dinner. But the others follow informally.

=THE TABLE=

Candles have no place on a lunch or breakfast table; and are used only
where a dining-room is unfortunately without daylight. Also a plain damask
tablecloth (which must always be put on top of a thick table felt) is
correct for dinner but not for luncheon. The traditional lunch table is
"bare"--which does not mean actually bare at all, but that it has a
centerpiece, either round or rectangular or square, with place mats to
match, made in literally unrestricted varieties of linen, needlework and
lace. The centerpiece is anywhere from 30 inches to a yard and a half
square, on a square or round table, and from half a yard to a yard wide by
length in proportion to the length of a rectangular table. The place mats
are round or square or rectangular to match, and are put at the places.

Or if the table is a refectory one, instead of centerpiece and doilies,
the table is set with a runner not reaching to the edge at the side, but
falling over both ends. Or there may be a tablecloth made to fit the top
of the table to within an inch or two of its edge. Occasionally there is a
real cloth that hangs over like a dinner cloth, but it always has lace or
open-work and is made of fine linen so that the table shows through.

The decorations of the table are practically the same as for dinner:
flowers, or a silver ornament or epergne in the center, and flower dishes
or compotiers or patens filled with ornamental fruit or candy at the
corners. If the table is very large and rather bare without candles, four
vases or silver bowls of flowers, or ornamental figures are added.

If the center ornament is of porcelain, four porcelain figures to match
have at least a logical reason for their presence, or a bisque "garden"
set of vases and balustrades, with small flowers and vines put in the
vases to look as though they were growing, follows out the decoration.
Most people, however, like a sparsely ornamented table.

The places are set as for dinner, with a place plate, three forks, two
knives and a small spoon. The lunch napkin, which should match the table
linen, is much smaller than the dinner napkin, and is not folded quite the
same: it is folded like a handkerchief, in only four folds (four
thicknesses). The square is laid on the place plate diagonally, with the
monogrammed (or embroidered) corner pointing down toward the edge of the
table. The upper corner is then turned sharply