedding knot can be untied as +easily as it is tied. + +"This train waits twenty minutes for divorces" is a joke founded on +fact. + +"What do _divorcées_ do with their wedding presents?" has been a +favourite conundrum of late, especially with those sent by the friends +of the husband. + +If an evening wedding takes place in a church those who are asked to +the house afterwards should go without bonnets. Catholic ladies, +however, must always cover their heads in church; so they throw a +light lace or mantilla over the head. + +It is not often that the bride dances at her own wedding, but there is +no reason why she should not. + +"'Tis custom that makes cowards of us all." One brave girl was married +on a Saturday in May, thus violating all the old saws and +superstitions. She has been happy ever afterwards. Marriages in May +used to be said to lead to poverty. It is the month of Mary, the +Virgin, therefore Catholics object. + +One still braver bride chose Friday; this is hangman's day, and also +the day of the crucifixion, therefore considered unlucky by the larger +portion of the human race. + +However, marriage is lucky or unlucky as the blind goddess pleases; no +foresight of ours can make it a certainty. Sometimes two very doubtful +characters make each other better, and live happily; again two very +fine characters but help to sublimate each other's misery. Perhaps no +more hopeless picture of this failure was ever painted than the misery +of Caroline and Robert Elsmere, in that masterly novel which led you +nowhere. + +There is a capital description of a French _bourgeoise_ wedding in one +of Daudet's novels:-- + +"The least details of this important day were forever engraved on +Risler's mind. + +"He saw himself at daybreak pacing his bachelor chamber, already +shaved and dressed, with two pairs of white gloves in his pocket. Then +came the gala carriages, and in the first one, the one with white +horses, white reins, and a lining of yellow satin, his bride's veil +floated like a cloud. + +"Then the entrance to the church, two by two, with this white cloud +always at their head, floating, light, gleaming; the organ, the +verger, the sermon of the _curé_, the tapers twinkling like jewels, +the spring toilets, and all the world in the sacristie--the little +white cloud lost, engulfed, surrounded, embraced, while the groom +shook hands with the representatives of the great Parisian firms +assembled in his honour; and the grand swell of the organ at the end, +more solemn because the doors of the church were wide open so that the +whole quarter took part in the family ceremony; the noises of the +street as the cortège passed out, the exclamations of the +lookers-on,--a burnisher in a lustring apron crying aloud, 'The groom +is not handsome, but the bride is stunning,'--all this is what makes +one proud when he is a bridegroom. + +"Then the breakfast at the works, in a room ornamented with hangings +and flowers; the stroll in the Bois, a concession to the bride's +mother, Madame Chèbe, who in her position as a Parisian _bourgeoise_ +would not have considered her daughter married without the round of +the lake and a visit to the cascade; then the return for dinner just +as the lights were appearing on the Boulevard, where every one turned +to see the wedding party, a true, well-appointed party, as it passed +in a procession of liveried carriages to the very steps of the Café +Vefour. + +"It was all like a dream. + +"Now, dulled by fatigue and happiness, the worthy Risler looked +dreamily at the great table of twenty-five covers, with a horseshoe at +each end. Around it were well-known, smiling faces in whose eyes he +seemed to see his own happiness reflected. Little waves of +conversation from the different groups drifted across the table; faces +were turned toward one another. You could see here the white cuffs of +a black suit behind a basket of asclepias, here the laughing face of a +girl above a dish of confections. The faces of the guests were half +hidden behind the flowers and the dessert; all around the board were +gayety, light, and colour. + +"Yes, Risler was happy. + +"Aside from his brother Franz, all whom he loved were there. First and +foremost, facing him, was Sidonie,--yesterday the little Sidonie, +to-day his wife. She had laid aside her veil for dinner, she had +emerged from the white cloud. + +"Now in her silken gown, white and simple, her charming face seemed +more clear and sweet under the carefully arranged bridal wreath. + +"By the side of Risler sat Madame Chèbe, the mother of the bride, who +shone and glistened in a dress of green satin gleaming like a shield. +Since morning all the thoughts of the good woman had been as brilliant +as her robe. Every moment she had said to herself, 'My daughter is +marrying Fremont and Risler,'--because in her mind it was not Risler +whom her daughter married, but the whole establishment. + +"All at once came that little movement among the guests that announces +their leaving the table,--the rustle of silks, the noise of chairs, +the last words of talk, laughter broken off. Then they all passed into +the grand _salon_, where those invited were arriving in crowds, and, +while the orchestra tuned their instruments, the men with glass in eye +paraded before the young girls all dressed in white and impatient to +begin." + + + + +HOW ROYALTY ENTERTAINS. + + Stand back, and let the King go by.--OLD PLAY. + + "Thrones, dominations, princedoms, virtues, powers." + + +When we approach the subject of royal entertainments, we cannot but +feel that the best of us are at a disadvantage. Princes have palaces +and retainers furnished for them. They have a purse which knows no +end. They are either by the divine right, or by lucky chance, the +personages of the hour! It is only when one of them loses his head, or +is forced to abdicate, or falls by the assassin's dagger, that they +approach at all our common humanity. + +Doubtless to them, entertaining, being a perfunctory affair, becomes +very tedious. Pomp is not an amusing circumstance and they get so +tired of it all that when off duty kings and queens are usually the +most plainly dressed and the most simple of mortals. The "age of +strut" has passed away. No one cares to assume the puffiness of Louis +XIV. or George IV. + +Royal entertainments, however, have this advantage, they open to the +observer the historical palace, and the pictures, gems of art, and +interesting collections of which palaces are the great conservators. + +It would seem that Louis XIV., called _le Grand Monarque_, Louis the +Magnificent, was a master of the art of entertaining. Under him the +science of giving banquets received, in common with the other +sciences, a great progressive impulse. There still remains some memory +of those festivals, which all Europe went to see, and those +tournaments, where for the last time shone lances and knightly suits +of armour. The festivals always ended with a sumptuous banquet, where +were displayed huge centre-pieces of gold and silver, painting, +sculpture, and enamel, all laudatory of the hero of the occasion. + +This fashion made the fame of Benvenuto Cellini in the previous +century. To-day, monarchs content themselves with having these +centre-pieces made of cake, sugar, or ices. There will be no record of +their great feasts for future ages. + +Toward the end of the reign of Louis XIV., the cook, the _cordon +bleu_, received favourable notice; his name was written beside that of +his patron; he was called in after dinner. It is mentioned in some of +the English memoirs that this fashion was not unknown so lately as +fifty years ago in great houses in England, where the cook was called +in, in his white cap and apron, publicly thanked for his efforts, and +a glass of wine offered him by his master, all the company drinking +his health. This must have had an excellent effect on the art of +gastronomy. + +Madame de Maintenon, whose gloomy sway over the old king reduced the +gay court to the loneliness of an empty cathedral, threw a wet napkin +on the science of good eating, and put out the kitchen fires for a +season. + +Queen Anne, however, was fond of good cheer, and consulted with her +cook. Many cookery books have the qualification "after Queen Anne's +fashion." + +Under the Regent Orléans, a princely prince in spite of his faults, +the art of good eating and entertaining was revived; and he has left a +reputation for _piqués_ of superlative delicacy, _matelots_ of +tempting quality, and turkeys superbly stuffed. + +The reign of Louis XV. was equally favourable to the art of +entertaining. Eighteen years of peace had made France rich, and a +spirit of conviviality was diffused amongst all classes. The proper +setting of the table, and order, neatness, and elegance, as essentials +of a well-appointed meal, date from this reign. It is from this period +that the history of the _petit soupers de Choisy_ begins. We need +hardly go in to that history of all that was reckless, witty, gay, and +dissolute in the art of entertaining; but as one item, a floor was +constructed so that the table and sideboard sank into the lower story +after each course, to be immediately replaced by others which rose +covered with a fresh course. From this we may imagine its luxury and +detail. + +Louis XV. was a proficient in the art of cookery; he also worked +tapestry with his own hand. We should linger over his feasts with more +pleasure had they not led on to the French Revolution, as a horrible +dessert. His carving-knives later on became the guillotine. + +Under Louis XVI. there was a constant improvement in all the +"occupations which are required in the preparation of food" by cooks, +_traiteurs_, pastry cooks, and confectioners. The art of preserving +food, so that one could have the fruits of summer in the midst of +winter, really began then, although the art of canning may safely be +said to belong to our own much later time. + +In the year 1740 a dinner was served in this order: Soup, followed by +the _bouilli_, an _entrée_ of veal cooked in its own gravy, as a side +dish. Second course: A turkey, a dish of vegetables, a salad, and +sometimes a cream. Dessert: Cheese, fruit and sweets. Plates were +changed only thrice: after the soup, at the second course, and at +dessert. Coffee was rarely served, but cherry brandy or some liqueur +was passed. + +Louis XVIII., who grew to be an immensely fat man, was a remarkable +gastronome. Let any one read Victor Hugo's "Les Misérables," and an +account of his reign, to get an idea of this magnificent entertainer. +His most famous _maître d'hôtel_ was the Duc d'Escars. When he and his +royal master were closeted together to meditate a dish, the ministers +of state were kept waiting in the antechamber, and the next day an +official announcement was made, "Monsieur le Duc d'Escars a travaillé +dans le cabinet." + +How strangely would it affect the American people if President +Harrison kept them waiting for his signature because he was discussing +terrapin and Madeira sauce with his _chef_. + +The king had invented the _truffles à la purée d'ortolans_, and +invariably prepared it himself, assisted by the duke. On one occasion +they jointly composed a dish of more than ordinary dimensions, and +duly consumed the whole of it. In the night the duke was seized with a +fit of indigestion, and his case was declared hopeless. Loyal to the +last, he ordered an attendant to awake and inform the king, who might +be exposed to a similar attack. His majesty was roused accordingly, +and told that D'Escars was dying of his invention. + +"Dying!" exclaimed the king: "well, I always said I had the better +stomach of the two." + +So much for the gratitude of kings. The Parisian restaurants, those +world-renowned Edens of the gastronomer, were formed and founded on +the theories of these cookery-loving kings. But political disturbances +were to intervene in the year 1770. After the glorious days of Louis +XIV. and the wild dissipation of the Regency, after the long +tranquillity under the ministry of Fleury, travellers arriving in +Paris found its resources very poor as to good cheer. But that soon +mended itself. + +It was not until about 1814 that the parent of Parisian restaurants, +Beauvilliers, made himself a cosmopolitan reputation by feeding the +allied armies. He learned to speak English, and in that way became +most popular. He had a prodigious memory, and would recognize and +welcome men who had dined at his house twenty years before. In this he +was like General Grant and the Prince of Wales. It is a very popular +faculty. + +Beauvilliers, Méot, Robert, Rose Legacque, the Brothers Very, +Hennevan, and Baleine, are the noble army of argonauts in discovering +the Parisian restaurant; or rather, they founded it. + +The Brothers Very, and the Trois Frères Prevenceaux, both in the +Palais Royal, are still great names to compete with. When the allied +monarchs held Paris, in 1814, the Brothers Very supplied their table +for a daily charge of one hundred and twenty pounds, not including +wine, and in Père-la-Chaise a magnificent monument is erected to one +of them, declaring that his "whole life was consecrated to the useful +arts," as it doubtless was. + +From that day until 1890, what an advance there has been. There is now +a restaurant in nearly every street in Paris, where one can get a good +dinner. What a crowd of them in the Champs Élysées and out near the +Bois. + +A Parisian dinner is thoroughly cosmopolitan, and the best in the +world, when it is good. Parisian cookery has declined of late in the +matter of meats. They are not as good as they ought to be. But the +sauces are so many and so fine that they have given rise to many +proverbs. "The sauce is the ambassador of a king." "With such a sauce, +a man could eat his grandfather." + +Leaving France for other shores, for France has no monarch to +entertain us now, let us see how two reigning monarchs entertain. + +A presentation at the Court of St. James is a picturesque affair and +worth seeing, although it is a fatiguing process. A lady must be +dressed at eleven in the morning, in full court dress, which means low +neck and short sleeves, with a train four yards long and three wide. +She must wear a white veil and have three feathers in her hair so that +they can be seen in front. White gloves are also _de rigueur_, and as +they are seldom worn now, except at weddings, a lady must remember to +buy a pair. The carriages approach Buckingham Palace in a long queue, +and the lady waits an hour or more in line, exposed to the jeers of +the populace, who look in at the carriage windows and make comments, +laugh, and amuse themselves. One hopes that this may do these +ragamuffins some good, for they look miserable enough. + +Arriving in the noble quadrangle of Buckingham Palace, the music of +the Guard's band enlivens one, and the silent, splendid figures of the +household troops, the handsomest men in the world, sit like statues on +their horses. No matter if the rain is pouring, as it generally is, +neither man nor horse stirs. + +Once inside the palace, the card of entrance is taken by one of the +Queen's pages, some other official takes her cloak, and the lady +wends her way up a magnificent staircase into another gallery, out of +which open many fine rooms. Gentlemen of the Household in glittering +uniforms, and with orders, stand about in picturesque groups. + +The last room is filled with chairs, and is soon crowded with ladies +and gentlemen, waiting for the summons to move on. The gentlemen are +all in black velvet suits, with knee breeches and sword, silk +stockings and low shoes. + +A slight commotion at the little turnstile tells you to take your +turn; you pass on with the others, your name is loudly called, you +make three little courtesies to her Majesty, the Prince and Princess +of Wales, you see a glittering line of royalties, you hear the words, +"Your train, Madame," it is thrown over your arm by some cavalier +behind, and all is over; except that you are amongst your friends, and +see a glittering room full of people, and realize that nothing is so +bad as you had feared. After about an hour, you find your carriage and +drive home, or to your minister's for a cup of tea. + +Then you receive, if you are fortunate, a great card from the Lord +Chamberlain, with the Queen's command that you should be invited to a +ball at Buckingham Palace. This ball is a sight to see, so splendid is +the ball-room, so grand the elevated red sofas, with the duchesses and +their jewels. Royalty enters about eleven o'clock, followed by all the +ambassadors. + +Of late years the Queen has relegated her place as hostess to the +Princess of Wales, but during the jubilee year she kept it, and it was +a beautiful sight to see the little woman all covered with jewels, +with her royal brood around her. + +The royal family go in to supper through a lane of guests. The +supper-room is adorned with the gold plate bought by George IV., and +many very fine pieces of plate given by other monarchs. The eatables +and drinkables are what they would be at any great ball. + +The prettiest entertainment of the jubilee year was, however, the +Queen's garden-party. No one had seen that lovely park behind +Buckingham Palace for eighteen years; then it was used for the +garden-party given to the Khedive of Egypt. Now it was filled by a +most picturesque group. The Indian princes with all their jewels, +their turbans, their robes, their dark, handsome faces, stood at the +foot of a grand staircase which runs from the palace to the green +turf. Every other man was a king, a prince, a nobleman, a great +soldier, a statesman, a diplomate, a somebody. + +The women were all, of course, beautifully dressed in summer costume; +and the grounds, full of ancient trees and fountains, artificial lakes +with swans, marquees with refreshments, were as pretty as only a royal +English park can be. + +Presently we heard the sound of the bagpipes, and a procession headed +by some dancing Scotchmen came along. It was the Queen, with all her +children and grandchildren, ladies-in-waiting, and many monarchs, +amongst whom marched Queen Kapiolani of the Sandwich Islands. The +Queen walked with a cane, the Prince of Wales by her side. They all +stopped repeatedly and spoke to their guests on either side; then the +younger members of the family led the way to the refreshment tents, +where a truly regal buffet was spread. + +There was much talk, much music, much laughter, no stiffness. It was +real hospitality. In one of the windows of the palace stood looking +out the Crown Prince of Germany, later on to be the noble Emperor +Frederic, even then feeling the pressure of that malady which in +another year was to kill him. He who had been, in the procession of +Princes on the great day, so important and so handsome a figure, was +on this day a silent observer. The Queen after this gave an evening +party to all the royalties, and the ambassadors, and many invited +guests. + +The hospitality of the Queen is, of course, regal, but her dinners +must of a necessity be formal. General Grant mentioned his +disappointment that he did not sit next her, when she invited him to +Windsor, but she had one of her children on either side, and he came +next to the Princess Beatrice. + +The entertainments at Marlborough House are much less formal. The +Prince of Wales, the most genial and hospitable of men, cannot always +pen up his delightful cordiality behind the barriers of rank. + +As for the King and Queen of Italy, they do not try to restrain their +cordiality. The Court of Italy is most easy-going, democratic, and +agreeable, in spite of its thousand years of grandeur. The favoured +guest who is to be presented receives a card to the _cercle_, on a +certain Monday evening. The card prescribes low-necked dress, and any +colour but black. To drive to the Quirinal Palace on a moonlight night +in Rome is not unpleasant. + +The grand staircase, all covered with scarlet carpet, was lined with +gigantic cuirassiers in scarlet, who stood as motionless as statues. +We entered a grand hall frescoed by Domenichino. How small we felt +under these giant figures. We passed on to another _salon_, frescoed +by Julio Romano, so on to another where a handsome cavalier, the +Prince Vicovara, received our cards, and opening a door, presented us +to the Marchesa Villamarina, the Queen's dearest friend and favourite +lady-in-waiting. We were arranged in rows around a long and handsome +room. Presently a little movement at the door, and the deep courtesies +of the Princess Brancaccio and the Princess Vicovara, both Americans, +told us that the Queen had entered. + +Truly she is a royal beauty, a wonder on a throne. An accomplished +scholar, a thoughtful woman, Marguerite of Savoy is the rose of the +nineteenth century; her smile keeps Italy together. She is the +sweetest, the most beautiful of all the queens, and as she walks about +accompanied by her ladies, who introduce every one, she speaks to each +person in his or her own language; she is mistress of ten languages. +After she had said a few gracious words, the Queen disappeared, and +the Marchesa Villamarina asked us to take some refreshments, saying, +"I hope we shall see you on Thursday." + +The next day came an invitation to the grand court-ball. This is a +very fine sight. The King and Queen enter and take their places on a +high estrade covered with a crimson velvet baldaquin. Then the ladies +and gentlemen of the household and the ambassadors enter. + +The Count Gianotti, a very handsome Piedmontese, the favourite friend +of the King, the prefect of the palace and master of ceremonies, +declared the ball opened, and the Queen danced with the Baron Kendall. +The royal quadrille over, dancing became general. The King stood about +looking soldier-like, bored and silent; a patriot and brave man, he +hates society. The Queen does all the social work, and she does it +admirably. + +What a company that was,--all the Roman nobility, the diplomatic +corps, the visitors to Rome, S. P. Q. R., the senate and the Roman +people. After the dancing, supper was announced. Royalty does not sup +in public in Rome, as in England. The difference in etiquette is +curious. The King and Queen retired. We went in as we pleased at ten +o'clock, had seats, and supped gloriously; the excellent Italian +cookery, of which we have spoken previously, was served admirably. The +housekeeping at the Quirinal is excellent. + +The Queen of Italy moves about amongst the ambassadors' wives, and +summons any stranger to whom she may wish to speak, to her side. A +presentation to her is more personal and gracious than a like honour +at any other court. + +A presentation at court resolves itself into two advantages. One sees +the paraphernalia of royalty, always amusing and interesting to +American eyes. Americans see its poetry, its almost vanished meaning, +better than others. Power, even when it descends for a day on fresh +Republican shoulders, is awe-inspiring. The boy who is a leader at +school is more important than the boy who walks behind him. "A captain +of thousands" was an old Greek term for leadership, dignity, and +honour. Therefore it is not snobbery to desire to see these people on +whom have fallen the ermine of power. It is snobbery to bow down +before some unworthy bearer of a title; but when, as in the case of +Marguerite of Savoy, there is a very good, a very gifted, a very +wonderful woman behind it all, we are glad that she has been born to +wear all these jewels. + +We have in our minds one more scene, and a very picturesque one. In +September, 1888, the Duc d'Aosta, brother to King Humbert, married his +niece, Letitia Bonaparte, daughter of the Princess Clotilde and Prince +Jerome Bonaparte. This marriage occurred at Turin. A fine week of +autumn weather was devoted to this ceremony. It was a great gathering +of all the family of Victor Emmanuel. The Pope had granted an especial +dispensation to the nearly related couple. The degree of consanguinity +so repellent to us, is not considered, however, as prejudicial to +marriage in Spain, Italy, or Germany. + +The King of Italy made this occasion of his brother's marriage, an +open door for returning to the old Italian customs of past centuries, +in the art of entertaining. The city of Turin was _en fête_ for the +week. At booths, in the open air, strolling companies were playing +opera, tragedy, burlesque, and farce. At the King's charge, the +streets were lined with gay decorations of pink and white silk, +banners and escutcheons; music was heard everywhere, and at evening +brilliant illuminations followed the river. + +When the royal cortège appeared on their way to a public square they +were preceded by six hundred young cavaliers in the dress of Prince +Eugene, powdered hair, bright red and blue coats, each detachment +escorting a royal carriage. First came the King and Queen, then the +bridal pair. + +They mounted a superb thing, like a basket of flowers, in the Piazza +Vittorio Emmanuel, where all the royalties sat around the bride. Music +and flags saluted them. The vast crowd sat and looked at them for two +hours. A gayly decorated balloon, covered with roses, floated over +the Queen's head, and finally, as the rosy light faded away, a gun +from the fortress sounded the hour of departure. The glittering +cavalcade drove back to the palace, and we foreigners knew that we had +seen a real, mediæval Italian festa. + + + + +ENTERTAINING AT EASTER. + + "There is a tender hue that tips the first young leaves of spring, + A trembling beauty in their notes when young birds learn to sing + A purer look when first on earth the gushing brook appears, + A liquid depth in infant eyes that fades with summer years." + + +In the early days of ecumenical councils it was a mooted point when +Easter should be celebrated. The Christian Jews kept the feast on the +same day as their Passover, the fourteenth of Nisan, the month +corresponding to our March or April; but the Gentile church observed +the first Sunday following this, because Christ rose from the dead on +that day. It was not until the fourth century that the Council of Nice +decided upon the first Sunday after the full moon which follows the +twenty-first of March. The contest was waged long and heavily, but the +Western churches were victorious; a vote settled it. + +Perhaps this victory decided the later and more splendid religious +ceremonials of Easter, which are much more observed in Rome and in all +Catholic countries than those of Christmas. Constantine gratified his +love of display by causing Easter to be celebrated with unusual pomp +and parade. Vigils and night watches were instituted, people remaining +all night in the churches in Rome, and carrying high wax tapers +through the streets in processions. + +People in the North, glad of an escape from four months of darkness, +watch to see the sun dawn on an Easter morning. They have a +superstitious feeling about this observance, which came originally +from Egypt, and is akin to the legend that the statue of Memnon sings +when the first ray of the sun touches it. + +It is the queen of feasts in all Catholic churches, the world over. In +early days, the fasting of Lent was restricted to one day, the Friday +of Passion Week, Good Friday; then it extended to forty hours, then to +forty days,--showing how much fashion, even in churchly affairs, has +to do with these matters. One witty author says that, "people who do +not believe in anything will observe Lent, for it is the fashion." + +Certainly, the little dinners of Lent, in fashionable society, are +amongst the most agreeable of all entertainments. The _crème +d'écrevisse_, the oyster and clam soups, the newly arrived shad, the +codfish _à la royale_ and other tempting dainties are very good, and +the dinner being small, and at eight o'clock, there is before it a +long twilight for the drive in the Park. + +A pope of Rome once offered a prize to the man who would invent one +thousand ways of cooking eggs, for eggs can always be eaten in Lent, +and let us hope that he found them. The greatest coxcomb of all cooks, +Louis Ude, who was prone to demand a carriage and five thousand a +year, was famous for his little Lenten _menus_, and could cook fish +and eggs marvellously. The amusements of Lent have left one joke in +New York. Roller skates were once a very fashionable amusement for +Lenten afternoons, though now gone out, and a club had rented Irving +Hall for their playground and chosen _Festina lente_, "Make haste +slowly," for their motto. It was a very witty motto, but some wise +Malaprop remarked, "What a very happy selection, 'Festivals of Lent!'" + +However, Lent once passed, with its sewing circles and small +whist-parties, then comes the brilliant Easter, with its splendid +dinners, its weddings, its christenings and caudle parties, its +ladies' lunches, its Meadow Brook hunt, its asparagus parties, and the +chickens of gayety which are hatched out of Easter eggs. It is a great +day for the confectioner. In Paris, that city full of gold and misery, +the splendour and luxury of the Easter egg _bonbonnière_ is fabulous. +A few years since a Paris house furnished an Easter egg for a Spanish +infanta, which cost eight hundred pounds sterling. + +Easter dinners can be made delightful. They are simple, less heavy, +hot, and stuffy, than those of mid-winter. That enemy of the feminine +complexion, the furnace, is put out. It no longer sends up its direful +sirocco behind one's back. Spring lamb and mint sauce, asparagus and +fresh dandelion salad, replace the heavy joint and the canned +vegetables. A foreigner said of us that we have everything canned, +even the canvas-back duck and the American opera. Everything should be +fresh. The ice-cream man devises allegorical allusions in his forms, +and there are white dinners for young brides, and roseate dinners for +_débutantes_. + +For a gorgeous ladies' lunch, behold a _menu_. This is for Easter +Monday:-- + + Little Neck clams. + Chablis. Beef tea or _consommé_ in cups. + _Côtelettes de cervelles à la cardinal._ Cucumbers. + Little ducks with fresh mushrooms. + Champagne. Artichokes. + Sweetbread _à la Richelieu_. + Asparagus, Hollandaise sauce. + Claret. Roman punch. + _Pâté de foie gras._ + Roast snipe. + Tomato salad, lettuce. + Liqueur. Ice-creams, + in form of nightingales' nests. + Strawberries, sugared fruit, nougat cakes. + Coffee. + +Of course, a season of such rejoicing, when "Christians stand praying, +each in an exalted attitude, with outstretched hands and uplifted +faces, expressing joy and gladness," is thought to be very propitious +for marriage. There is generally a wedding every day, excepting +Friday, during Easter week. A favourite spring travelling-dress for an +Easter bride is fawn coloured cashmere, with a little round hat and +bunch of primroses. + +For a number of choir boys to sing an epithalamium, walking up the +aisle before the bride, is a new and very beautiful Easter fashion. + +A favourite entertainment for Easter is a christening. Christening +parties are becoming very important functions in the art of +entertaining. Many Roman Catholics are so anxious for the salvation of +the little new soul, that they have their children baptized as soon as +possible, but others put off this important ceremony until mamma can +go to church, when little master is five weeks old. Then friends are +invited to the ceremony very much in this fashion:-- + + Mr. and Mrs. Hamilton request the pleasure of your company at + the baptism of their infant daughter at the Cathedral, Monday, + March 30, at 12 o'clock. At home, after the ceremony, 14 W. + Ellicott Square. + +Many wealthy Roman Catholics have private chapels where the ceremony +may be performed earlier. + +Presents are sent to the mamma, of flowers and bonbonnières shaped +like an altar, a cradle, a powder-box; and there may be gold +tea-scoops, pap-spoons and a caudle-cup. Gifts of old Dutch silver and +the inevitable posy or couplet are very favourite gifts for the baby +and mamma on these auspicious occasions. + +Caudle is a very succulent porridge made of oatmeal, raisins, spices, +and rum, all boiled together for several days until it becomes a jelly +gruel. It is very much sweetened, and is served hot in cups. The +caudle-cup designed by Albrecht Dürer for some member of the family of +Maximilian is still shown. Caudle cards are very often stamped with a +cameo resemblance of these cups, and the invitation reads:-- + + MRS. JAMES HAMILTON, + at Home, + Thursday, March 30, from three to six. + Caudle. + +These do not require an answer. + +Very pretty tea-gowns are worn by mamma and the ladies of her family +for this entertainment, but the guests come in bonnets and street +dresses. There is no objection to having the afternoon tea-table with +its silver tea-kettle, alcohol-lamp, pretty silver tea-set, plates of +bread and butter, and little cakes ready for those ladies who prefer +tea. Caudle is sometimes added to the teas of a winter afternoon, by +the remnants of old Dutch families, even when there is no little +master as a _raison d'être_, and delicious it is. + +There is a pretty account of the marriage of Marguerite of Austria +with Philibert, the handsome Duke of Savoy. It is called _Mariage aux +oeufs_. She had come to the Castle of Brae, in the charming district +of Bresse lying on the western slopes of the Alps. Here the rich +princess kept open house, and Philibert, who was hunting in the +neighbourhood, came to pay his court to her. It was Easter Monday, and +high and low danced together on the green. The old men drew their bows +on a barrel filled with wine, and when one succeeded in planting his +arrow firmly in it he was privileged to drink as much as he pleased +_jusqu'à merci_. + +A hundred eggs were scattered in a level place, covered with sand, and +a lad and lass, holding each other by the hand, came forward to +execute a dance of the country. According to the ancient custom, if +they succeeded in finishing the _branle_ without breaking a single egg +they became affianced, and even the will of their parents might not +avail to break their union. Three couples had already tried it +unsuccessfully and shouts of laughter derided their attempts, when the +sound of a horn was heard, and Philibert of Savoy, radiant with youth +and happiness, appeared on the scene. He bent his knees before the +noble _châtelaine_ and besought her hospitality. He proposed to her to +try the egg fortune. She accepted. Their grace and beauty charmed the +lookers-on and they succeeded, without a single crash, in treading the +perilous maze. + +"Savoy and Austria!" shouted the crowd. And she said, "Let us adopt +the custom of Bresse." + +They were married, and enjoyed a few years of exquisite happiness; +then the beloved husband died. Marguerite survived him long, but never +forgot him. She built in his memory a beautiful church. Travellers go +to-day to see their magnificent tomb. + +The egg has been in all ages and in all countries the subject of +infinite mystery, legend, and history. The ancient Finns believed that +a mystic bird laid an egg in the lap of Vaimainon, who hatched it in +his bosom. He let it fall in the water, and it broke. The lower +portion of the shell formed the earth, the upper the sky, the liquid +white became the sun, the yolk the moon, while little bits of +egg-shells became the stars. + +Old English and Irish nurses instruct the children, when they have +eaten a boiled egg, to push the spoon through the bottom of the shell +to hinder the witches from making a boat of it. + +It is difficult to ascertain the precise origin of the custom of +offering eggs at the festival of Easter. The Persians, the Russians, +and the Jews all follow it. + +Amongst the Romans the year began at Easter, as it did amongst the +Franks under the Capets. Many presents are exchanged, and as an egg is +the beginning of all things, nothing better could be found as an +offering. Its symbolic meaning is striking. We offer our friends all +the blessings contained under that fragile shell, whose fragility +represents that of happiness here below. The Romans commenced their +repasts with an egg; hence the proverbial phrase, "_ab ovo usque ad +mala_," or, as we still say, "beginning _ab ovo_." + +Another reason given for the Easter egg is that, about the fourth +century, the Church forbade the use of eggs in Lent. But as the +heretical hens would go on laying, the eggs accumulated to such a +degree that they were boiled hard and given away. They were given to +the children for playthings, and they dyed them of gay colours. In +certain churches in Belgium the priests, at the beginning of a glad +anthem, threw the eggs at the choristers who threw them back again, +dancing to the music whilst catching the frail eggs that they might +not break. + +In Germany, where means are more limited than in France, the Easter +egg _bonbonnière_ is rare. There are none of the eight-hundred-pound +kind, which was made of enamel, and which on its inside had engraved +the gospel for the day, while by an ingenious mechanism a little bird, +lodged in this pretty cage, sang twelve airs from as many operas. + +But in Germany, to make up for this poverty, they have transformed the +hare into an oviparous animal, and in the pastry cook's windows one +sees this species of hen sitting upright in a nest surrounded by eggs. +I have often wondered if that inexplicable saying "a mare's nest," +might not have been "a hare's nest." As a _lucus a non lucendo_ it +would have done as well. When a German child, at any season of the +year, sees a hare run across the field, he says, "Hare, good little +hare, lay plenty of eggs for me on Easter day." It is the custom of +German families, on Easter eve, to place sugar-eggs and real eggs, the +former filled with sugar plums, in a nest, and then to conceal it with +dried leaves in the garden that the joyous children may hunt for them +on Easter morning. + +It is a superstition all over the world that we should wear new +clothes on Easter Day. Bad luck will follow if there is not at least +one article which is new. + + + + +HOW TO ENTERTAIN CHILDREN. + + From the realms of old-world story + There beckons a lily hand, + That calls up the sweetness, the glory, + The sounds of a magic land. + + Ah, many a time in my dreaming + Through that blessed region I roam! + Then the morning sun comes with its beaming + And scatters it all like foam! + HEINE. + + +In the life of Madame Swetchine we read the following account of the +amusements of a clever child:-- + +"The occupation of a courtier did not prevent Monsieur Soymonof from +bestowing the most assiduous care on the education of a daughter, who +for six years was his only child. He was struck by the progress of her +young intellect. She showed an aptitude for languages, music, and +drawing, while she developed firmness of character,--a rare quality in +a child. + +"She desired a watch with an ardour which transpired in all her +movements, and her father had promised her one. The watch came and was +worn with the keenest enjoyment; but suddenly a new thought seized +upon the little Sophia. She reflected that there was something better +than a watch. To relinquish it of her own accord, she hurried to her +father and restored to him the object of her passionate desires, +acknowledging the motive. Her father looked at her, took the watch, +shut it up in a bureau drawer, and said no more about it. + +"M. Soymonof's rooms were adorned with bronzes, medals, and costly +marbles. Sophia was on terms of intimacy with these personages of +fable and history; but she felt an unconquerable repugnance to a +cabinet full of mummies. The poor child blushed for her weakness, and +one day, when alone, opened the terrible door, ran straight to the +nearest mummy, took it up, and embraced it till her strength and +courage gave away, and she fell down in a swoon. At the noise of her +fall, her father hastened in, raised her in his arms, and obtained +from her, not without difficulty, an avowal of the terrors which she +had hitherto concealed from him. But this supreme effort was as good +for her as a victory. From that day the mummies were to her only +common objects of interest and curiosity. + +"Studious as was her education, M. Soymonof did not banish dolls. His +daughter loved them as friends and preserved this taste beyond her +childish years, but elevated it by the admixture of an intellectual +and often dramatic interest. Her dolls were generally of the largest +size. She gave them each a name and part to act, established connected +relations between the different individuals, and kept up animated +dialogues which occupied her imagination vividly, and became a means +of instruction. Playing dolls was for her an introduction to ethics +and a knowledge of the world. + +"Catherine's court was a succession of continual _fêtes_. The fairy +pantomimes performed at the Hermitage were the first to strike the +imagination of the child, who as yet could not relish the tragedies of +Voltaire. She composed a _ballet_ which she called 'The Faithful +Shepherdess and the Fickle Shepherdess.' She writes in her sixtieth +year: 'One of the liveliest pleasures of my childhood was to compose +festive decorations which I loved to light up and arrange upon the +white marble chimney-piece of my schoolroom. The ardour which I threw +into designing, cutting out, and painting transparencies, and finding +emblems and mottoes for them was something incredible. My heart beat +high while the preparations were in progress but the moment my +illumination began to fade an ineffable devouring melancholy seized +me.'" + +This extract is invaluable not only for its historic importance, but +for the keynote which it sounds to a child's nature. The noble little +Russian girl at the court of Catherine of Russia found only those +pleasures lasting which came from herself, and when she could invest +the fairy pantomime with her own personality. + +A fairy pantomime is possible to the poorest child if some superior +intelligence, an older sister or aunt, will lend her help. The fairies +can all be of pasteboard, with strings as the motive power. There can +be no cheaper _corps de ballet_, nor any so amusing. + +"You have done much for your child" is an expression we often hear. +"You have had a nurse, a nursery governess, a fine pony for your boy, +you take your children often to the play and give them dancing +parties, and yet they are not happy." It is the sincere regret of many +a mamma that she cannot make her children happy. Yet in a large town, +in a house shut up from our cold winter blasts, what can she do? A +good dog and a kind-hearted set of servants will solve the problem +better than all the intellect in the world. Grandmamma brings a doll +to the little girl, who looks it over and says: "The dolly cannot be +undressed, I do not want it." It is the dressing and the undressing +which are the delights of her heart. + +A boy wants to make a noise, first of all things. Let him have a large +upper room, a drum, a tambourine, a ball, and there he should be +allowed to kick out the effervescence of early manhood. Do not follow +him with all manner of prohibitions. Constant nagging and +fault-finding is an offence against a child's paradise. Put him in a +room for certain hours of the day where no one need say, "Get down! +don't do that! don't make so much noise!" Let him roar, and shout, and +climb over chairs and tables, and tear his gown, and work off his +exuberance, and then he will be very glad to have his hands and face +washed and listen to a story, or come down to meet papa with a smiling +countenance. + +Children should be allowed to have pet birds, kittens, dogs, and as +much live stock as the house will hold; it develops their sympathies. +When a bird dies, and the floodgates of the poor little heart are +opened, sympathize with it. It is cruel to laugh at childish woe. +Never refuse a child sympathy in joy or sorrow. This lack of sympathy +has made more criminals than anything else. + +Children should never be deceived either in the taking of medicine or +the administration of knowledge. One witty writer a few years ago +spoke of the bad influence of good books. He declared that reading +"that Tommy was a good boy and kept his pinafore clean and rose to +affluence, while Harry flung stones and told fibs and was carried off +by robbers," developed his sympathies for Harry; and that although he +was naturally a good boy he went, for pure hatred of the virtuous +Tommy, to the river's brink and helped a bad boy to drown his aunt's +cat, and then went home and wrote a prize composition called "Frank +the Friendless, or Honesty is Best." All this was because the boy saw +that Tommy was a prig, that his virtue was of that kind mentioned in +Jane Eyre, in which the charity child was asked whether she would +rather learn a hymn or receive a cake; she said "Learn a hymn," +whereupon she received "two cakes as a reward for her infant piety." +Children cannot be humbugged; they can be made into hypocrites, +however, by too many good books. + +The best entertainment for children is to let them play at being +useful. Let the little girl get papa's slippers, brush his hat, even +if the wrong way, find his walking stick, hold the yarn for grandma's +knitting, or rock her brother's cradle, and she will be happy. Give +the boy a printing-press or some safe tools, let him make a garden, +feed his chickens, or clean out the cage of his pet robin, and he will +be happy. Try to make them think and decide for themselves. A little +girl says, "I don't know which dress to put on my dolly, Mamma, which +shall I?" The mamma will be wise if she says, "You must decide, you +know dolly best." + +When a child is ill or nervous, the great hour of despair comes to the +mamma. A person without nerves, generally a good coloured mammy, is +the best playmate, and a dog is invaluable. It is touching to see the +smile come to the poor bloodless lips in a hospital ward, as a great, +big, kindly dog puts his cold nose out to reach a little feverish +hand. There is a sympathy in nature which intellect loses. + +Madame Swetchine's fear of the mummies has another lesson in it. +Children are born with pet aversions, as well as with that terrible +fear which is so much bigger than they are. The first of their rights +to be respected is that they shall not be frightened, and shall not be +too seriously blamed for their aversions. Buffalo Bill, who knows more +about horses than most people, says that no horse is born bad; that he +is made a bucking horse, a skittish horse, or a stumbling horse by +being badly trained,--misunderstood when he was young. How true this +is of human nature! How many villains are developed by an unhappy +childhood! How many scoundrels does the boys' hall turn out! We must +try to find these skeletons in the closet, this imprisoned spectre +which haunts the imaginative child, and lay the ghost by sympathy and +by common-sense. Cultivating the imagination, not over-feeding it or +starving it, would seem to be the right way. + +Perhaps there are no better ways of entertaining children than by a +juggler, the magic lantern, and simple scientific experiments. We use +the term advisedly. Jugglery was the oldest of the sciences. Aaron and +Moses tried it. One of the most valuable solaces for an invalid +child--one with a broken leg, or some complaint which necessitates bed +and quiet--is an experiment in natural magic. + +One of these simple tricks is called "The Balanced Coin." Procure a +bottle, cork it, and in the cork place a needle. Take another cork, +and cut a slit in it, so that the edge of a dollar will fit into it; +then put two forks into the upper cork. Place the edge of the coin, +which holds the upper cork and forks, on the point of the needle, and +it will revolve without falling. This will amuse an imprisoned boy all +the afternoon. + +The revolving image is a most amusing gentleman. Let poor Harry make +this himself. Cut a little man out of a thin bit of wood, making him +end in one leg, like a peg-top, instead of in two. Give him a pair of +long arms, shaped like oars. Then place him on the tip of your finger, +and blow; he will stand there and rotate, like an undecided +politician. + +The Spanish dancer is another nice experiment. Cut a figure out of +pasteboard, and gum one foot on the inverted side of a watch-glass; +then place the watch-glass on a Japan waiter or a clean plate. Hold +the plate slanting, and they will slide down; but drop a little water +on the waiter or plate, and instead of the watch-glass sliding, it +will begin to revolve, and continue to revolve with increased velocity +as the experimentalist chooses. This is in consequence of the cohesion +of water to the two surfaces, by which a new force is introduced. +These experiments are endless, and will serve a variety of purposes, +the principal being that of entertaining. + +To take children to the pantomime at Christmas is the universal law in +England. We have seldom the pantomime here. We have the circus, the +menagerie, and the play. A real play is better for children than a +burlesque, and it is astonishing to see how soon a child can +understand even Hamlet. + +To allow children to play themselves in a fairy tale, such as +"Cinderella," is a doubtful practice. The exposure, the excitement, +the late hours, the rehearsals, are all bad for young nerves; but they +can play at home if it is in the daytime. + +When boys and girls get old enough for dancing-parties, nothing can be +more amusing than the sight of the youthful followers of Terpsichore. +It is a healthy amusement, and if kept within proper hours, and +followed by a light supper only, is the most fitting of all +children's amusements. Do not, however, make little men and women of +them too soon. That is lamentable. + +As for ruses and catch-games like "The Slave Despoiled," "The Pigeon +Flies," "The Sorcerer behind the Screen," "The Knight of the Whistle," +"The Witch," "The Tombola," one should buy one of the cheap manuals of +games found at any bookstore, and a clever boy should read up, and put +himself in touch with this very easy way of passing an evening. + +The games requiring wit and intelligence are many; as "The Bouquet," +"The Fool's Discourse," which has a resemblance to "Cross Questions," +"The Secretary," "The Culprit's Seat." All these need a good memory +and a ready wit. All mistakes are to be redeemed by forfeit. + +Of the games to be played with pencil and paper, none is funnier than +"The Narrative," in which the leader decides on the title, and gives +it out to the company. It may be called "The Fortunate and Unfortunate +Adventures of Miss Palmer." The words to be used may be "history," +"reading," "railway accident," "nourishment," "pleasures," +"four-in-hand," etc. The paper has a line written, and is folded and +handed thus to the next,--each writer giving Miss Palmer whatever +adventures he pleases, only bringing in the desired word. The result +is incoherent, but amusing, and Miss Palmer becomes a heroine of +romance. + +There are some children, as there are some grown people, who have a +natural talent for games. It is a great help in entertaining children +to get hold of a born leader. + +The game called "The Language of Animals" is one for philosophers. +Each player takes his pencil and paper, and describes the feelings, +emotions, and passions of an animal as if he were one. As, for +instance, the dog would say: "I feel anger, like a human being. I am +sometimes vindictive, but generally forgiving. I suffer terribly from +jealousy. My envy leads me to eat more than I want, because I do not +wish Tray to get it. Gluttony is my easily besetting sin, but I never +got drunk in my life. I love my master better than any one; and if he +dies, I mourn him till death. My worst sorrow is being lost; but my +delights are never chilled by expectation, so I never lose the edge of +my enjoyments by over-raised hopes. I want to run twenty miles a day, +but I like to be with my master in the evening. I love children +dearly, and would die for any boy: I would save him from drowning. I +cannot wag my tongue, but I can wag my tail to express my emotion." + +The cat says: "I am a natural diplomatist, and I carry on a great +secret service so that nobody knows anything about it. I do not care +for my master or mistress, but for the house and the hearth-rug. I am +very frugal, and have very little appetite. I kill mice because I +dislike them, not that I like them for food. Oh, no! give me the +cream-jug for that. I am always ready to do any mischief on the sly; +and so if any one else does anything, always say, 'It was the cat.' I +have no heart, by which I escape much misery. I have a great advantage +over the dog, as he lives but a few years and has but one life. I have +a long life, and nine of them; but why the number nine is always +connected with me, I do not know. Why 'cat-o-nine-tails?' Why 'A cat +has nine lives,' etc.?" + +Thus, for children's entertaining we have the same necessities as for +grown people. Some one must begin; some one must suggest; some one +must tell how. All society needs a leader. It may be for that reason +our own grown-up society is a little chaotic. + +Perhaps the story of Madame Swetchine and her watch conveys a needed +moral. Do not deluge children with costly gifts. Do not thus deprive +them of the pleasures of hope. Anticipation is the dearest part of a +child's life, and an overfed child, suffering from the pangs of +dyspepsia, is no more to be pitied than the poor little gorged, +overburdened child, who has more books than he can read and more toys +than he can ever play with. Remember, too, "Dr. Blimber's Young +Gentlemen," and their longing jealousy of the boy in the gutter. + + + + +CHRISTMAS AND CHILDREN. + + "Then I stooped for a bunch of holly + Which had fallen on the floor, + And there fell to the ground as I lifted it + A berry--or something more; + And after it fell my eyes could see + More clearly than before! + But oh! for the red Christingle + That never was missing of yore, + And oh! for the red Christingle + That I miss forever more!" + + +Christingles are not much known in this country. They are made by +piercing a hole in an orange, putting a piece of quill three or four +inches long, set upright, in the hole, and usually a second piece +inside this. Each quill is divided into several slips, each one of +which is loaded with a raisin. The weight of the raisins bends down +the little boughs, giving two circles of pendants. A coloured taper is +placed in the upper quill and lighted on Christmas Eve. The custom is +a German one. + +The harbinger of Christmas, in Holland, is a Star of Bethlehem carried +along through the cities by the young men who pick up alms for the +poor. They gather much money, for all come to welcome this symbol of +peace. They then betake themselves to the head burgomaster of the +town, who is bound to give them a good meal. + +The little Russian, amid the snows, looks for the red candle and the +Christmas Tree, and the ice is all alight with gay illuminations. The +little Roman boy watches with delight the preparation for the +_Beffana_ in the public squares of Rome. For the _Beffana_ is the +witch who rides on a broomstick; she is a female Santa Claus, who +brings presents to a good child and a bunch of rods to a bad one. Her +worship is celebrated on Christmas Eve to the sound of trumpets and +all manner of unearthly noises. Then the boy goes to the Church of the +Augustins, to see the little Jesus Child lying in the lap of his Holy +Mother. He hears the most charming music, and singing choristers swing +the censer before the Host. Above his head Saint Michael fights with +the dragon. He sees the splendid procession of the cardinals in their +gorgeous red and white robes, and as he goes down the broad marble +steps, on each side of which beautiful statues stand in niches, his +mother, poor Dominica, peasant of the Campagna, kneels and makes the +sign of the cross, and tells her boy that this is Christmas, the day +on which the Jesus Child was born to take his sins away. Again he +wanders with her through the market-place; every one gives him +playthings, fruits, and cakes; a rich foreigner tosses him a coin. The +little Antonio asks why, and his mother tells him it is Christmas, but +not so gay as when she was a little girl, for then the _pifferari_, +the shepherds from the mountains, came, in their short cloaks with +ribbons around their pointed hats, to play on their bagpipes before +every image of the Virgin. Then they go again to the Church, the +beautiful Church of Ara Coeli, to hear the angel girls make Christmas +speeches to welcome the little Christ-child, and as he looks at the +image of the Madonna, all hung with jewels, he wishes it were +Christmas all the year round. + +The Christmas tree dates back to the Druids, but seems to have +disappeared from England for several centuries. Meantime, it blossomed +in Germany, where, under the tender and soft Scandinavian influence +which has such an admirable and ameliorating effect on homely German +life, it has continued to bear its fruit for six hundred years. It +came back to England in the days of Queen Charlotte, who, true to her +German associations, had a tree dressed at Kew Palace in the rooms of +her German attendant. It was hung, writes the Hon. Amelia Murray, with +gifts for the children, "who were invited to see it; and I remember," +she says, "what a pleasure it was to hunt for one's name." + +The "Mayflower," which brought much else that was good, forgot the +Christmas tree. It was not until the beginning of the present century +that one could be seen near Plymouth Rock. Men and women now living +can remember when Washington Irving's "Sketch-book" told to them the +first story of an English Christmas, and some brave women determined +to hang a few boughs and red berries around the cold, barren church. + +Then the tree began to bud and burgeon with gifts, and the rare +glories of colour crept in upon the snows of winter. The red fire on +the hearth, the red berries on the mantel, brought in the light which +grew pale in winter, the hospitality and the cheer of the turkey and +plum-pudding went around, and Christmas carols began to be sung by men +of Puritan antecedents. Old Christmas, frightened away at first by a +few fanatics, came at last to America to stay, and the mistletoe, +prettiest, most weird, most artistic of parasites, was removed from +dreary Druidical associations, and no longer assists at human +sacrifices,--unless some misogynist may so consider the getting of +husbands. + +The English Christmas is the typical one in the art of entertaining. +In every country neighbourhood, public county balls are conducted with +great pomp during the twelve days of Christmas. From all the great +houses within ten or fifteen miles come large parties, dressed in the +latest London fashions, among them the most distinguished lights of +the London world. Country residents are also conspicuous, and for +people who live altogether in the country this is the chosen occasion +for the first introduction of a daughter into society. The town hall +or any other convenient building is beautifully dressed with holly and +mistletoe. The band is at the upper end and the different sets form +exclusive groups about the room, seldom mixing even in the Virginia +Reel and other country dances. + +The private festivities of Christmas consist of a dinner to the +tenantry and a large one to the family, all of whose members are +expected. The mistletoe is hung conspicuously from the great lantern +in the hall, or over the stag's head at the door. The rooms are +wreathed with holly, each picture is framed in it, and the ladies put +the red berries in their hair and all over their dresses. The +customary turkey, a mighty bird, enters, making an event at the +dinner, while later on, a plum-pudding, all ablaze, with a sprig of +holly in the midst, makes another sensation. Mince-pies are set on +fire with the aid of a little alcohol, which is poured over them from +a small silver ladle. After the dinner, is passed the loving cup, a +silver cup with two handles, containing a hot, spiced, sweetened ale. +It has two mouths, and as it is lifted its weight requires both hands. + +In England, Christmas and New Year's still keep some of the mediæval +village customs. Men go about in motley, imitating quacks and +fortune-tellers, and there is much noise and tooting of horns. These +mummers are sent to the servants' hall, where a plentiful supper and +horns of ale await them. The waits, or carol singers, are another +remnant of old Christmas. In remote parts of England the stables are +lighted, to prove that man has not forgotten the Child born and laid +in a manger. As for the parish festivities, in which the hall has so +prominent a part, the school feasts, the blankets for the poor, the +clothing-club meetings at Martinmas, all has been told us in novels, +which have also given us many a picture of comfortable and stately +English life. + +The modern English squire does not, however, eat, drink, and make +merry for twelve days, as he used. The wassail-bowl is broken at the +fountain, and mince-pies and goose-pies and yule-cakes are thought to +be heavy for modern digestion. But the good cheer remains. + +The noblest as well as the humblest of all English houses, especially +in Yorkshire, keep up the old superstition of lighting the Yule log, +"the ponderous ashen fagot from the yard," and great ill-luck is +foretold if its flame dies out before Twelfth Night. Frumenty, which +is a porridge boiled with milk, sugar, wine, spices, and raisins, is +served. It was in a cup of frumenty, as every conscientious reader of +fairy stories will remember, that Tom Thumb was dropped by his +careless nurse. The Christmas pie of Yorkshire, is a "brae goose-pie" +which Herrick in one of his delightful verses thus defends: + + "Come guard this night the Christmas pie, + That the thiefe, though ne'er so slie, + With his fleshhooks, don't come nie + To catch it. + + "From him who all alone sits there, + Having his eyes still in his eare, + And a deale of nightly feare + To watch it." + +In America, the young people are utilizing Christmas day as they do in +England, if there is no frost, to go a-hunting. Afternoon tea, under +the mistletoe in the hall of a country house, is generally taken in a +riding habit. + +In most families it is a purely domestic festival; although, as the +tree has been enjoyed the night before, when Santa Claus, the great +German sprite, has held his revels, there is no reason why a grand +dinner to one's friends should not be given. And let us plead that the +turkey, our great national bird, may not be cooked by gas. He is so +much better roasted before a wood fire. + +There are some difficulties in giving a Christmas dinner in a large +city, as nearly all the waiters are sure to be drunk, and the cook has +also, perhaps, been at the frumenty. Being a religious as well as a +social festival, it is apt to bring about a confusion of ideas. But, +everything else apart, it is Children's Day; it is the day when, as +Dickens says, we should remember the time when its great Founder was a +child Himself. It is especially the day for the friendless young, the +children in hospitals, the lame, the sick, the weary, the blind. No +child should be left alone on Christmas Day, for loneliness with +children means brooding. A child growing up with no child friend is +not a child at all, but a premature man or woman. + +The best Christmas present to a boy is a box of tools, the best to a +girl any number of dolls. After dressing and undressing them, giving +them a bath, taking them through a fit of sickness, punishing them, +and giving them an airing in the park,--for little maidens begin to +imitate mamma at a very early age,--the next best amusement is to +manufacture a doll's house. The brother must plane the box,--an old +wine box will do,--and fit in it four compartments, each of which must +be elaborately papered. Then a "real carpet" must be nailed down and +pictures hung on the wall. These bits, framed with gold paper, usually +require mamma's help. The kitchen must be fitted up with tins, which +perhaps had better be bought, but after the _batterie de cuisine_ is +finished, then the chairs and beds should be made at home. Cardboard +boxes can be cut into excellent doll's beds. Pillows, bolsters, +mattress, sheets, pillow-cases, will keep little fingers busy for many +days. + +When they get older, and can write letters, a post-office is a +delightful boon. These are to be bought, but they are far more amusing +if made at home. Any good-sized card-box will do for this purpose. The +lid should be fastened to it so that when it stands up it will open +like a door. A slit must be cut out about an inch wide, and from five +to six inches long, so as to allow the postage of small parcels, yet +not large enough even to admit the smallest hand. Children should +learn to respect the inviolate character of the post from the earliest +age. + +On the door should be written the times of the post. Most children are +fond of writing letters to one another, and this will of course give +rise to a grand manufacture of note paper, envelopes, and post-cards, +and will call forth ingenuity in designing and colouring monograms and +crests, for their note paper and envelopes. An envelope must be taken +carefully to pieces, to form a flat pattern. Then those cut from it +have to be folded, gummed together, a touch of gum put on the flap +and the monogram made to correspond. It is wonderful what occupation +this gives for weeks. A paint-box should be also amongst the Christmas +gifts. + +Capital scrap-books can be made by children. Old railway guides may be +the foundation, and every illustrated paper the magazine of art. A +paste-pot, next to a paint-box, is a most serviceable toy. + +Children like to imitate their elders. A little boy of two years +enjoys smoking a pipe as he sees grandpapa smoke, and knocks out +imaginary ashes, as he does, against the door. + +Hobby horses are profitable steeds, and can be made to go through any +amount of paces. But mechanical toys are more amusing to his elders +than to the child, who wishes to do his own mechanism. A boy can be +amused by turning him out of the house, giving him a ball or a kite, +or letting him dig in the ground for the unhappy mole. Little girls, +who must be kept in, on a rainy day, or invalid children, are very +hard to amuse and recourse must be had to story-telling, to the dear +delightful thousand and one books now written for children, of which +"Alice in Wonderland" is the flower and perfection. + +For communities of children, as in asylums and schools, there is +nothing like music, songs, and marches; anything to keep them in time +and tune. It removes for a moment that institutionized look which has +so unhappy an effect. + +Happy is the child who has inherited a garret full of old trunks, old +furniture, old pictures, any kind of old things. It is a precious +inheritance. Given the dramatic instinct and a garret, and a family of +quick-witted boys and girls will have amusement long after the +Christmas holidays are passed. + +It would be a great amusement for weeks before Christmas, if children +were taught to make the ornaments for the tree, as is done in +economical Germany. Here the ideas of secrecy and mystery are so +associated with Santa Claus that such an idea would be rejected. But a +thing is twice as interesting if we put ourselves into it. + +At Christmas time let us invoke the fairies. They, the gentry, the wee +people, the good people, are very dear to the real little wee people, +who see the fun and do not believe too much in them. The fairies who +make their homes under old trees and resort to toadstools for shelter, +and who make invisible excursions into farmhouses have afforded the +Irish nurse no end of legends. An old nurse once held a magnificent +position in the nursery because she had seen a fairy. + +The Christmas green was once the home of the peace-loving wood-sprite. +Christmas evergreens and red berries make the most effective interior +decorations, their delightful fragrance, their splendid colour renders +the palace more beautiful, and the humble house attractive. Before +Twelfth Night, January 6, they must all be taken down. The festivities +of this great day were much celebrated in mediæval times, and the +picture by Rubens, "The King Drinks," recalls the splendour of these +feasts. It is called Kings' Day to commemorate the three kings of +Orient, who paid their visit to the humble manger, bringing those +first Christmas gifts of which we have any account. + +The negroes from Africa, who were brought as slaves to the West Indian +Islands, always celebrate this day with queer and fetich rites. It is +in honour of the black king Melchior whom we see in the pictures "from +Afric's sunny fountains." + +The Twelfth-Night cake, crowned with candles, is cut and eaten with +many ceremonies on this occasion. The universality of Christmas is its +most remarkable feature. Trace it as one will to the ancient +Saturnalia, this universality is still inexplicable. It long antedates +the Christian era. The distinctly modern customs are the giving of +gifts, and the good eating, which, if followed back, we find to have +been gluttony among the Norsemen. + +To the older members of the family the day is a sad one. The little +verse at the head of the chapter recalls the fact that for every child +gone back to heaven, there is one Christingle less. But if it will +bring the rich to the poor, if it will not forget a single legend or +grace, if the holly and evergreen will breathe the sweetest and +highest significance, if we can remember that every simple festival at +Christmas which makes the hearth-stone brighter is a tribute to the +highest wisdom, if we connect Christmas and humanity, then shall we +keep it aright. For the world unlocks its heart on every Christmas Day +as it has done for eighteen Christian centuries. The cairn of +Christmas memories rises higher and higher as the dear procession of +children, those constantly arriving, precious pilgrims from the +unknown world, halts by the majestic mountain to receive gifts, giving +more than they take. For what would Christmas be without the children? + + + + +CERTAIN PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS. + + +The rules laid down in books of etiquette may seem preposterously +elaborate and absurd to the denizens of cities, and to those who have +had the manual of society at their fingers' ends from childhood, but +they may be like the grammar of an unknown tongue to the youth or +maiden whose life has been spent in seclusion or a rustic +neighbourhood. As it is the aim of this unpretending volume to assist +such young people, a few hints to young men coming fresh from life on +the plains, or from an Eastern or Western college, from any life which +has separated them from the society of ladies, may not be considered +impertinent. + +A young man on coming into a great city, or into a new place where he +is not known, should try to bring a few letters of introduction. If he +can bring such a letter to any lady of good social position, he has +nothing further to do but deliver it, and if she takes him up and +introduces him, his social position is made. But this good fortune +cannot always be commanded. Young men often pass through a lonely life +in a great city, never finding that desired opportunity. + +To some it comes through a friendship on the tennis ground, at the +clubs, or through business. If a friend says to some ladies that +Tilden is a good fellow, Tilden will be sought out and invited. It is +hardly creditable to any young man to live in a great city without +knowing the best ladies' society. He should seek to do so, and +perhaps the simplest way would be for him to ask some friend to take +him about and to introduce him. Once introduced, Tilden should be +particular not to transcend the delicate outlines of social suffrance. +He must not immediately rush into an intimacy. + +A call should never be too long. A woman of the world says that one +hour is all that should be granted to a caller. This rule is a good +one for an evening visit. It is much better to have one's hostess +wishing for a longer visit than to have her sigh that you should go. +In a first visit, a gentleman should always send in his card. After +that he may dispense with that ceremony. + +A gentleman, for an evening visit, should always be in evening dress, +black cloth dress-coat, waistcoat, and trousers, faultless linen and +white cravat, silk stockings, and polished low shoes. A black cravat +is permissible, but it is not full dress. He should carry a crush hat +in his hand, and a cane if he likes. For a dinner-party a white cravat +is indispensable; a man must wear it then. No jewelry of any kind is +fashionable, excepting rings. Men hide their watch chains, in evening +dress. + +The hands should be especially cared for, the nails carefully cut and +trimmed. No matter how big or how red the hand is, the more masculine +the better. Women like men to look manly, as if they could drive, row, +play ball, cricket, perhaps even handle the gloves. + +A gentleman's dress should be so quiet and so perfect that it will not +excite remark or attention. Thackeray used to advise that a +watering-pot should be applied to a new hat to take off the gloss. The +suspicion of being dressed up defeats an otherwise good toilet. + +We will suppose that Tilden becomes sufficiently well acquainted to +be asked to join a theatre party. He must be punctual at the +rendezvous, and take as a partner whomever the hostess may assign him, +but in the East he must not offer to send a carriage; that must come +from the giver of the party. In this, Eastern and Western etiquette +are at variance, for in certain cities in the West and South a +gentleman is expected to call in a carriage, and take a young lady to +a party. To do this would be social ruin in Europe, nor is it allowed +in Boston or New York. If, however, Tilden wishes to give a theatre +party, he must furnish everything. He first asks a lady to _chaperon_ +his party. He must arrange that all meet at his room, or a friend's +house. He must charter an omnibus or send carriages for the whole +party; he must buy the tickets. He is then expected to invite his +party to sup with him after the theatre, making the feast as handsome +as his means allow. This is a favourite and proper manner for a young +man to return the civilities offered him. It is indispensable that he +should have the mother of one of the young ladies present. The custom +of having such a party with only a very young _chaperon_ has fallen, +properly, into disrepute. And it seems almost unnecessary to say so, +except that the offence has been committed. + +A man should never force himself into any society, or go anywhere +unasked. Of course, if he be taken by a lady, she assumes the +responsibility, and it is an understood thing that a leader of society +can take a young man anywhere. She is his sponsor. + +In the early morning a young man should wear the heavy, loosely +fitting English clothes now so fashionable, but for an afternoon +promenade with a lady, or for a reception, a frock coat tightly +buttoned, gray trousers, a neat tie, and plain gold pin is very good +form. This dress is allowed at a small dinner in the country, or for a +Sunday tea. + +If men are in the Adirondacks, if flannel is the only wear, there is +no dressing for dinner; but in a country house, where there are +guests, it is better to make a full evening toilet, unless the hostess +gives absolution. There should always be some change, and clean linen, +a fresh coat, fresh shoes, etc., donned even in the quiet retirement +of one's own home. Neatness, a cold bath every morning, and much +exercise in the open air are among the admirable customs of young +gentlemen of the present day. If every one of them, no matter how +busy, how hard-worked, could come home and dress for dinner, it would +be a good habit. Indeed, if all American men, like all English men, +would show this attention to their wives, society would be far more +elegant. A man always expects his wife to dress for him; why should he +not dress for her? He is then ready for evening visits, operas, +parties, theatres, wherever he may wish to go. No man should sit down +to a seven o'clock dinner unless freshly dressed. + +If Tilden can afford to keep a tilbury, or a dog-cart, and fine +horses, so much the better for him. He can take a young girl to drive, +if her mamma consents; but a servant should sit behind; that is +indispensable. The livery and the whole turnout should be elegant, but +not flashy, if Tilden would succeed. As true refinement comes from +within, let him read the noble description of Thackeray:-- + +"What is it to be a gentleman? Is it to be honest, to be gentle, to be +generous, to be true, to be brave, to be wise, and possessing all +these qualities to exercise them in the most gentle manner? Ought a +gentleman to be a loyal son, a true husband, and honest father? Ought +his life to be decent, his bills to be paid, his tastes to be high and +elegant? Yes, a thousand times yes!" + +Young men who come to a great city to live are sometimes led astray by +the success of gaudy adventurers who do not fall within the lines of +the above description, men who get on by means of enormous impudence, +self-assurance, audacity, and plausible ways. But if they have +patience and hold to the right, the gentleman will succeed, and the +adventurer will fail. No such man lasts long. Give him rope enough, +and he will soon hang himself. + +It is not necessary here to refer to the etiquette of clubs. They are +self-protecting. A man soon learns their rules and limitations. A man +of honesty and character seldom gets into difficulty at his club. If +his club rejects or pronounces against him, however, it is a social +stigma which it is hard to wipe out. + +A young man should lose no opportunity of improving himself. Works of +art are a fine means of instruction. He should read and study in his +leisure hours, and frequent picture galleries and museums. A young man +becomes the most agreeable of companions if he brings a keen fresh +intelligence, refined tastes, and a desire to be agreeable into +society. Success in society is like electricity,--it makes itself +felt, and yet is unseen and indescribable. + +It is a nice thing if a man has some accomplishment, such as music or +elocution, and to be a good dancer is almost indispensable. Yet many a +man gets on without any of these. + +It is a work-a-day world that we live in, and the whole formation of +our society betrays it. Then dress plainly, simply, and without +display. A gentleman's servants often dress better than their master, +and yet nothing is so distinctive as the dress of a gentleman. It is +as much a costume of nobility as if it were the velvet coat which Sir +Walter Raleigh threw down before Queen Elizabeth. + +It may not be inappropriate here to say a word or two on minor points. +In addressing a note to a lady, whom he does not know well, Tilden +should use the third person, as follows:-- + + Mr. Tilden presents his compliments to Mrs. Montgomery and + begs to know if she and Miss Montgomery will honor him with + their company at a theatre party in the evening of April 3d, + at the Chestnut Street Theatre. + R. S. V. P. 117 South Market Place. + +This note should be sealed with wax, impressed with the writer's coat +of arms or some favourite device, and delivered by a private messenger +who should wait for an answer. In addressing a letter to a gentleman, +the full title should be used,--"Walter Tilden, Esq.," or, first name +not known, "---- Tilden, Esq.," never, "Mr. Walter Tilden." If it be +an invitation, it is not etiquette to say "Mister." + +In writing in the first person, Tilden must not be too familiar. He +must make no elisions or contractions, but fill out every word and +line, as if it were a pleasure. + +It is urged against us by foreigners, that the manners of men toward +women partake of the freedom of the age; that they are not +sufficiently respectful. But, if careless in manner, American men are +the most chivalrous at heart. + +At a ball a young man can ask a friend to present him to a lady who is +chaperoning a young girl, and through her he can be presented to the +young girl. No man should, however, introduce another man without +permission. If he is presented and asks the girl to dance, a short +walk is permitted before he returns his partner to the side of the +_chaperon_. But it is bad manners for the young couple to disappear +for a long time. No man should go into a supper-room alone, or help +himself while ladies remain unhelped. + +To get on in society involves so much that can never be written down +that any manual is of course imperfect; for no one can predict who +will succeed and who will fail. Bold and arrogant people--"cheeky" +people--succeed at first, modest ones in the long run. It is a +melancholy fact that the most objectionable persons do get into +fashionable society. It is to be feared that the possession of wealth +is more desired than the possession of any other attribute; that much +is forgiven in the rich man which would be rank heresy in the poor +one. + +We would not, however, advise Tilden to choose his friends from the +worldly point simply, either of fashion or wealth. He should try to +find those who are well bred, good, true, honourable, and generous. +Wherever they are, such people are always good society. + +In the ranks of society we find sometimes the ideal gentleman. Society +may not have produced so good a crop as it should have done; yet its +false aims have not yet dazzled all men out of the true, the ideal +breeding. There are many clubs; but there are some admirable +Crichtons,--men who can think, read, study, work, and still be +fashionable. + +A man should go through the fierce fires of social competition, and +yet not be scorched. All men have not had that fine, repressive +training, which makes our navy and army men such gentlemen. The +breeding of the young men of fashion is not what their grandfathers +would have called good. They sometimes have a severe and bored +expression when called on to give up a selfish pleasure. One asks, +"Where are their manners?" + +Breeding, cultivation, manners, must start from the heart. The old +saying that it takes three generations to make a gentleman makes us +ask, How many does it take to unmake one? Some young and well-born men +seem to be undoing the work of the three generations, and to have +inherited nothing of a great ancestor but his bad manners. An American +should have the best manners. He has had nothing to crush him; he is +unacquainted with patronage, which in its way makes snobs, and no one +loves a snob, least of all the man whom the snob cultivates. + +The word "gentleman" although one of the best in the language, should +not be used too much. Be a gentleman, but talk about a man. A man +avoids display and cultivates simplicity, neatness, and fitness of +things, if he is both a man and a gentleman. + + + + +COMPARATIVE MERITS OF AMERICAN AND FOREIGN MODES OF ENTERTAINING. + + +There is no better old saw in existence than that comparisons are +odious; they are not only odious, but they are nearly if not quite +impossible. For instance, if we compare a dinner in London with a +dinner in New York, we must say, Whose dinner? What dinner? If we +compare New York with Paris, we must say, What Paris? Shall we take +the old Catholic aristocracy of the Faubourg St. Germain, or the +upstart social spheres of the Faubourg St. Honoré and the Chaussée +d'Antin? Or shall we take _Tout Paris_, with its thousand +ramifications, with its literary and artistic salons, the _Tout Paris +mondain_, the _Tout Paris artiste_, the _Tout Paris des Premières_, +and all the rest of that heterogeneous crowd, any fragment of which +could swallow up the "four hundred," and all its works? + +Shall we attempt to compare New York or Washington with London, with +its four millions, its Prince of Wales set, its old and sober +aristocracy of cultivated people, whose ideas of refinement, culture, +and of all the traditions of good society date back a thousand years? +Would it be fair, either, to attempt to say which part of this vast +congeries should be taken as the sample end, and which part of America +with its new civilization should be compared with any or all of +these? + +Therefore any thoughts which follow must be merely apologized for, as +the rapid observations of a traveller, who, in seeing many countries, +has loved her own the best, and who puts down these fleeting +impressions, merely with a hope to benefit her own, even if sometimes +criticising it. + +Twenty years ago, Justin McCarthy, than whom there has been no better +international critic, wrote an immortal paper called, "English and +American Women Compared." It was perhaps the most complimentary, and +we are therefore bound to say the fairest, description of our women +ever given to the world. It came at a time when the American girl was +being served up by Ouida, the American senator by Anthony Trollope, +and the American _divorcée_ by Victorien Sardou, in "L'Oncle Sam." +There was never a moment when the American needed a friend more. + +In that gentle, yet pungent paper, Mr. McCarthy refers to our +extravagance, our love of display, our superficial criticisms of the +merits of English literary women, judged from the standpoint of dress, +and of a singular underlying snobbery which he observed in a few, who +wished that the days of titles and of aristocratic customs could come +back to the land where Thomas Jefferson tied his horse to the Capitol +palings, when he went up to take the Presidential oath. Since that +paper was written what a flood of prosperity has deluged the land; +what a stride has been made in all the arts of entertaining! What +houses we possess; what dinners we give! + +What would Horace Walpole say, could he see the collections of some of +our really poor people, not to mention those of our billionnaires? +Should he go out to dinner in New York, the master of Strawberry Hill +and the first great collector could see more curious old furniture, +more hawthorn vases, more antique teapots, more rare silver, and more +_chiffons_ than he had ever dreamed of; he could see the power which a +young, vigorous nation possesses when it takes a kangaroo trick of +leaping backward into antiquity, or forward into strange countries, +and what it can bring home from its constant globe-trotting, in +exchange for some of its own silver and gold. He would also see the +power which art has possessed over a nation so suddenly rich that one +reads with alarm the axiom of Taine, "When a nation has reached its +highest point of prosperity, and begins to decay, then blossoms the +consummate flower of art." + +We need not go so far back as Horace Walpole; it even astonishes the +collector of last year to find that he must come to New York to buy +back his Japanese bronzes, and his Capo di Monte, his Majolica and +peach-blow vase. We may say that we have the oldest of arts, that of +entertaining, wrested from the hands of the oldest of nations, and +placed almost recklessly in the hands of the youngest,--as one would +take a delicate musical instrument from the hands of a master and put +it in the hands of a child. What wonder if in the first essay some +chords are missed, some discords struck? Then we must remember that +modern life is passing, slowly but decidedly, through a great +revolution, now nearly achieved. The relation of equality is gradually +eclipsing every other,--that of inequality, where it does survive, +taking on its least noble form, as most things do in their decay. In +Europe there is still deference to title, although the real power of +feudalism was broken by Louis XI. Its shadow remains even in +republican France, where if a man has not a title he is apt to buy or +to steal one. On this side of the Atlantic there is a deference paid +to wealth, however obtained. This is a much greater strain upon +character, a more vulgar form of snobbery than the reverence for +title; for a title means that sometime, no matter how long ago, some +one lived nobly and won his spurs. + +We may therefore assume that the great necromancer Prosperity, with +his wand, luxury, has suddenly placed our new nation, if not on a +footing with the old, certainly as a new knight in the field, whose +prowess deserves that he should be mentioned. Or, to change the +metaphor, we can imagine some spread-eagle orator comparing us to a +David who with his smooth stones from the brook, dug up in California +and Nevada, is giving all modern Goliaths a crack in the forehead. +When we come to make a comparison, however, let us narrow this down to +the giving of a dinner in London, in distinction to giving a dinner in +any city in America, and see what our giant can do. + +London possesses a regular system of society, a social citadel, around +which rally those whose birth, title, and character are all +well-known. It is conscious of an identity of interest, which compacts +its members, with the force of cement, into a single corporation. + +The queen and her drawing-room, the Prince of Wales and his set, the +royal family, the nobility and gentry, what is called the aristocracy +form a core to this apple, and this central idea goes through all its +juices. + +Think what it must mean to a man to read that he is descended from +Harry Hotspur, Bolingbroke, Clarendon, Sidney, Spenser, Cecil. Imagine +what it must have been to have known the men who daily gathered around +the tables of the famous dinner-givers. Imagine what the dinners at +Holland House were, and then compare such a dinner with one which any +American could give. And yet, improbable as it may seem, the American +dinner might be the more amusing. The American dinner would have far +more flowers; it would be in a brighter room; it would be more +"talky," perhaps,--but it could not be so well worth going to. In +England, in the greater as well as in the simpler houses, there is a +respect for intellect, for intelligence, that we have not. It is the +fashion to invite the man or the woman who has done something to meet +the most worshipful company, and the young countess just beginning to +entertain would receive from her grandmother, who entertained Lord +Byron, this advice, "My dear, always have a literary man, or an artist +in your set." + +The humblest literary man who has done anything well is immediately +sought out and is asked to dinner; and the artist of merit, in music, +painting, architecture, literature, is sure of recognition in London. +One is almost always sure to see, at a grand dinner in London, some +quiet elderly woman, who receives the attention of the most +distinguished guests, and one learns that she is Mrs. So-and-So, who +has written a story, or a few hymns. + +In this respect for the best part of us, our brains, the London +dinner-giver has shown his thousand years of civilization; he is +playing the harp like a master. + +To return for a moment to the criticism of Justin McCarthy. He says in +it, that while he admired the American taste in dress, he could not +admire a certain confusion of mind, by which an otherwise kindly and +well-informed American woman misjudged a person who preferred to go +plain, or shabby, if you will. In fact, he stood up for the right +which every English woman will claim as her own, "to be dowdy," if she +will. The Queen has taught her this. While the Princess of Wales, the +younger daughters of the Queen, and much of the fashion of London +dresses itself in Paris, and is consequently very smart, there is +still a class who look down on clothes and consider them a small +matter. Perhaps that is the reason why such stringent regulations are +laid down for the court dress. + +Magnificent, stately, and well-ordered, are the dinners of London,--a +countess at the head of the table, a footman behind each chair, in +great houses a very fine dinner, and splendid pieces of plate, some +old china, pictures on the wall from the pencils of Rembrandt, Rubens, +Van Dyck, Gainsborough, and Sir Joshua. Sweet, low-voiced, and +well-bred are the women, with beautiful necks, and shoulders, and fine +heads. The men are they who are doing the work of the world in the +House of Lords, the House of Commons, in India, in Egypt, in the +Soudan; there is a multiplicity of topics of conversation. No English +stiffness exists at the dinner, and there is always present some +literary man or woman, some famous artist as the _pièce de +resistance_; such are the dinners of London. + +The luncheons are simpler, and here one is sure to meet men advanced +in thought, and women of ideas, and there is no question as to the +rent-roll. Wealth has absolutely nothing to do with society success in +London. + +We might mention many a literary and artistic _salon_, over which +charming and fascinating, young and fashionable women preside with the +mingled grace, which adds a beauty and a meaning to Emerson's famous +_mot_ that "fashion is funded politeness." We might mention many a +literary or artistic man or woman of London, who is the favoured +friend of these great ladies, who would, if an American, never be +asked to a luncheon at Newport, or admitted to a ball at Delmonico's, +because he was not fashionable. It would not occur to the gay +entertainers to think that such a person would be desirable. + +Paris, as the land of the _mot_ and the epigram, has always had a +great attraction for literary people. Carlyle said of England that it +was composed of sixty millions of people, mostly fools. His own +experience as a favoured guest at Lady Ashburton's, and other great +houses, ought to have modified his decision. In America, the Carlyles +would have been called "queer," and probably left out. In England, it +is a recommendation to be "queer," original, thoughtful. In that +bubble which rises to the top, to which Mr. McAllister has given the +name "the four hundred," it is not a recommendation to be queer, +original, or thoughtful. + +That some men and women of genius have commanded success in society +only proves the rule; that some people of fashion have become writers, +and painters, and poets, and have still kept their foothold, is only +the exception. + +Charles Astor Bristed, born to fortune and fashion, declared that what +he gained in prestige in England by becoming an author, he lost in +America. What woman of fashion goes out of her way to find the man of +letters who writes the striking editorials in a morning paper in New +York? In London, a dozen coroneted notes await such a lucky fellow. +Perhaps the most curious instance of the awkward handling of that rare +and valuable instrument, which we call the art of entertaining in +America, is the deliberate ignoring of the best element of a dinner +party,--the hitherto unknown, or the well-known man of brains. This +distinguishes our entertaining from that of foreigners. + +The best society we have in America is that at Washington; the +President's house is the palace. He and his ministers, and the judges +of the Supreme Court, the officers of the army and navy, are our +aristocracy,--a simple, unpretending one, but as real in its social +laws and organization as any in the world. And there intellect reigns. +The dinners at Washington, having a kind of precedence, reinforced by +intelligence, independent of wealth, and regardless of the arbitrary +rules of a self-elected leadership, are the most agreeable in this +country, if not in the world. We have said there are many sorts of +Paris, and so there are many sorts of America. It must not be supposed +that clever people do not get together, and that there are not dinners +of the brightest and the best. Outside the "four hundred" there is a +group of fifty thousand or more, who have travelled, thought, and +read, experienced, and learned how to give a good dinner,--a witty +dinner. + +I use the term "four hundred" as a convenient alias for that for which +Americans have no other name; that is, the particular reigning set in +every city, every small village. In Paris, republic as it is, there is +still a very decided aristocracy. There is the Duchesse Rochefaucauld +Bisaccia, and the eccentric Duchesse d'Uzes, and so on, who are +decidedly the four hundred. There are the very wealthy Jews, like the +Rothschilds, who are much to be commended for their recognition of the +supremacy of art and letters. They have become the protectors of these +classes commercially, and their intelligent wives have made their +_salons_ delightful, by bringing in men of culture and talent. On +Sundays the Comtesse Potocka, who wears the best pearls in Paris, +tries to revive the traditions of the Hotel Rambouillet, in her +beautiful hôtel in the Avenue Friedland. Her guests are De Maupassant, +Ratisbonne, Coquelin, the painter Bérand, and other men of wit. The +Baroness de Poilly has a tendency to refine Bohemianism and is an +indefatigable pleasure seeker. The only people she will not receive +are the financiers and the heavy-witted. The Comtesse de Beaumont says +that the key to her house is "wit and intellect without regard to +party, caste, or school." Carolus Duran, Alphonse Daudet, the +painters, whoever is at the head of music, literature, or the dramatic +art, is welcomed there. + +The princes of the House of Orléans, are most prominent in their +attentions to people of talent. The Princesse Mathilde has a house in +the Rue de Berri full of exquisite pictures by the old masters, and a +few of the modern school. Her _salon_ is a model of comfort and +refined elegance, and at her Sunday receptions, where one meets the +world, are men distinguished in diplomacy, art, and letters. + +But what simple dinners, as to meat and drink, do any of these great +people give, compared to the dinners which are given constantly in New +York,--dinners which are banquets, but to which the young +_littérateur_ or painter would not be invited! That is to say, in +London and in Paris the fashionable woman who would make her party +more fashionable, courts the literary and artistic guild; as a guild, +the fashionable woman in America does not court them. + +It may be said that this is an unfair presentation of the case, +because in London there may be patronage on one side, while in America +there is perfect equality, and the literary man is a greater +aristocrat than the fashionable woman who gives the party. This is in +one sense true, for the professions have all the honour here. The +journalists are often the men who give the party. The witty lawyer is +the most honoured guest everywhere; so are certain _littérateurs_. + +People who have become rich suddenly, who wish to be leaders, to have +gay, young, well-dressed guests at their dinners, do not desire the +company of any but their own kind. Yet they try to emulate the dinners +of London, and are surprised when some English critic finds their +entertainments dull, flat, and unprofitable, overloaded and vulgar. +The same young, gay, rich dancing set in London would have asked +Robert Browning to the dinner, merely as a matter of fashion. And it +is this fashion which is commendable. It improves society. + +The social recognition of the dramatic profession is not here what it +is in England or France. There is no Lady Burdett Coutts to take Mr. +Irving off on her yacht. No actor here has the social position which +Mr. Irving has in London. Who ever heard of society running after Mr. +John Gilbert, one of the most respectable men of his profession, as +well as a consummate actor? + +In London, duchesses and countesses run after Mr. Toole; he is a +darling of society. Mr. and Mrs. Bancroft have done much to help their +profession and themselves by taking the initiative, and giving +delightful little evenings. But it is vastly more common, to see many +of the leading actors and actresses in society in London than in New +York. Indeed, it is the custom abroad to ask, "what has he done, what +can he do?" rather than, "how much is he worth?" The actor is valued +for what he is doing. Perhaps our system of equality is somewhat to +blame for this, and the woman of fashion may wait for the dramatic +artist to take the initiative and call on her. But we know that any +one who should urge this would be talking nonsense. In our system of +entertaining in a gay city, it is the richest who reigns, and although +there are some people who can still boast a grandfather, it is the +new-comer who is the arbiter of fashion. Such a person could, in +London or Paris or Rome, merely as a fashionable fad, invite the +artist or the writer to make her party complete. In America she would +not do it, unless the man of genius were a lion, a foreigner, a +novelty. Then she would do so, and perhaps run after him too much. + +And now, as we have been treating of a very small, unimportant, and to +the great American world, unknown quantity, the reigning set in any +city, let us look at the matter from within. Have we individually +considered the merits of the festive plenty which crowns our table, +relatively to the selection of the company which is gathered around +it? + +Have we in any of our cities those _déjeuners d'esprit_, as in Paris, +where certain witty women invite other witty women to come and talk of +the last new novel? Have we counted on that possible Utopia where men +and women meet and talk, to contribute of their best thought to the +entertaining? Have we many houses to which we are asked to a banquet +of wit? Are there many opulent people who can say, The key to my house +is wit and intellect, and character, without regard to party, caste or +school? If such a house can be found, its owner has, all other things +being equal, conquered the art of entertaining. + +Now, all people of talent are not personages of society. To be that, +one must have good manners, know how to dress one's self and respect +the usages of society. We should not like to meet Dr. Johnson at a +ball, but it is very rare to find people nowadays, however learned, +however retired, however gifted, who have discarded as he did, the +decencies of deportment. The far greater evil of depriving society of +its backbone should be balanced against this lesser danger. + +There are literary and artistic and academic _salons_ in Paris, which +are the most interesting places to the foreigner, which might be +copied in every university town of America, to the infinite advantage +of society. A fashionable young woman of Paris never misses these, or +the lectures, or her Thursday at the Comédie Française where she hears +the classic plays of Molière and even Shakspeare. It makes her a very +agreeable talker, although her culture may not be very deep. She is +not a bit less particular as to the number of buttons on her gloves, +or the becomingness of her dress, because she has given a few hours to +her mental development. In America, we have thoughtful women, gifted +women, brilliant women, but we rarely have the combination which we +see in France, of all this with fashion. + +When this young and fashionable hostess gives a dinner, or an evening, +she invites Coquelin and some of his witty compeers, and she talks +over Molière with the men who understand him best. + +It is possible that French _littérateurs_ care more for society than +their American brothers. They go into it more, and at splendid dinners +in Paris I remember the writers for the "Figaro," as most desirable +guests. The presence of members of the French Academy, for instance, +is much courted, and as feminine influence plays a considerable _rôle_ +in the Academy elections, it is advisable for playwrights, novelists, +and aspiring writers generally to cultivate influential relations with +a view to the future. However this may be, literature and art are more +highly honoured socially in Paris than in America, and men of letters +lead a very joyous existence, dining and being dined, and making a +dinner delightfully brilliant. + +The artists of Paris have become such magnates, living in sumptuous +houses and giving splendid fêtes, that it is hardly possible to speak +of their being left out; they are mostly agreeable men,--Carolus Duran +and Bonnat especially. But painters, especially portrait painters, are +always favourites in all fashionable society. + +The French women talk much about being in the "movement" which to the +American ear may be translated the "swim." They follow every picture +exhibition, can quote from the "Figaro" what is going on, they +criticise the last play, the last new novel, they do much hard work, +but they seek out and honour the man of brains, known or unknown, who +has made a fine play or novel. + +Every woman in America may take a lesson in entertaining from the old +world, and strive to combine this respect for both conditions, the +luxury which feeds, and the brain which illuminates. A house should be +at once a pleasure and a force,--a force to sustain the struggling, as +well as a pleasure to the prosperous. + +A merely sumptuous buffet, a check sent to Delmonico for a "heavy +feed" does not master that great art, which has illuminated the +noblest chapters in the history of our race, and led to the most +complete improvement in the continuous development of mankind. Without +each other we become savages, with the conquering of the art of +entertaining we reach the highest triumphs of civilization. + +It is a progressive art, while those that we have worshipped stand +still. No architect of our day, even when revealing the inner conceit +which cynics say possesses all minds, would hope to surpass the +builders of the Parthenon, no carver of marble hopes to reach Phidias, +no painter dares to measure his brush with Raphael, Titian, or +Velasquez. "In Asia art has been declining for ages; the Moor of Fez +would hardly recognize what his race did in Granada; the Indian +Mussulman gazes at the Pearl Mosque as if the genii had built it; the +Persians buy their own old carpets; and the Japanese confess, with a +sigh, that their own old ceramic work cannot be equalled now." In all +art there is "despair of advance," except in the art of entertaining. + +That is always new and always progressive; there is no end to the +originality which may be brought to bear upon it. This rule should be +constantly enforced. A hostess must take pains and trouble to give her +house a colour, an originality, and a type of its own. She must put +brains into her entertaining. + +We have begun this little book, somewhat bumptiously perhaps, with an +account of our physical resources. Let us pursue the same strain as to +our mental wealth. We have not only witty after-dinner speakers--in +that, let no country hope to rival us--amongst our lawyers, +journalists, and literary men, but we have our clergy. It would be +difficult to find any hamlet in the United States where there is not +one agreeable clergyman, more often three or four. + +The best addition to a company is an accomplished divine, who knows +that his mission is for two worlds. He need not be any the less the +ambassador to the next, of which we know so little, because he is a +pleasant resident and improver of this world, of which many of us feel +that we know quite enough. The position of a popular clergyman is a +peculiar and a dangerous one, for he is expected to be merry with one, +and sad with another, at all hours of the day. Next to the doctor, we +confide in him, and the call on his sympathies might well make a man +doubtful whether any of his emotions are his own. + +But the scholarship, the communing with high ideas, the relationship +to his flock, all tend to the formation of that type of man which we +call the agreeable, and America is extremely rich in this eminent aid +to the art of entertaining. As a Roman Catholic bishop once observed, +"As a part of my duty, I must make myself agreeable in society;" and +so must every clergyman. + +And to say truth, we have few examples of a disagreeable clergyman. +While his cloth surrounds him with reverence and respect, his fertile +brain, ready wit, and cheerful co-operation in the pleasure of the +moment, will be like a finer education and a purifying atmosphere. +From the days of Chrysostom to Sydney Smith the clergy should be known +as the golden-mouthed. The American mind, brilliant, rapid, and clear, +the American speech, voluble, ready, and replete, the talent for +repartee, rapier-like with so many of our orators, and the quick wit +which seems to be born of our oxygen, all this, added to the +remarkable beauty and tact of our women, of which all the world is +talking, and which the young aristocrats of the old world seem to be +quite willing to appropriate, makes splendid provision for a dinner, a +reception, an afternoon tea, or a ball. + +We sometimes hear complaints of the insufficiency of society, and that +our best men will not go into it. If there is such an insufficiency, +it is because we have too much sufficiency, we are struggling with the +overplus, often as great an embarrassment as the too little. It is +somebody's fault if we have not learned to play on this "harp of a +thousand strings." + +We need not heed the criticism of the world, snobbishly; we are a +great nation, and can afford to make our own laws. But we should ask +of ourselves the question, whether or not we are too lavish, too fond +of display, too much given to overfeeding, too fond of dress, too much +concerned with the outside of things; we should take the best ideas of +all nations in regard to the progressive art, the art of entertaining. + + + + + * * * * * + + + + +Transcriber's note: + + Inconsistent hyphenation, diacritical marks and spelling in the + original document have been preserved. Obvious typographical + errors have been corrected. + + The quote starting on page 13, "Viticulture in Algeria", does not + have an ending quote mark. + + On page 117, "spatch-cooked" should possibly be "spatch-cocked". + + On page 160, "gormandize" should possibly be "gourmandize". + + The chapter starting on page 176 is called "Receipts" in the Contents + and "Recipes" in the text. + + On page 193, "gargonzala" should possibly be "gorgonzola". + + On page 310, "boaston" should possibly be "boston". + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 41632 *** |