After the napkin has been neatly spread upon the tray, place a plate in the middle of the side nearest to you, and then arrange the other dishes about it, with the tiny earthen teapot on the right, and the sugar-bowl and cream-pitcher of silver next to it; the knife, fork, and spoons should be on the right and left of the plate, never in front of it. The various dishes to be served should then be arranged symmetrically in other parts of the tray, not scattered about without the appearance of order.
Never crowd a tray. Calculate beforehand how many dishes you will probably have, and select a size accordingly. Serve a single glass or a single cup on a small round or oval tray with a doily, never on a large tray, such as might be selected for a meal.
When practicable use silver dishes for meats, soups, coffee, hot milk, or any hot food; when these cannot be had, use hot china.
Importance of Harmony of Colors
Avoid discords in color. Most women have an instinctive appreciation of color, and by giving some thought to the subject of harmonies, and observing the methods of others who are known to have good taste in such matters, bad blunders in the arrangement of a tray or a table may be avoided.
Red with yellow, blue with green, and yellow with pink are inharmonious combinations of color; but yellow with white, blue with white, dull orange with brown, violet, and pale gold are exquisite together.
A cup of chocolate in pale pink or dull red, coffee in buttercup yellow, especially when served without cream, and green tea in Nile green, appeal to the eye as well as to the taste, giving double pleasure—gratifying two senses instead of one.
Color plays a very important part in serving food. It produces strong effects in some persons who are deeply moved by harmonies or discords in it, as others are by harmonies or discords in music. Color appeals to the esthetic side of some natures much more forcibly than many of us are aware.
The story is told of a lady, possessed of unusually keen color-perception, who had been living for many months in a house furnished in monotonous hues, and in which the table was always set in plain white cloth and white china. Being invited to lunch with a friend in the neighborhood, she was moved to tears at the sight of a beautiful table, decorated with a scarlet cloth, flowers, and harmoniously contrasting colored china.
The effect of the colors upon the emotions was similar to that which is sometimes produced by an exquisite strain of music. Who can say how much of subtle refining influence may be exerted by such things? Regarded as a general thing only in the light of the ornamental, they are too often looked upon as luxuries, and therefore dispensable; but whatever ministers to the esthetic side of the mind must be elevating, and the influence of neatness, of beautiful surroundings, of harmonious colors, of art in any form, inevitably produces an effect upon character. In time such surroundings become necessities, and when the individual is deprived of them they are missed, and he feels a sense of dissatisfaction with those of meaner kind—perhaps dissatisfaction with a poorer or lower life in any way—and imperceptibly these seeming ornaments of existence may be the means which shall lift many an one into a higher plane of life, so that, aside from their practical value, all the niceties of household affairs may have a lasting effect for good upon character.