When these parties break up at seasonable hours, they may prove one of the most rational and harmless modes of securing social enjoyment; but when connected with highly exciting amusements, and late hours, they are sure to wear upon the constitution and health, and rational and conscientious persons, for these and other reasons, will avoid them.
[CHAPTER XXVII.]
ON SETTING TABLES, AND PREPARING VARIOUS ARTICLES OF FOOD FOR THE TABLE.
To a person accustomed to a good table, the manner in which the table is set, and the mode in which food is prepared and set on, has a great influence, not only on the eye, but the appetite. A housekeeper ought, therefore, to attend carefully to these particulars.
The table-cloth should always be white, and well washed and ironed. When taken from the table, it should be folded in the ironed creases, and some heavy article laid on it. A heavy bit of plank, smoothed and kept for the purpose, is useful. By this method, the table-cloth looks tidy much longer than when it is less carefully laid aside.
Where table napkins are used, care should be taken to keep the same one to each person, and in laying them aside, they should be folded so as to hide the soiled places, and laid under pressure.
The table-cloth should always be put on square, and right side upward. The articles of furniture should be placed as exhibited in figures 7 and 8.
The bread for breakfast and tea should be cut in even, regular slices, not over a fourth of an inch thick, and all crumbs removed from the bread plate. They should be piled in a regular form, and if the slices are large, they should be divided.
The butter should be cooled in cold water, if not already hard, and then cut into a smooth and regular form, and a butter knife be laid by the plate, to be used for no other purpose but to help the butter.
Small mats, or cup plates, should be placed at each plate, to receive the tea-cup, when it would otherwise be set upon the table-cloth and stain it.