se, refers to every-day dining
at home. On formal occasions no napkin rings appear on the table; the
napkins are always fresh, and used for that time only. At the close of
the dinner they are left carelessly on the table; not rolled or folded
in any orderly shape.

Small fringed napkins of different colors are used with a dessert of
fruits. Fancy doylies of fine linen embroidered with silk are
sometimes brought in with the finger-bowls; but these are not for
utility, the dinner napkin doing service, while the embroidered "fancy"
adds a dainty bit of effect to the table decoration.

_China, Glassware, Cutlery, Silverware, etc._--Chinaware for the dinner
service should be of good quality. Fashions in china decoration are
not fixed; the fancy of the hour is constantly changing, but a matched
set is eminently proper for the dinner table, leaving the "harlequin"
china for luncheons and teas. In the latter style the aim is to have
no two pieces alike in decoration, or at least, to permit an unlimited
variety; a fashion that is very convenient when large quantities of
dishes are liable to be needed. But for a dinner served in orderly
sequence, the orderly correspondence of a handsome "set" seems more in
keeping. But even with this, the harlequin idea may come in with the
dessert; fruit plates, ice-cream sets, after-dinner coffees, etc., may
display any number of fantasies in shape and coloring.

Artistic glassware is a very handsome feature of table furnishing.
Carafes and goblets for water are always needed at dinner; wine
glasses, possibly; and the serving of fruits and bon-bons gives
opportunity to display the most brilliant cut-glass, or its
comparatively inexpensive substitutes, which are scarcely less pretty
in effect. Fine glass is infinitely more elegant than common
plated-ware, and though more liable to breakage is less trouble to keep
in order.

The best dinner-knife is of steel, of good quality, with handle of
ivory, ebony, or silver. Silver-plated knives are much used; they do
not discolor so readily as steel, and are easily kept polished. They
answer the purpose for luncheon, but they rarely have edge enough to be
really serviceable at dinner or breakfast.

Many people who own solid silverware store it away in bank vaults and
use its _fac simile_ in quadruple plate, and thus escape the constant
dread of a possible burglar. For the sense of security that it gives,
one may value the finest quality o