Size and Quality of Napkins.
Fashion has decreed that a napkin shall not be put on the table a second time until it has been washed. Few housekeepers, however, have the means to provide themselves with such a supply of napkins, not to speak of the laundress to care for them; so the napkin ring is still a necessity in the average household. It is important, however, that the supply be large enough to admit of their being changed two or three times a week. For general use a dinner napkin is to be preferred, unless a separate set of table-cloths and napkins be desired for breakfast. In that case the napkins should be smaller than for dinner. All napkins are finished with a plain hem, or are hemstitched.
Fringe is rarely used, except on fancy doilies. The plain square napkin comes in all sizes, from twenty inches to the size of the dinner napkins, which measure twenty-seven inches; and the cost is anywhere from one dollar and a half to fifty dollars a dozen. At five or six dollars a dozen one can get napkins that are good enough for ordinary use. The cheaper and smaller ones are unsatisfactory. Whenever possible, the napkin should match the cloth. One cloth will outwear two sets of napkins; therefore it is well to get two dozen napkins to each cloth. One cannot err in laying in a generous stock of plain ones, but the style of the small fancy napkins is constantly changing, and one should not buy too many of them at a time.