TABLE SERVICE
73. ESSENTIALS OF GOOD TABLE SERVICE.--Too much cannot be said of the importance of attractive table service. The simplest kind of meal served attractively never fails to please, while the most elaborate meal served in an uninviting way will not appeal to the appetite. Therefore, a housewife should try never to neglect the little points that count so much in making her meals pleasing and inviting. It is not at all necessary that she have expensive dishes and linen, nor, in fact, anything out of the ordinary, in order to serve meals in a dainty, attractive way. Some points, however, are really essential and should receive consideration.
74. In the first place, there should be absolute cleanliness in everything used. To make this possible, the dishes should be properly washed and dried. The glasses should be polished so that they are not cloudy nor covered with lint. The silver should be kept polished brightly. The linen, no matter what kind, should be nicely laundered. Attention given to these matters forms the basis of good table service.
Close in hand with these points comes a well-arranged and neatly set table. To this may be added some attractive touches in the way of flowers or other simple decoration. These need cost little or nothing, especially in the spring and summer seasons, for then the fields and woods are filled with flowers and foliage that make most artistic table decorations. Often, too, one's own garden offers a nice selection of flowers that may be used for table decoration if a little time and thought are given to their arrangement. In the winter, a small fern or some other growing plant will answer.
75. BREAKFAST, LUNCHEON, AND DINNER SERVICE.--To give an idea of proper table service for the three meals, breakfast, luncheon, and dinner, Figs. 9, 10, and 11 are offered. Attention should be given to the details of each of these, for they show how to arrange meals that are intended to be served tastily and invitingly.
76. In Fig. 9 is shown a breakfast cover for one. By a cover is meant the silver and dishes placed on the table for one person. In a simple meal, this might consist of a knife, a fork, spoons, a plate, a glass, a cup and saucer, and a bread-and-butter plate. Here the cover has been arranged on a breakfast tray for service at a bedside. This meal is not in the least unusual, but it is very dainty and pleasing. It consists of strawberries with the stems left on so that they may be dipped into sugar and eaten, a cereal, a roll with butter, a hot dish of some kind, such as eggs, and a hot beverage.
77. A luncheon table with covers for six is shown in Fig. 10. The first course consists of a fruit cocktail, which is placed on the table before the persons to be served are seated. The silver required up to the dessert course is also laid beforehand. Just before the dessert is served, the entire table should be cleared and the silver necessary for this course laid at each place.