ore like a luncheon. Yet,
in all essential points of mannerliness, the family dinner is governed
by the same rules that control the formal banquet.

It is perhaps needless to remark that the _diner a la Russe_ in its
perfection cannot be carried out without a number of competent
servants. These may be hired when some special occasion warrants extra
preparations for due formality. But for customary "entertaining,"
those who "live quietly," with possibly but one domestic to assist with
the dinner, will show good sense in not attempting anything more
imposing than they are able to compass successfully. The "family
dinner" has a dignity of its own when in keeping with all the
conditions; and though its _menu_ may be simple, its service
unpretentious, it may be the gracious exponent of a hospitality "fit
for a king."

At the informal dinner it is customary to seat the guests in the order
in which they enter the dining-room, without assigning any place of
distinction; all the places at table being held of equal honor--comfort
and convenience being the things chiefly considered.

LUNCHEONS

The most elastic word in the whole vocabulary of entertaining is the
term _luncheon_. It is applied to a mid-day meal occurring any time
between 11 A. M. and 3 P. M., and may mean anything, from a brilliant
_a la Russe_ banquet, to the hastily gathered together fragments left
from yesterday's dinner.

It may describe an hour of absolute leisure, and the most delightful
conversational interchange, or it may signify the five minutes' grab
from the side-board between the games of a closely-contested amateur
tennis tournament.

In general, we may say that the most formal of luncheons, resembling
the dinner in the main features of its serving, has these points of
distinction; the number of guests is irregular, usually uncertain, they
go to the table singly; they come dressed in any way that the hour of
the day, or their recent occupations warrant--men dropping in dressed
for business or sporting, and ladies in promenade costumes, with
bonnets or hats; the hour is not rigidly fixed,--luncheon, being
largely of cold dishes, is not spoiled by a half-hour's tardiness--a
late comer is greeted as cordially as the first arrival; and "the more
the merrier" seems to be the motto of the hostess who keeps "open
house" at luncheon time.

The formal luncheons for which engraved invitations are issued, are
usually "ladies' luncheons;" and