THE HOME, FARM AND BUSINESS CYCLOPAEDIA. 



That which should be cool should be cool as ice ; that which should be 

 hot should be smoking ; the attendance should be rapid and noiseless ; the 

 guests well assorted ; the wines of the best quality ; the host attentive and 

 courteous ; the room well lighted, and the time punctual. 



Every dinner should begin with soup, be followed by fish, and include 

 some kind of game. " The soup is to the dinner," we are told by Grisnod 

 de la Regniere, " what the portico is to a building, or the overture to an 

 opera." 



To this aphorism we may be permitted to add that a chasse of cognac 

 or curagoa at the close of a dinner is like the epilogue at the end of a 

 comedy. 



Never reprove or give directions to your servants before guests. If a 

 dish is not placed precisely where you would have wished it to stand, or 

 the order of a course is reversed, let the error pass unobserved by yourself, 

 and you may depend that it will be unnoticed by others. 



The duties of hostess at a dinner-party are not onerous ; but they de- 

 mand tact and good breeding, grace of bearing, and self-possession of no 

 ordinary degree. She does not often carve. She has no active duties to 

 perform ; but she must neglect nothing, forget nothing, put all her guests 

 at their ease, encourage the timid, draw out the silent, and pay every 

 possible attention to the requirements of each and all around her. No 

 accident must ruffle her temper. No disappointment must embarrass her. 

 She must see her old china broken without a sigh, and her best glass shat- 

 tered with a smile. 



STAYING AT A FRIEND'S HOUSE-BEEAKFAST, LUNCHEON, 



ETC. 



A visitor is bound by the laws of social intercourse to conform in all 

 respects to the habits of the house. In order to do this effectually, she 

 should inquire, or cause her personal servant to inquire, what those habits 

 are. To keep your friend's breakfast on the table till a late hour ; to delay 

 the dinner by want of punctuality; to accept other invitations, and treat 

 his house as if it were merely an hotel to be slept in ; or to keep the 

 family up till unwonted hours, are alike evidences of a want of good feel- 

 ing and good-breeding. 



At breakfast and lunch absolute punctuality is not imperative ; but a 

 visitor should avoid being always the last to appear at table. 



No order of precedence is observed at either breakfast or luncheon. 

 Persons take their seats as they come in, and, having exchanged their 



