ate, marks the seat
assigned.

ASSIGNING PARTNERS FOR DINNER.

The number at a dinner should not be less than six, nor more than twelve
or fourteen. Then the host will be able to designate to each gentleman
the lady whom he is to conduct to the table; but when the number exceeds
this limit it is a good plan to have the name of each couple written
upon a card and enclosed in an addressed envelope, ready to be handed to
the gentleman by the servant, before entering the drawing-room, or left
on a tray for the guests to select those which bear their names.

If a gentleman finds upon his card the name of a lady with whom he is
unacquainted, he requests the host to present him immediately after he
has spoken with the hostess, also to any members of the family with whom
he is not acquainted.

INTRODUCTIONS.

All the guests should secure introductions to the one for whom the
dinner is given. If two persons, unknown to each other, find themselves
placed side by side at a table, they may enter into conversation without
an introduction.

ARRANGEMENTS OF GUESTS AT THE TABLE.

When dinner is announced, the host offers his right arm to the lady he
is to escort to the table. The others follow, arm in arm, the hostess
being the last to leave the drawing-room. Age should take the precedence
in proceeding from the drawing-room to the dining-room, the younger
falling back until the elder have advanced. The host escorts the eldest
lady or the greatest stranger, or if there be a bride present,
precedence is given to her, unless the dinner is given for another
person, in which case he escorts the latter. The hostess is escorted
either by the greatest stranger, or some gentleman whom she wishes to
place in the seat of honor, which is at her right. The host places the
lady whom he escorts at his right. The seats of the host and hostess may
be in the middle and at opposite sides of the table, or at the opposite
ends. Husbands should not escort their wives, or brothers their sisters,
as this partakes of the nature of a family gathering.

DINNER A LA RUSSE.

The latest and most satisfactory plan for serving dinners is the dinner
_a la Russe_ (the Russian style)--all the food being placed upon a side
table, and servants do the carving and waiting. This style gives an
opportunity for more profuse ornamentation of the table, which, as the
meal progresses, does not become encumbered with partially empty dishes
and platters.

D