Part 5

This feast if well planned and carried out is most pleasing in its results. There are seven tables. These tables are set in white, with centrepieces and other decorations to carry out the color scheme. Have first table near the door, and others arranged according to the menu, which can be changed to suit the seasons. It is necessary to have two sets of waiters, the first to clear away, and the second to furnish fresh supplies. All must dress to harmonize with the colors of their tables. Serve food in small quantities and in small dishes. At the ringing of a bell seven guests are seated at the first table. At the expiration of seven minutes, the bell again rings, and those at the first table pass to the second table, and seven other guests are permitted to enter the room, and to be seated at the first table. Here is where the waiters will have to hurry and reset the tables. At the close of every seven minutes the bell rings, signaling all to pass up one table. Seven persons pass out every seven minutes, and forty-nine are fed in as many minutes. A novel idea is to charge seven cents on entering the dining-room, seven cents when through at the last table, and seven cents as they pass out the door, making twenty-one cents for each guest. They will not object after they are through with the menu at the seven tables.

WINIFRED M. SIMONDS.

DECORATIONS AND MENU FOR SEVEN TABLES

_Decorations_ _Menu_

_White Table_

White Centrepiece Shredded Potatoes White Dishes White Bread and Butter White Napkins Cold Roast Pork White Flowers Milk

_Brown Table_

Brown Centrepiece Brown Bread and Butter Brown Dishes Brown Coffee Doilies Worked in Brown Boston Baked Beans Brown Leaves Pressed Brown Pickles

_Green Table_

Green Bordered Centrepiece Wafers Tied With Green Ribbon Green Flowered Dishes Lettuce Green Paper Napkins Olives Green Foliage Green Tea Pickles

_Red Table_

Old Fashioned Red Table Cloth Red Cake Cranberry Sauce Red Flowered Dishes Wafers Tied With Red Ribbon Red Napkins Red Flowers

_Orange Table_

Orange Bordered Centrepiece Orange Wafers Orange Paper Napkins Sliced Oranges Orange Colored Flowers Orange Cake

_Yellow Table_

Yellow Centrepiece Lemon Pie Yellow Figured Dishes Cheese Yellow Paper Napkins Lemonade Yellow Flowers

_Pink Table_

Pink Bordered Centrepiece Pink Cakes Pink Flowered Dishes Pink Pop-corn Pink Paper Napkins Pink Candies Pink Flowers Pink Carnation for Each Guest

FEAST OF NATIONS

The following is a description of a church supper which was recently given with great success:

The Japanese table was decorated with chrysanthemums. At each place was a Japanese tray on which a Japanese napkin was folded in a fanciful manner. Little dishes of rice, hard-boiled eggs, cabbage chopped fine, and small cups of tea comprised the first course. The second course was a turkey dinner. The waiters were in Japanese costume. The favors were small Japanese umbrellas tied with the Japanese colors, red and white.

At the Chinese table the first course was rice prepared with curry, followed by chicken pie with the usual accompaniments. Chopsticks were in evidence, though the guests were not compelled to use them. The waiters were in Chinese dress. The table was adorned with curios, and the favors were ancestral tablets in tiny boxes, tied with yellow, the national color of China.

The Hindustani table was resplendent with red and yellow tulips, the colors of India. Handsome bowls of beaten brass loaned by a returned missionary ornamented the table. Four young men in the costume peculiar to India waited upon this table. The special dish was chicken with curry, and the favors were genuine Indian bracelets.

Some rare old Welsh china was used on the Welsh table, and the menu cards, written in Welsh, were in the shape of Welsh hats. A Welsh flag was given as a souvenir to each guest.

The Irish table was served by lassies gowned in green. The menu cards were in the form of shamrocks. "Potatoes with their jackets on" and buttermilk were the dishes characteristic of this country. The tablecloth was of bright green denim and the decorations were all of green leaves.

The table representing bonnie Scotland had menu cards decorated with the thistle. Jam tarts were among the delicacies.

The English table was decorated in the English colors, with the English standard as a centrepiece. Roast beef, of course, was an essential part of the dinner, supplemented by plum pudding, caraway cakes and tea. The favors were red and white roses.

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.

FLAGS OF NATIONS

Secure as many cards as there are to be guests, and paint or paste on each of them some five or six small flags of different nations, numbering each flag. Sometimes one can obtain small buttons with these flags on them, and these answer quite as well. It is better to have each card different, and to assort the flags, so that every card may contain some not very generally known. The United States flag might be omitted, as every one would be familiar with that; but the flag of Liberia could be used on several cards, as its resemblance to our flag would be apt to deceive many. Plates showing the various national flags in colors may be found in the front of almost any unabridged dictionary.

Hand a card and a pencil to each guest. The pencil may be made quite attractive by covering it with a strip of crepe paper in some bright color. This can be easily accomplished by cutting the paper into lengths a little longer than the pencil, pasting one side, and rolling the pencil in the paper, then tying with a bow of narrow ribbon. After the guests are supplied with cards and pencils let each one write opposite the flags the names of the countries whose emblems they are. This will be found no easy matter, unless the guest should be a sailor or a globe-trotter, and many amusing guesses will be recorded.

The one who succeeds in guessing the countries correctly, or in guessing nearest, might be rewarded with a United States flag pin or a pretty silk flag. For making awards the hostess should have a list of the flags that are on each card, which should be numbered, and compare the list with the guesses handed in by the company.

FLORAL LOVE STORY

1. The girl's name and the color of her hair (Marigold).

2. The color of her eyes (violet).

3. Her brother's name and an adjective that just describes her (Sweet William).

4. Her brother's favorite musical instrument (trumpet).

5. At what time did he awaken his father with it (four o'clock).

6. With what did his father punish him (goldenrod).

7. What did the boy do (balsam).

8. What office in the Presbyterian Church did her father fill (elder).

9. Being a farmer, what was his occupation in spring (plantain).

10. Her lover's name and what he wrote it with (jonquil).

11. What, being single, he often lost (bachelor's buttons).

12. What confectionery he took to her (peppermint).

13. What he did when he proposed (aster).

14. What ghastly trophy did he lay at her feet (bleeding heart).

15. What did she give him in return (heartsease).

16. What did she say to him (Johnny-jump-up).

17. What flower did he cultivate (tulips).

18. To whom did she refer him (poppy).

19. What minister married them (Jack-in-the-pulpit).

20. What was wished with regard to their happiness (live-forever).

21. When he went away, what did she say to him (forget-me-not).

22. With what did she punish her children (lady's-slipper).

23. What hallowed their last years (sweet peas).

FLOWER BAZAAR

Six booths, if properly planned, will mean a small but picturesque bazaar. Five of these booths may represent flowers, and many of the articles sold from them may be made at home by members of the society which the sale is designed to aid.

Drape the Lily booth in white, decorate it with Easter lilies and light it with fairy lamps with white shades. Little novelties for Easter gifts may be sold here--the pretty trifles which are easily made.

The Violet booth may be almost self-decorative if Easter cards and dainty booklets bearing the flower are displayed. Many choice bits of verse and short paragraphs of uplifting thought may be found in the religious publications of to-day, and if these are carefully mounted on white cards and tied with violet ribbon to a bunch of the fresh flowers they will make the most cheering of Easter messages. Provision should be made at the booth for the cards to be autographed with the names of the senders.

The Tulip booth may be the gayest of the gay, and there the children should find Easter eggs in all colors of the rainbow. The booth should be lighted with gay lanterns. Those in charge should appear in Oriental costumes.

The choice of decorations for the Pansy booth is a wide one. Light green would make a good background to set off the bowls of different colored blossoms adorning the table. At this booth flower seeds, bulbs and plants of all kinds might be on sale. Seedlings are always ready sellers.

A booth which would prove very popular with housewives would be the one where Daffodils are in evidence, and there the egg delicacies for Easter menus might be on sale: stuffed eggs, pickled eggs, egg salad, custards, and angel and sponge cakes. Over this booth place a large yellow umbrella, fringed with daffodils. On a card fastened to the handle have the familiar quotation:

"Daffodils, That come before the swallow dares."

Butterflies fluttering over the Candy booth, as if attracted by the sweets there, will induce others to come for the same sweets. The butterflies may be made of crepe paper and suspended above the booth by invisible wires; the vibration of the air will make them appear very real. The little maid who presides should be gowned to represent a butterfly.

Care should be taken that the attendants at the different booths are dressed in colors to harmonize with the decorative scheme.

FLOWER GUESSING CONTEST

1. My first wears my second on her foot. (Lady's slipper)

2. A Roman numeral. (IV-Ivy)

3. The hour before my English cousin's tea. (Four-o'clock)

4. Good marketing. (Butter and eggs)

5. A gay young man and a ferocious animal. (Dandelion)

6. My first is often sought for my second. (Marigold)

7. A young man's farewell to his sweetheart. (Forget-me-not)

8. Her reply to him. (Sweet William)

9. The gentler sex of the Friend persuasion. (Quaker ladies)

10. Its own doctor. (Self-heal)

11. My first is as sharp as needles, my second is as soft as down. (Thistledown)

12. My first is a country in Asia, my second is the name of a prominent New York family. (China Aster)

13. My first is the name of a bird, my second is worn by cavalrymen. (Larkspur)

14. A church official. (Elder)

15. A very precise lady. (Primrose)

16. A tattered songster. (Ragged Robin)

17. My first is sly but cannot wear my second. (Foxglove)

18. The color of a horse. (Sorrel)

19. A craze in Holland in the seventeenth century. (Tulip)

20. My first is an implement of war, my second is a place where money is coined. (Spearmint)

21. A disrespectful name for a physician. (Dock)

22. Fragrant letters. (Sweet peas)

23. My first is a white wood, my second is the name of a yellow Rhenish wine. (Hollyhock)

24. What the father said to the son in the morning. (Johnny-jump-up)

25. My first is a facial expression of pleasure, my second a woodsman's means of livelihood. (Smilax)

26. An animal of the jungle is my first, my second is the name of a tall, fair lady. (Tiger Lily)

27. My first is made in a dairy but is seldom served in my second. (Buttercup)

28. My first wears my second on his head. (Coxcomb)

29. A close companion. (Stick-tight)

30. A fashionable shade for evening dresses. (Heliotrope)

FLOWER LUNCHEONS

DAISY LUNCHEON.--Just before luncheon the hostess may crown each guest with a wreath, which she has prepared by tying the blossoms on circles of fine wire.

In the centre of the luncheon-table have a large bunch of blossoms and also a few scattered carelessly over the table. Trim the edge of the table with a chain of daisies, looped up here and there. At each corner have a large bow of ribbon, either white or of three colors, yellow, green and white.

Serve only light refreshments. Yellow and white ices served together would be pretty. By all means have your cakes cooked in patty-pans. Ice the little cakes with chocolate, and on top of each have a life-size daisy. Any amateur can make this decoration successfully. Boil your icing thick and squeeze it through a small funnel made of thick writing-paper in order to make the long, narrow, white petals of a daisy. Reserve a small portion of the icing and tint it bright yellow for the centres. The effect will be quite pretty.

After refreshments are served supply each guest with a sheet of paper and a tiny pencil with a ribbon bow at the end (these pencils can be purchased for a cent apiece). Announce that the guest who draws the most natural daisy will be awarded a prize. Distribute the blossoms for models. Pin all of the papers upon the wall and let the guests decide which is the most lifelike flower. Award a pretty book to the one who succeeds best and a booklet of pressed flowers to the second best.

BUTTERCUP LUNCHEON.--A very effective arrangement of buttercups for a luncheon is here suggested. It must be remembered that this flower closes at night and therefore is not suitable for an evening decoration. In the centre of the table arrange a circle of large rock ferns, and in the circle thus made place an inverted round pudding-dish, surrounding it with a large wreath of buttercups. Place the wreath so that half of each fern leaf will project beyond the buttercups. On the pudding-dish, the sides of which are hidden by the wreath, place a fern-dish full of growing ferns, and almost hidden among them a green glass vase filled with buttercups and grasses. This same idea may be carried out with daisies.

OX-EYED DAISIES may be used for a luncheon-table decoration very effectively. In the centre of a round table, arranged to seat eight people, place a mound of daisies and mountain ferns and have a rope of daisies running from each plate to the centre. The ends of the ropes may be hidden in the mound.

VIOLET LUNCHEON.--In the centre of a table stand a large cut-glass bowl on a violet embroidered centrepiece. Fill this bowl with smilax and pink carnations. In the centre of the bowl place a tall green glass vase and make it secure by passing four lengths of ribbon crossed over the top of it, fastening the ends on the edge of the centrepiece with little bows. In the green vase place eight bunches of violets. From each bouquet run violet baby-ribbons ending in a little bow at each place. This will make a number of ribbons resembling a May-pole. After the luncheon each guest may unfasten the little bow at her place, give the ribbon a jerk, and draw a bunch of violets. The ribbons passing over the top of the vase will hold the vase firmly in place.

APPLE-BLOSSOM LUNCHEON.--For this use blossoms which are but half blown. Place branches of them in glass bottles full of water and fasten with wires to the backs of the pictures in the dining-room. The sideboard should be covered with great branches put in tall cut-glass vases and low silver bowls; the mantel banked, and in the corners of the room tall Japanese jars filled with great spraying branches. In the centre of the table may be placed a vase filled with pure white cherry blossoms. The candlesticks should be shaded with white and silver. Back of a screen at each end of the room a lamp may be set to give a brilliant light to the flowers on the wall, without the glare of the lamp being visible.

PANSY LUNCHEON.--A pretty and an original way to decorate a table with pansies when one has quantities of these flowers is to place in the centre of the table upon a glass salver an old-fashioned glass fruit-bowl on a pedestal. Fill the fruit-bowl and salver with white cornmeal which has been well soaked in cold water, and in this insert the pansy stems. They should be placed as thickly as possible. Around the outer edge of the salver have a border of maidenhair fern. An oblong glass dish arranged in a similar manner may be placed at each end of the table. If desired little dishes arranged in the same way may also be used.

"RAINY-DAY LUNCHEON."--This is certainly an original idea. Place an old umbrella frame vertically in a fernery and twist smilax around the frame and down each spoke. At the base of the fernery make a bed of violets as large around in circumference as the umbrella. At the luncheon hour hide a small lump of ice in the smilax at the end of each spoke, allowing it to melt and drip on the violets. This makes a pretty decoration for a luncheon, particularly if wild violets can be procured.

FLOWER PARTY

When the guests have assembled, each one is given a tiny flower-pot. These are easily made out of red paper--a long strip and a round, with the aid of the mucilage pot. In these tiny pots the following list of flowers to be guessed is tucked away:

MAKE THESE HIDDEN FLOWERS SPROUT

1. An amiable man. (Sweet William)

2. The pulse of the business world. (Stocks)

3. A title for the sun. (Morning-glory)

4. A bird and a riding accessory. (Larkspur)

5. A pillar of a building and a syllable that rhymes with dine. (Columbine)

6. A flower between mountains. (Lily of the valley)

7. A farewell sentiment. (Forget-me-not)

8. A dude and an animal. (Dandelion)

9. A part of the day. (Four-o'clock)

10. The result of Cupid's arrows. (Bleeding heart)

11. The place for a kiss. (Tulips)

12. A yellow stick. (Goldenrod)

13. A product of the dairy and a drinking utensil. (Buttercup)

14. One of the Four Hundred. (Aster)

15. What Cinderella should have advertised for. (Lady's slipper)

16. A wild animal and a bit of outdoor wearing apparel. (Foxglove)

The list of answers is of course kept in hand by the hostess. When the first part of the game has been played and the answers verified, a continuation of the fun is a contest of all as to who can write the best verse containing in any way whatever all the above flowers. Judges must be appointed, and, of course, prizes awarded for the verse contest as well as for the guessing game. This last contest may be omitted, if wished, but it adds fun and calls forth much ingenuity and cleverness. The prizes might be little potted plants, so many of which grace the florists' windows at this time of year; these for the women, and scarf-pins in the shape of flowers for the men.

To select partners for refreshments, give to each lady a flower of a different variety; if it is impossible to secure a sufficient quantity of natural blossoms, paper ones will do quite as well, and these may be made at home. To the gentlemen hand cards bearing quotations referring to some flower, but inserting a blank where the name occurs. Each gentleman may claim his partner when he finds the flower that fits his verse.

The following are a few suggestive quotations:

"A (violet) by a mossy stone Half hidden from the eye."

"As the (sunflower) turns on her god when he sets The same look which she turn'd when he rose."

"Gather ye (rosebuds) while ye may, Old Time is still a-flying."

"And there is (pansies); that's for thoughts."