White-capped waitresses served at the French table which was bright with candelabra, asparagus ferns and pink ribbons. The menu cards bore the fleur-de-lis. Peas, olives and candied walnuts were distinctive dishes. The color scheme was pink and green.
At the table representing Holland the girls wore Dutch peasant costumes and served coffee and chocolate, carrots with cream sauce, so commonly used among the Hollanders, sausage, rye bread and pickles, cake and gingerbread baked in fancy shapes.
The German table was gay with flowers. Noodle soup, German cheese and anise cakes were added to a generous dinner. The menu cards were in the form of corn-flowers and were written in German text. The favors were pretzels.
At the Italian table macaroni and fruit were the dishes. The favors were menu cards with the Italian flag painted on each.
The Mexican table was decorated with palms, and a dinner very similar to one a traveler would get in that country was served. The favors were menu cards written in Spanish, to which tiny Mexican tamales were attached by red and green ribbons, the Mexican colors.
Dainty arbutus graced the New England table and menu cards. The repast was a bounteous Thanksgiving dinner such as New Englanders know how to provide. Baked beans and brown bread were on the menu, as were also several kinds of pie and apple-sauce.
The Western table was waited upon by a boy and girl dressed as Indians with the ornaments they admire. The table was ornamented with flowers. The dinner cards showed paintings of Indian heads and the favors were little paper canoes. The cakes, fruit, etc., were served in Indian baskets.
The Southern table had a menu different from all the others. Among the good things were a whole roast pig, corn bread, warm biscuit and sweet potatoes. There were colored waiters in conventional white linen suits. The favors that stood by each plate were little Dinah dolls.
FISH MARKET
A rustic bridge was built out from one side of the platform forming a square space in one corner of the room that was used for a fish pond. Rocks and ferns were grouped along the edge of the platform, the floor was covered with green carpet, and a pretty meadow scene painted on coarse cotton was hung at the back, making a very picturesque setting for the pond. Steps led up to the bridge, and at the foot was a rustic lodge where, on payment of a fee, the prospective fisher was given a pole and a circle of cardboard, upon which was marked the number of times he was entitled to fish. Thus equipped, he went up on the bridge and fished in the pond. Additional fishing tickets were sold by the bridgekeepers. Articles of all description and varying values were fished forth from the pond, which made it all the more exciting. Refreshments were served in the hall and there were a candy and cake table and two stalls where fancy articles were sold. One of these stalls bore the sign, Fish Market. Here fish of many brilliant colors and quaint shapes were for sale; they were blotters, shaving cases, pincushions, sachet bags, needle-books, housewives, pen-wipers, spool and veil cases, emeries, court-plaster cases and kites. They were made of inexpensive materials, but their novelty caused them to sell rapidly. The fish market was well patronized. At the other stall, pillows and lamp-shades were sold. Red linen pillows shaped like Japanese fish and worked with black attracted a great deal of attention; other pillows had poster fish swimming across them, and still others were adorned with borders of fishes and anglers' maxims. Fish lamp-shades—scarlet, yellow and delicately tinted—found a ready sale among the young people, and caused much mirth. On the cake and candy table there were many toothsome fishes—chocolate and clear candy fish, boxes of candy decorated with fishing scenes in water-color and pen and ink, sandwiches cut out with fish-shaped tin cutters, also fish-shaped cookies and small iced cakes. The tops of the large cakes were ornamented with fish designs done with contrasting colors of icing.