Frost's Laws and By-Laws of American Society Part 10

"One must never smoke, without asking permission, in the presence of a clergyman.

"But if you smoke, or if you are in the company of smokers, and are to appear afterwards in the presence of ladies, you must change your clothes to smoke in. A host who invites you to smoke will generally offer you an old coat for the purpose.

"You must also after smoking rinse the mouth well out, and if possible brush the teeth.

"You should never smoke in another person's house without leave, and you should not ask leave to do so, if there are ladies in the house.

"When you are going to smoke a cigar, you should offer one at the same time to anybody present.

"You should always smoke a cigar given to you whether good or bad, and never make any remark upon its quality."

At a gentleman's party it is the host alone who may call upon any of the company for a toast, a speech or a song. No matter how much others may desire it, they may never invite each other.

During the week following a dinner party, it is etiquette for each guest to call upon the hostess, and it is rude to delay the call more than a fortnight.

In concluding this chapter we give from a modern English work the following bills of fare for dinners suiting the different seasons of the year, which may be useful to young housekeepers:

MENUS OF FOUR CHOICE DINNERS, ADAPTED TO EACH SEASON OF THE YEAR.

JANUARY.--(FOR TEN PERSONS.) Consomme soup, with quenelles; Turbot, with Dutch sauce.

TWO REMOVES.--Braized fillet of veal, larded a la Chateaubriand; Roast turkey, with puree of mushrooms.

FOUR ENTREES.--Oyster Kromeskys, a la Russe; Pork cutlets, sauce Robert; Partridges, a la Prince of Wales; Supreme of fowls, a la Macedoine.

SECOND COURSE.--Pintail; Snipes.

ONE REMOVE.--Fondu of Parmesan cheese.

FOUR ENTREMETS.-Salad, a la Rachel; Vol-au-vent of preserved greengages; Plombieres cream iced; Braized celery with brown sauce.

APRIL.-(FOR EIGHT PERSONS.) Cray-fish soup; Spey trout, parsley sauce.

TWO REMOVES.--Boiled fowls, oyster sauce; Glazed tongue A la jardiniere.

Two ENTREES.--Lamb cutlets, asparagus, peas; Boudins of rabbits, a la Reine.

SECOND COURSE.--Lobster salad; Green goose.

FOUR ENTREMETS.--Orange fritters; Tapioca pudding; Wine jelly; Potatoes a la Lyonnaise.

JUNE.--(FOR TWELVE PERSONS.) Puree of green peas, soup; Stewed sturgeon, matelotte sauce; Fillets of mackerel a la maitre d'hotel.

TWO REMOVES.--Roast fore-quarter of lamb; Spring chickens A la Montmorency.

FOUR ENTREES.--Fillets of ducklings, with green peas; Mutton cutlets a la Wyndham; Blanquette of chicken with cuc.u.mbers; Timbale of macaroni a la Milanaise.

SECOND COURSE.--Pigeons; Leveret.

TWO REMOVES.--Flemish gauffers; Iced Souffle.

SIX ENTREMETS.-French beans, stewed; Mayonnaise of chicken; Peas a la Francaise; Peach jelly with noyau; Love's wells glace with chocolate; Flave of apricots and rice.

OCTOBER.--(FOR EIGHT PERSONS.) Potage a la Julienne; Baked haddock, Italian sauce.

TWO REMOVES.--Braized neck of mutton, en cherveuil; Roast pheasant a la Chipolata.

TWO ENTREES.--Pork cutlets, tomato sauce; Curried rabbit and rice.

SECOND COURSE.--Roast black-c.o.c.k; Oyster omelette.

FOUR ENTREMETS.--Potatoes a la d.u.c.h.esse; Blanc mange; Apple tartlets; Semolina pudding.

MENU OF A FIRST RATE CHRISTMAS DINNER.

Turtle soup; Turbot a la Vatel; Fillets of sole a la Tartare.

THREE REMOVES.--Roast turkey, Perigueux sauce; Braized ham a la jardiniere; Spiced round of beef.

FOUR ENTREES.--Marrow patties; Salmi of pheasants a la financiere; Sweet breads a la Saint Cloud; Mutton cutlets a la Vicomtesse.

SECOND COURSE.--Woodc.o.c.ks; Grouse; Mince pies; Plum pud ding.

SIX ENTREMETS.--Broccoli with Parmesan cheese; Italian creams; Croute a l'Amanas; Salad a la Rachel; Meringues a la Parisienne; Punch jelly.

b.a.l.l.s.

THE form of invitations will be found on page 49.

An invitation to a ball should be sent out from two to three weeks before the evening, and should be answered within a day or two of being received.

As to the number of guests to be invited, no precise rules can be laid down. The size of your room does not seem to be any guide.

The custom is to ask rather more than twice as many as your rooms will hold; but one-third more will be enough, as it will allow of disappointments at the last moment, even if all have accepted the invitations. Besides, during the gayest of the season, the fashion of going to several b.a.l.l.s in one night necessitates ensuring the presence of a sufficiently large number of guests all through the evening. If you really wish for dancing, do not exceed the last limits. If, however, your aim is to have the largest ball of the season, a crush and crowd, to make a sensation, then invite your entire visiting list, and endure the consequences.

A hundred guests const.i.tute a "ball;" over that, a "large ball;"

under that, merely a "dance."

One of the first requisites of a ball-room is thorough ventilation, especially if there is a prospect of a large number of guests.

One of the most desirable points in a ball is to have a beautifully arranged room. The floor must be well waxed, and perfectly even, and it is well to draw a cord across two-thirds of it, not admitting more than can dance inside the s.p.a.ce so cut off at once. The French make their ball-rooms perfect flower-gardens.

Every comer has its immense bouquet; the walls are gracefully wreathed; bouquets, baskets, and exquisitely decorated pots of growing plants are placed in every available place. The staircases, landings, and supper-room are all filled with floral treasures, harmonizing with fine effect with the brilliant lights and gay the dresses of the ladies. It adds to the effect to conceal the musicians behind a screen of evergreen and flowers.

The dressing-rooms should be provided with two servants apiece, and small cards, with the names of the invited guests upon them, should be in readiness to pin to the wraps of each one.

In each dressing-room, have plenty of water, soap, and towels upon the washstand, several brushes and combs, small hand-mirrors, pin- cushions well filled, and stick pomade upon the bureau. The ladies' room should also have hair-pins, a work-box in readiness to repair any accidental rip or tear; cologne, hartshorn, and salts, in case of faintness. The gentlemen's room should be provided with a boot-jack, a whisk, and a clothes-brush.

No one should accept an invitation to a ball who cannot or who will not dance. They are mere enc.u.mbrances. Nothing is more trying to the feelings of a hostess than to see a number of wallflowers ornamenting (?) her ball-room.

The hour at which one may go to a ball varies from ten o'clock in the evening until daybreak. Any one who attends several b.a.l.l.s in one evening will, of course, find it impossible to appear at an early hour at each one.

The lady of the house--who should, if possible, know the name of everybody who enters the room--must stand near the door, so as to receive her guests, to each of whom she must find something to say, no matter how trifling. The host must also be near, to welcome arrivals, and the sons to introduce people. The young ladies must see that the dances are kept up, and should not dance themselves till they have found partners for all their friends.

They may with perfect propriety ask any gentleman present to be introduced to a partner, and he is bound to accept the invitation; but the lady must be careful whom she asks. Many present may be entire strangers to her. Miss A. has brought her betrothed; Miss B. introduces her cousin, Captain ---, on a short leave of absence from his regiment in Texas; Miss C. presents her brother, just returned from California; Miss D. begs leave to introduce a cousin on a short visit to the city; Miss E., a belle, has informed a dozen or two of her admirers where they may bow to her on the evening of the ball. All these strangers bow to the hostess, and must be provided with partners. The "Man in the Club Window" says:

"I have known a case where a distinguished-looking young man, having declined the lady's invitation to dance, but being pressed by,' I can't make up the lancers without you,' somewhat reluctantly accepted, performed his part so well that his partner was quite _eprise_ with him, and even ventured on a little flirtation. You can imagine her dismay when, a little later in the evening, she saw her charming acquaintance carrying up a pile of plates from the kitchen to the supper-room. For the first time in her life, she had danced with an occasional waiter."

If a gentleman act as escort to a lady, he must call at her house, at the hour she appoints, with a carriage, and he is expected to send a bouquet in the course of the afternoon. Upon reaching the house of the hostess for the evening, he must escort his fair charge to the dressing-room, leave her at the door, make his own toilet as rapidly as possibly, and return to meet the lady at the dressing-room door again, escort her to the ball-room, and at once to the hostess. She is obliged by etiquette to dance the first dance with him; but after that, he may with propriety allow her liberty to select other partners, always watching, however, to see that she is never neglected. He must be her escort to supper, and ready at any moment to leave the ball-room to escort her home again.

If a gentleman is unaccompanied by a lady, he must invite one of the ladies of the house for the first dance, and yield gracefully if she declines on the plea of want of room or partners for all her guests, consenting smilingly if she requests him to lead out the homeliest and most awkward of her wall-flowers.

The music must be first a march, then a quadrille, a polka, a waltz, a galop, and so on, with two or three round dances to each quadrille, until fourteen dances are completed, when another march announces supper. Seven to ten dances may follow supper. Each guest must be provided with a ball-card with a printed programme of the dances, and s.p.a.ce for the engagements upon it, and a tiny pencil attached to it. Many ladies carry their own engagement- card; but they must depend upon the programme for the order of dances. The fashion of hanging a few printed programmes in the room is not considered _en regle_.

The supper-room must be thrown open at midnight, and remain open until the ball closes. It is, however, an extreme of bad taste and low breeding for gentlemen to cl.u.s.ter round the table in groups and remain there. It is one of the duties of the hostess to see that no young lady loses her supper for want of an escort to the slipper-room. If there are no young gentlemen in the family, she must request one of her guests to go to the rescue of the forlorn maiden.

No gentleman must wait until the music has commenced before selecting his partner.

A lady who declines dancing on the pretext of fatigue must dance no more, unless she has said she wished to rest for that dance alone.

If a lady decline dancing with a gentlemen, it is rude for him to turn from her to another lady who has heard the refusal, and invite her to dance. If the first lady has a prior engagement, he must seek another partner in another part of the room; if she refuses from fatigue or a disinclination to dance that set, it is a compliment to her for him to remain beside her, and endeavor to entertain her while the dance is in progress.

A lady should never give her bouquet, gloves, and fan to a gentleman to hold during a dance, unless he is her husband, brother, or escort for the evening.