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Special Dinners, Dances and Luncheons 537 |
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"Bluff old winter, brisk and jolly, Bringing Christmas in its train, Crowned with spruce and fir and holly, Welcome back again."
The ice-cream represented snowballs, perfectly round and coated on the outside with colourless lemon-ice.
The favours were round boxes, white and glistening, surmounted with sprigs of artificial holly.
The expense of this entertainment was much less than two luncheons of ten covers would have been. The cook's charges did not exceed those made for a fine dinner for twelve persons (the ordinary $5.00 of the professional). It was served by two men hired for the occasion, assisted by two of the household servants. In this case the extra china, silver, glass, etc., were borrowed from that "banker provided by nature"—a mother. But all these things may be hired at small cost, as were some of the candlesticks and the round tops for the tables, at the time that I am recalling.
The flowers were arranged by the hostess. With the invaluable help of an ox-muzzle over each dish, to hold the flowers in place and make each blossom do its full duty, it was the work of not more than an hour and a half to complete the four centrepieces.
The dishes holding the flowers were the ordinary tins made for the round jardinieres, called "epergnes," their plebeian nature concealed by wide satin ribbons matching the blossoms in colour.
It was not an elaborate luncheon, calculated to Impress one with magnificence, but a friendly function, with a background of "sweetness and light." |
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