Become A Hostess

The Gracious Art of Hospitality

To be smart and original, yet always correct, in one's entertaining: that is to be truely successful as a hostess.

Vintage Bride drawn by Neysa McMein.

       Of all the social virtues, the oldest and most extensively practiced is hospitality. From the entertaining of Sheba's queen by the mighty Solomon, down to the feting of the latest literary lion or titled foreigner, each event and anniversary is marked by hospitable rites, and the history of civilization might be written in terms of breakfasts and bridges, banquets and balls, of luncheons and dinners and dances.
       Childhood jollifications and schoolgirl "spreads" crowd the brief years that lie between the first birthday party, with a single perky candle adorning a cake, and the day when the demure little maid puts up her hair, dons a devastating frock and pauses to make her formal bow to society before plunging into the breathless round of frivolities planned in her honor.
       A season or two, and then the thrilling epoch of the betrothal with its enthusiastic announcement party and train of "showers" and other characteristic festivities, culminating in the bridesmaids' luncheon, the pomp and pageantry of the wedding and the attendant marriage feast.
       Then, at last, the honeymoon over, the young wife enters her new home and prepares to exercise her freshly won privileges as hostess and matron by returning the hospitality lavished upon her as a débutante and prospective bride.
       Quite naturally she will wish to achieve a reputation for the smartness and originality of her entertainments, and since the table is the focal center at most functions, she will wisely take pains to master all the minutiae of perfect table service, to the end that she may know precisely what traditions must be respected, and where she may venture upon a new and daring touch without risking a faux pas.

• The Three Types of Table Service
• The Menu
• The Luncheon Menu
• The Dinner Menu
• The Buffet Luncheon