or three guests are present. The roast or
fowl is carved by the host; vegetables are on the table and are passed
from hand to hand. After this course the hostess, or the daughter
delegated to do this, clears the table and brings in the salad. The
dessert follows. Coffee is occasionally served with the meat course, but
it is better to bring it on with the dessert. Cups, etc., should be in
readiness on the side table, to be transferred to the table. There should
be an apparent absence of formality at such a meal, though everything
should progress in regular order, systematically, quietly, without orders
or clash. Above all things, see that everything likely to be wanted is at
hand; nothing looks worse than someone jumping up to get some article that
has been forgotten. If dishes, spoons or forks must be washed during the
progress of the meal, have warm water ready in the kitchen, wash them
quickly, and wipe them out of cold water; then their heat will not betray
your limited resources.

Setting the Table.--The "best cloth" and napkins are brought out for the
dinner party. The cloth must be laid with mathematical exactness, its
center exactly on the center of the table. The centerpiece, almost
invariably of flowers, only occasionally of fruit, is also exactly placed.
This should be low; it is awkward not to be able to see one's vis-a-vis,
and the hostess should be able to command an uninterrupted view of her
table, so that if the waitress omits any service she may by a glance
direct her to supply it. The arrangement should be graceful and pretty,
and, in summer, garden flowers may be used with propriety. The flowers
give the keynote of the color scheme; dinner cards, bonbons, ices and
creams and the decorations of the small cakes usually served with the
dessert, conform to it. Candelabra are less used than at one time, but are
by no means "out." A handsome silver candelabra may be used as a
centerpiece, its base banked in flowers. On a square or oblong table,
candlesticks with shades give a touch of color that relieves the whiteness
of napery and glass.

There is a plate--your handsomest--at each place; a napkin squarely folded
and lying flat; a row of forks at the left, oyster fork outside, then fish
fork, dinner and salad fork, four in all, laid in the order in which they
will be used. Knives are at the right of the napkin, always two, a large
and a small one. Fashion has re-introduced the steel-bladed knife for the
me