the  Msh'm 
— 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Clever  Watch  the  Trend 
of  the  Times. 
MR.  CLEVER  is  one  of  the  few  men  who  abhor 
dancing.  lie  says  that  if  he  might  be  relieved 
from  the  necessity  of  embracing  other  men's  wives, 
and  cleave  only  to  his  own,  he  could  endure  it  better  ; 
or  if  he  might  even  be  allowed  to  sit  quietly  at  ease 
and  embrace  a  chosen  partner.  But  since  good  form 
dictates  that  not  only  must  he  refrain  from  this  com¬ 
fortable  way  of  making  himself  agreeable,  but  must 
also  make  a  spectacle  of  himself  by  prancing  about, 
he  will  have  none  of  it. 
But  even  Mr.  Clever,  with  all  his  bias  toward  a  more 
quiet  exposition  of  the  principles  of  good  form,  finds 
the  conversazione  not  always  enlivening;  or,  as  he 
put  it : 
“Why  do  you  suppose,  Mathilde,  that  so  many  of 
these  social  functions  where  talk  is  supposed  to  fur¬ 
nish  the  chief  entertainment,  are  such  wretched 
bores  ?  ” 
“  Possibly  because  we  help  to  make  them  so,”  smiled 
Mrs.  Clever.  “  I  shall  not  soon  forget  a  thought  which 
came  to  me  through  the  public  print,  when  young  : 
‘  If  you  have  found  any  social  event  especially  stupid, 
ask  yourself  what  you  did  to  make  it  otherwise.’  ” 
Certainly  it  was  not  quite  polite,  but  Mr.  Clever 
whistled  softly.  “Phew,  nothing  very  soothing  to 
one’s  self-love  in  that ;  but  I  don’t  know  but  there  is 
a  grain  of  sense  in  it.  It  doesn’t  differ  much  in  essence, 
after  all,  from  what  that  lecturer  said  :  ‘  How  shall 
you  get  the  most  out  of  life  ?  Let  me  give  you  a 
pointer  :  they  who  get  the  most  out  of  life  are  the 
ones  who  put  the  most  into  it.’  H’m,  I  begin  to  have 
a  glimpse  of  the  reason  you  so  often  have  a  more  en¬ 
joyable  evening  than  I  do,  my  dear.  But  what  can  I 
talk  about  ?” 
“  I  always  feel  that  anything  in  which  the  speaker 
feels  an  interest  is  likely  to  be  interesting,  and  of  course 
you  know  the  usual  don’ts  :  Don’t  talk  shop — that  is 
don’t  ask  a  doctor  about  his  patients,  etc.,  don't  talk 
about  yourself;  don’t  talk  about  your  neighbors — ” 
“  O,  come,  Mathilde,  what  are  you  leaving  me  to 
talk  about!  And  suppose  you  feel  a  lively  interest  in 
the  heavenly  bodies,  and  the  first  woman  with  whom 
you  try  to  converse  about  them,  has  never  even  heard 
of  the  dog  star.” 
“We  must  meet  that  difficulty,  of  course.  The  only 
remedy  is  to  try  other  topics  until  we  find  one  of 
which  our  interlocutor  has  some  knowledge  ;  or  else 
to  talk  so  interestingly  about  the  stars  that  she  shall 
become  interested  in  them  perforce.” 
“  I’m  afraid  I  couldn’t  make  it  work” — ruefully. 
“The  man  who  won’t  dance  and  can’t  talk,  isn’t  of 
much  advantage  to  a  hostess,  is  he?  Let’s  drop  the 
whole  thing!  I’m  sure  we  have  more  interesting  even¬ 
ings  at  home — just  we  two.  Oh  !  by  the  way,  though, 
I  wonder  if  I  couldn’t  tell  stories.  Some  of  those 
fellows  seem  to  make  that  work  first-rate,  and  they 
don’t  have  to  be  original.” 
“  It  takes  some  knack  even  to  tell  a  second-hand 
story  so  that  it  shall  not  lose  its  ‘  bouquet’  in  the  tell¬ 
ing.  And,  really,  telling  stories  is  not  conversation 
at  all.” 
“  Well,  I’d  like  to  know  why  not !  ” 
“  Simply  because  it  is  one-sided.  Have  you  forgot¬ 
ten  your  Latin  prefixes?  Doesn’t  con  always  mean 
with,  or  against  ?  The  very  root  of  the  word  implies 
interchange  of  thought.  Conversation  is  a  little  more 
formal  than  talk,  and  on  sustained  topics  usually.  I 
happened  to  stumble  upon  this  a  day  or  so  ago,  in 
looking  up  something  else.  That’s  why  I  am  so  wise.” 
“  But  I  think  I  should  be  thankful  to  be  able  to  talk 
well,  Mathilde,  even  though  I  were  not  able  to  con¬ 
verse.  ” 
“  Yes,  I  think  even  the  art  of  talking  well  is  by  no 
means  to  be  despised.  But  a  danger  that  goes  with  it 
is  that  the  talker  is  liable  to  fall  into  the  habit  of 
narrating  his  own  experiences,  observations,  etc.,,  un¬ 
til  his  talk  becomes  more  or  less  ‘  I,  I,  I.’  The  most 
interesting  man  I  ever  met,  however,  was  of  just  this 
stamp.  I  never  saw  his  like  elsewhere,  so  1  must 
think  he  was  the  accident  of  his  generation.  He 
would  scarcely  be  in  the  room  before  all  eyes  would 
turn  toward  him,  and  he  would  rattle  off  incident, 
story,  witticism,  almost  faster  than  the  mind  could 
take  them  in.  The  room  was  in  a  constant  alternation 
between  dead  silence,  people  straining  their  ears  to 
catch  points,  and  roars  of  laughter  over  them  when 
caught.  But  this  was  not  conversation.” 
“  It  was  entertainment,  at  any  rate.  But  who  was 
this  fellow  ?  I  don’t  seem  to  remember  him,  and  he 
appears  to  have  made  quite  an  impression  upon  you.” 
“  I  think  you  never  saw  him.  To  tell  the  truth,  he 
was  a  sewing-machine  agent — 1  think  I  may  say  by  pro¬ 
fession — and  gained  his  bread  and  butter — with  sugar 
on  it — by  the  nimble  working  of  his  tongue.  For  he 
received  a  princely  salary.” 
“Oh  !  !  But  after  all,  Mathilde,  he  doesn’t  help  me 
any.” 
“  I  can  tell  you  something  that  will,  perhaps,  if  you 
do  not  scorn  to  accept  my  little  hint.  I  sometimes  put 
the  idea  into  practice,  even  when  merely  making 
friendly  calls.  We  usually  know  about  whom  we  are 
to  meet,  and  can  go  over  mentally  beforehand  late 
public  happenings,  local  happenings  that  are  not  per¬ 
sonal  enough  to  be  gossip,  things  to  occur,  bright  say¬ 
ings  that  we  have  lately  heard,  or  articles  upon  espec¬ 
ially  interesting  topics.  We  shall  then  be  prepared 
to  talk  interestingly  (especially  if  we  tike  pains  to  do 
it  interestedly )  to  those  whom  we  are  likely  to  meet, 
even  though  they  be  of  various  turns  of  mind.  You 
may  consider  it  beneath  your  dignity  to  thus  prepare 
for  conversation,  and  one  to  whom  topics  come  easily 
need  not  do  it ;  but  it  is  said  of  one  of  England’s 
greatest  wits  that  he  spent  hours  in  concocting  some 
of  his  jokes,  supposed  to  be  impromptu,  and  that  he 
would  then  skillfully  lead  the  conversation  in  a  direc¬ 
tion  to  bring  in  his  bright  sayings  If  a  really 
brilliant  man  could  thus  prepare  for  evening  converse, 
surely  we  of  ordinary  talents  need  not  be  ashamed  to 
do  so.” 
“  Yes;  that’s  good,  Mathilde  Thank  you  for  the 
practical  suggestion.  But  perhaps  there  is  a  little 
hope  for  me  in  an  easier  direction.  I  see  that  in  Eng¬ 
land,  at  some  of  the  functions,  the  dancing  is  not  done 
by  the  guests,  but  by  half  a  dozen  society  young 
ladies  who  go  through  fancy  steps  as  a  means  of  enter¬ 
tainment  for  the  rest.  That  would  give  the  guests  a 
little  chance  to  rest,  and  they  wouldn’t  even  be  obliged 
to  talk.  And  of  course,  as  it’s  English,  it  will  take 
here.” 
Oh,  if  there’s  a  programme,  it  is  easy  enough  to  be 
amused,  when  that  is  all  that  is  asked  of  one.  But 
you  have  not  quite  kept  up  with  the  times,  Solomon. 
It  is  several  months  since  a  well-known  writer — noted 
as  well  for  her  striking  gowns — danced  the  *  butterfly 
dance  ’  for  the  half  hour’s  entertainment  of  a  selected 
company  of  guests  at  a  function  given  by  a  prominent 
member  of  society.  I  wonder  you  did  not  know  of  it, 
for  one  of  the  dailies  was  enterprising  enough  to 
picture  her  in  three  ‘  acts,’  as  well  as  to  give  a  column 
and  a  half  to  the  description  of  the  dance.” 
MYRA.  V.  N0RY8. 
Challenge  the  Children’s  Admiration. 
T  N  a  late  Rural  Mrs.  Kellerman  deplores  the  pre- 
vailing  fashion  of  married  women  (I  suppose  she 
refers  particularly  to  farmers’  wives)  burying  them¬ 
selves  under  the  cares  of  wifehood  and  motherhood, 
emerging  after  a  10  years’  seclusion,  robbed  of  all 
their  freshness,  vivacity  and  sparkle.  I  would  like  to 
ask  Mrs.  Kellerman  if  she  does  not  think  that  10  years 
of  old  Father  Time’s  society  would  rob  even  a  single 
woman  of  some  of  her  vivacity  and  sparkle. 
The  article  was  somewhat  discouraging ;  but  we 
mothers  have  had  our  own  springtime  and  play  time ; 
are  we  not  now  doing  our  duty  in  giving  the  best  years 
of  our  life  and  bending  our  utmost  energies  to  making 
each  rising  generation  better  and  nobler  than  the 
preceding  one  ? 
While  musing  upon  this,  I  came  across  this  in  Ten¬ 
nyson’s  Princess :  “  The  bearing  and  rearing  of  a 
child  is  woman’s  wisdom;”  and  I  wondered  why  it  is  not 
man’s  wisdom  also.  No  thinking  woman  or  just  man 
will  deny  that  the  care  and  responsibility  of  children 
are  very  unjustly  divided  between  the  two  sexes  ;  but, 
with  the  advance  of  modern  ideas,  these  things  will 
work  out  their  own  remedy.  May  we  not  yet  hear  of 
some  good  man’s  patent,  attachable  to  the  plow,  rake 
and  other  farm  machinery,  by  which  the  babe  can  en¬ 
joy  a  swinging  ride  across  the  fields?  Under  the 
genial,  soporific  influence  of  pure  air,  bright  sun¬ 
shine  and  song  of  birds,  the  crossest  of  teething  babes 
will  be  lulled  into  blissful  slumbers ;  while  its  mother, 
engaged  in  some  intellectual  work,  makes  up  for  the 
time  lost  by  her  maternal  ancestors  in  getting  the 
babes  to  sleep.  But,  while  waiting  for  this  good  time 
coming,  shall  we  not  remember  that  there  is  a  beautiful 
law  of  compensation  running  through  all  our  lives? 
If  we  have  lost  our  freshness  and  sparkle,  the  love  and 
care  for  our  loved  ones  must  certainly  have  added 
strength  and  sweetness  to  our  characters. 
With  the  crown  of  motherhood  should  come — does 
come — a  nobler  and  higher  crown  ;  the  crown  of  self- 
sacrifice,  without  which  any  life  is  incomplete.  Self- 
sacrifice  broadens  and  deepens  character — it  lifts  the 
human  being  out  of  the  animal  kingdom  into  the 
spiritual  one,  and  brings  out  the  latent  nobility  in 
each  soul. 
So  we  need  not  be  discouraged,  we  mothers,  if  wj 
have  not  yet  found  time  to  aultivate  all  the  graces  and 
accomplishments  of  life.  But  perhaps  a  little  planning 
and  forethought  may  give  us  a  little  time  each  day 
for  self-improvement  even  now.  Be  as  solicitous  of 
your  childrens’  admiration  as  you  were  of  their  fathers’ 
in  the  days  of  your  courtship,  dear  mothers.  If  pos¬ 
sible,  keep  your  temper  calm  and  sweet,  and  to  the 
wee  ones  you  will  be  the  very  wisest  and  sweetest 
woman  in  all  their  world.  Mothers  who  command  the 
respect,  love  and  admiration  of  their  families,  may  rest 
assured  that  the  rest  of  their  world  will  lay  its  homage 
at  their  feet.  Josephine  starr. 
Tables  For  Ceremonious  Dinners. 
DOUBTLESS  R  N.-Y.  housekeepers  will  be  inter¬ 
ested  in  the  special  feature  of  what  was  known 
as  “  Ladies  Day,”  at  the  great  chrysanthemum  show 
lately  held  in  the  Madison  Square  Garden.  This  was 
the  competing  of  several  New  York  caterers  for  the 
premiums  for  the  “  best  dinner  table  decoration  of 
chrysanthemums  with  other  foliage,  for  12  covers.” 
The  premiums  were  $100,  §75  and  $50,  and  doubtless 
the  advertising  which  this  opportunity  gave  was  worth 
much  more  than  the  premiums. 
Each  table  was  set  ready  for  the  guests  as  at  a  reg¬ 
ular  formal  dinner.  Candelabra  with  fancy  shades 
to  match  the  other  decorations;  half  a  dozen  wine 
glasses;  fancy  confections,  and  a  huge  central  mound 
of  chrysanthemums  were  features  of  each.  Two  were 
square,  about  seven  feet  in  diameter,  two  of  similar 
size  were  round;  one  was  of  the  older  oblong  shape. 
On  one  table  the  candelabra  were  gilt  with  four 
candles  each  ;  another  had  glass  candelabra ;  the 
others  were  of  silver.  One  only  had  large,  square 
shades  covering  all  the  lights  of  one  set.  These  were 
in  mauve  silk,  and  were  the  prettiest  of  all.  Confec¬ 
tions  were  placed  separately  in  tiny  receptacles,  or 
covered  with  gilt  paper,  or  else  assumed  fancy  forms. 
A  feature  of  the  mauve  table  was  in  having  the  names 
of  guests  lettered  in  gold  on  natural  chrysanthemum 
leaves.  Notwithstanding  the  fact  that  this  idea  has 
been  given  by  household  writers  for  two  years  past,  at 
least,  the  head  waiter  at  this  table  insisted  that  the 
idea  was  entirely  original.  It  had  “  never  been  done 
before.”  These  name  leaves  were  placed  above  the 
napkins,  on  the  plates ;  the  napkins  being  thus  placed 
in  all  instances,  with  knives  (three  sets)  at  the  right, 
forks  at  left  and  glass  service  at:right,  about  at  the 
point  of  the  knives. 
The  glass  was  of  the  daintiest,  being  mostly  of  clear 
transparency,  and  delicately  traced  and  banded  in 
gold.  Favors  in  all  cases  matched  the  central  decora¬ 
tions. 
The  daintiest  feature  of  all,  perhaps,  was  a  looped 
edge  drapery  of  yellow  silk  with  crape  of  piece  width, 
confined  between  each  two  plates  with  white  satin 
butterflies.  These  were  made  of  ribbon,  the  four  bows 
being  ingeniously  folded  to  shape  the  wings  ;  the  an¬ 
tennae  (of  wire,  perhaps)  were  wound  with  ribbon. 
Through  these  a  knife  and  fork  were  placed  nearly  at 
right  angles  to  each  other.  This  was  a  round  table, 
and  the  chairs  were  looped  together  with  a  circlet  of 
two-inch  white  satin  ribbon.  The  round  form  is  obvi¬ 
ously  the  best  in  many  respects  :  each  guest  has  the 
maximum  of  “elbow-room,”  and  is  as  near  as  possible 
to  all  the  others ;  this,  of  course,  facili  ates  general 
conversation. 
On  each  of  these  tables,  several  people  worked  from 
10  o’clock  until  after  1.  Thus  it  may  be  seen  that  the 
mere  laying  of  the  table  for  a  formal  dinner  is  a  mat¬ 
ter  of  time  ;  and  the  housewife  who  has  berated  her¬ 
self  as  slow  because  she  took  two  hours  to  prepare  and 
lay  a  formal  meal  may  take  courage. 
Many  a  life  has  been  lost  because  of 
the  taste  of  cod-liver  oil. 
If  Scott’s  Emulsion  did  nothing  more 
than  take  that  taste  away,  it  would  save 
the  lives  of  some  at  least  of  those  that  put 
off  too  long  the  means  of  recovery. 
It  does  more.  It  is  half-digested 
already.  It  slips  through  the  stomach  as 
if  by  stealth.  It  goes  to  make  strength 
when  cod-liver  oil  would  be  a  burden. 
Scott  &  Bowne,  Chemists,  132  8outh  5th  Avenue,  New  York. 
Your  druggist  heeus  Scott’s  Emulsion  of  cod-liver  oil— all  druggists 
everywhere  do  11 
