48 
House & Garden 
For the buffet breakfast, to which guests come at any time to help themselves, the hostess provides 
a coffee urn or percolator with a low light beneath it, a dish for eggs and cereal, also kept warm 
by alcohol or electricity, and plates, cups, saucers, silver and fruit arranged in an orderly array. 
Glass and china from Higgins & Seiter; linen from Kargere and silver from A. Schmidt & Son 
And the Part the Hostess Plays in It hy Providing Attractive China, Linen and 
Silver—The Places for Breakfast—The Buffet Breakfast 
NANCY ASHTON 
B reakfast is the one meal of the day 
that, with proper care, most closely ap¬ 
proaches the ideal of gastronomic delight. It is 
not a ceremonious meal, such as dinner, which 
should be eaten in great state and after one 
has changed into special clothes to suit the 
occasion; but it is a meal of subtle pleasure, 
eaten whenever, however and in 
whatever garb one chooses. 
One-third of the pleasure of 
breakfast is due to the mood of the 
one who eats it; the other two-thirds 
depend upon the hostess. No one 
can make rules for controlling a 
breakfast mood, but we can make 
suggestions—and we hope they are 
useful—whereby the hostess may 
assist her guest to attain the other 
two-thirds of this alimentary Nir¬ 
vana. 
Breakfasting Places 
The hostess should not restrict 
breakfast to any one special room, 
d'he solemn breakfast of our grand¬ 
father’s day, eaten gravely, in the 
dining room, has happily passed. 
The dining room is a ceremonious 
place for formal eating—as suggest¬ 
ed above—and breakfast is not a 
formal meal. Consequently, if one 
can avoid it, breakfast should not 
l>e served in the dining room. Per¬ 
haps the hostess is so fortunate as 
to have a ,breakfast porch—an east¬ 
ward-looking spot to catch the 
morning sun. Breakfast in such a 
place is very pleasant, especially 
when it is not so distant from the 
kitchen that tlie dishes get cold en 
route. 
But even a special breakfast room 
or porch should not require eating 
that one meal in one pre-determined 
spot. In summer, breakfast under 
the trees is a delightful custom. One 
might, for a change, eat breakfast in 
a corner of his study, surrounded by 
books, the breakfast table set in front 
of his open fire and the coffee pot 
kept warm on the hob. I have even 
known breakfast to be served in a 
conservatory, the book-loving pair in the study, 
the. gentle idler out on the lawn under some 
wide-si)reading tree, and the debutante in bed. 
Breakfast in bed requires a paragraph all to 
itself. Some good folks utterly despise the 
custom, because crumbs have an uncomfortable 
way of getting between the sheets. Other good, 
well-bred and kindly disposed peo¬ 
ple consider it the perfect place for I 
Imeakfast. There is no accounting ' 
for tastes. The fact remains, how¬ 
ever, that breakfasting in lied is a 
custom enjoyed by many, and in the ^ 
general run of cases the hostess will ! 
make no mistake by offering her ma- ; 
tutinal hospitality in this somnolent 
fashion. 
So we are pretty well decided that 
the place the hostess chooses to serve ■ 
breakfast has a great deal to do 'with 
the enjoyment of the meal. We next 
come to the manner of serving. 
The Serving 
Now the ways of serving break¬ 
fast are as varied as the breakfasts 
themselves. One general suggestion 
covers all kinds, however. Pretty, 
dainty or interesting china and the 
crispest of napery have a lot to do 
with the general appearance of the 
meal. One does not—after thirty— 
rise lustily to breakfast. The ap¬ 
proach is often hesitant. One would 
rather not prefer any breakfast at 
all. Consecjuently, every induce¬ 
ment of china, glass, silver and linen 
should be used to help make the 
meal palatable. 
Thus, a tete-a-tete breakfast table 
can be set with Royal Minton china, 
which has an attractive design of 
garlands. The cloth can be of fine 
linen, hand-hemstitched in a Greek 
key design. The tiny pepper shaker 
can be a miniature silver quail, and 
the salt dish an intriguing little 
swan of silver. A Sheffield silver 
dish piled high with fruits will com¬ 
plete this composition. 
Another simple breakfast service 
for two would include a Sheffield 
conservatory, where Ijirds sang among the flow¬ 
ers, giving a piquant melody to the meal. 
These jdaces, I say, are pleasantly diverting 
for breakfast, and the ideal hostess will think 
of them, will appraise her guests and give them 
Irreakfast in corners of the house best suited 
to their tastes—the flower-loving woman in the 
Crisp organdie apron, collar, cuffs with a little cap to match 
are worn by the correctly attired maid. Uniform from Fred¬ 
erick Loeser & Co. 
