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Page 20
If your home is small and inconvenient, if you become easily flustered,
if you don't find intense pleasure in making others happy, then don't
invite friends to dinner--and discomfort. But if you are the jolly,
calm, happy sort of a hostess, who can attend to duties quickly and yet
without confusion, if you have a cozy little home and taste enough to
make it attractive--then give dinners by all means--and your guests will
not object to their simplicity.
HOTEL DINNERS
With the servant problem growing more complex every year, more and more
hostesses are turning to hotels to provide their special dinners. These
cannot rival a successful dinner at home but often they are much easier
to arrange and even the most conservative of hostesses may entertain
dinner guests at a hotel. Private dining-rooms are a luxury but much
more charming than the public room. The latter is, of course, the one
used by the large majority of people.
Most hotels provide comfortable lobbies or lounges in which guests may
wait for each other. But if the hotel is a big one and crowded it is
pleasanter to meet elsewhere and arrive together.
The etiquette of the hotel dining-room is that of the home dining-room.
Nothing should ever be done to draw attention to the group of people who
are dining there. Quiet behavior is more than ever valuable.
DRESS FOR DINNER
For an informal dinner a woman may wear a semi-evening dress of the sort
suitable for afternoon while her partner wears the regular dinner jacket.
For a formal affair formal decollete dress with the hair arranged
somewhat more elaborately than usual is required. Jewels may be worn.
Gloves are always removed, never at a dinner should they be tucked in at
the wrists. Men, of course, wear full evening dress to a formal dinner.
In hotels and other public dining-rooms there is more freedom of choice
as to what one shall wear but it is in bad taste to attire oneself
conspicuously. A woman dining alone should always wear her hat into the
dining-room even if she is a guest of the hotel.
It is amazing how much the little niceties of life have to do with making
a dinner pleasant, and in every home the family should "dress for dinner"
even though this may not mean donning regulation evening dress. Formal
or informal, in the intimacy of the family circle or in a large group of
friends the meal should be unhurried and calm.
CHAPTER III
LUNCHEONS
PURPOSE OF THE LUNCHEON
In England, and especially in London, the luncheon is held in quite as
high esteem as our most formal dinners. For it is at the luncheon, in
England, that distinguished men and women meet to discuss the important
topics of the moment and exchange opinions. It is indeed easy to
understand why this would be a delightful meal, for there is none of the
restraint and formality of the late dinner. But in America, perhaps
because most all of our gentlemen are at business "down-town" during the
day, perhaps because we disdain to ape England's customs, the luncheon
has not yet reached the point where it rivals the formal dinner. And yet
it holds rather an important place all its own.
The "place" is distinctly feminine. The ladies of America have taken the
luncheon in hand and developed it into a splendid midday entertainment
and means of hospitality. The gentlemen are of course welcome; but they
are rarely present. It is usually among themselves that the ladies
celebrate the ceremony of the luncheon--both formal and informal--and
that it has survived, and is tending to become permanently popular, is
sufficient proof of its success. It is often preceded or followed by
cards or other simple entertainment.
INFORMAL LUNCHEONS
Invitations may be sent only a few days before the day set for the
luncheon, and are usually written in the first person instead of the
third which is the convention for more elaborate functions. The hour of
luncheon is stated, but need not be as rigidly followed as the dinner
hour. If guests are reasonably late they may be excused, but the late
dinner guest is correctly considered discourteous. Lord Houghton, famous
in England's social history, used to word his invitations simply "Come
and lunch with me to-morrow" or "Will you lunch with me Tuesday?" He
rarely mentioned the hour. Incidentally, Lord Houghton's unceremonious
luncheons earned for him widespread comment, and they had much to do with
the ultimate popularity of the informal luncheon in England.
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