The dinner is the most important and the most delightful of social functions. It is the most civilized of entertainments, and to say of a town that it is a dinner-giving town means that it has arrived socially. This flower of hospitality blooms slowly. In many western places where the reception, the afternoon tea, the theater party and the ladies’ luncheon flourish like a green bay tree, the dinner is an unknown function. A young hostess is often afraid of attempting it, as is also the unaccustomed diner-out. Yet it is not a formidable entertainment, rightly considered, and when happily managed the return it brings far outweighs the outlay of time and trouble.
The dinner, height of hospitality as it is, is yet within the reach of most of us as far as expenditure is concerned. The cost of a dinner may be much or little. The menu may be simple or elaborate. Five courses is enough for a dainty satisfying meal, yet eighteen and twenty are sometimes served. The table decorations may be of the most expensive sort; yet a half-dozen roses and candles in keeping are sufficient to give a properly festive touch.
The dinner, height of hospitality as it is, is yet within the reach of most of us as far as expenditure is concerned. The cost of a dinner may be much or little. The menu may be simple or elaborate. Five courses is enough for a dainty satisfying meal, yet eighteen and twenty are sometimes served. The table decorations may be of the most expensive sort; yet a half-dozen roses and candles in keeping are sufficient to give a properly festive touch.
