ak, to give a tea. The vulgarian almost
always overdoes it. She gets things to eat, while the woman who knows
gets people, and doesn't care what they have to eat. There is nothing
about a whole shop of provisions, while people who dress well, look
well, talk well and behave well, make up that charming circle called
Society.

The tea table may be green and white. Palms, ferns, mignonette, mosses
and clusters of leaves lend themselves to the nicest effects against the
whites of the table-cloth and china. If color is preferred, there are
tulips and daffodils of gorgeous beauty, and good for a week's wear.

Nothing but white damask is used by gentlewomen. The woman who gives a
tea never pours it. There are other things she can do to please her
callers. Tea is usually served with candlelight, and to be a success
need cost next to nothing, for nothing need be served that is
substantial enough to dislocate the appetite for dinner. Some women
serve an old fashioned beat biscuit, about the size of an English
walnut, with the cup of tea. These biscuits are awfully good, but only
the old mammies who have survived the War know how to make them, and
there is where the old families have the advantage of the new people.
Others serve brown sandwiches made of Boston brown bread and butter.

More slices of lemon than cream jugs are used. Cream is something of a
nuisance, and if people don't take lemon they can take tea as Li Hung
Chang does. For a guest to have a preference and emphasize it, is
downright rude. To be asked to a lady's house is glory enough for any
one. The grumbler can go to a restaurant and take a cup and drink it up
for a dime.

AN AFTERNOON TEA.

Send out the invitation for an afternoon tea a week or ten days or even
two weeks beforehand. Use visiting cards and below the name or in the
lower left corner, the hours: 2 to 6, or any hours one chooses. On the
top of the card or below the name write the name of the guest for whom
the tea is given, if it is an affair in honor of some guest.

Decorate the rooms simply or elaborately as one chooses. For a small tea
simply fill the vases with flowers, and make a special feature of the
tea table in the dining room. Have a center basket of flowers and ferns
tied with satin ribbons on the handle, or have cut glass vases at the
corners. Use lighted candles, white, or the color of your flowers, if
carrying out a certain color scheme in the dining-room. Pink, red or
yellow a