5. The costume of a lady should be elaborate, fully as much so as for a ball, and she is expected to wear her richest jewelry. The dress should be of silk, or of some thin white fabric, and fashionably made. The hair, dressed; the gloves, delicate in color and perfect in fit; and the fan, either match or contrast with the color worn. VI. Informal Dinners. 1. A Sunday dinner, or an informal invitation, does not require full dress either for lady or gentleman; though for either, dark, neat clothing should be worn. 2. The costume of the lady should be demi toilette. 3. For the gentleman, a frock-coat will do well in most parts of the United States. 4. It is veiy important to reach the house to which you have been invited at the proper time. If you call too early, your hostess may not be ready to receive; if too late, you commit the unpardonable rudeness of causing the dinner to lose its freshness, and the other guests to wait. 5. Ten to fifteen minutes before the appointed hour is about the proper time to reach the house. 6. The very sensible rule now obtains never to wait the dinner for a single guest, so if you are the solitary exception to promptness, it should cause you no annoyance to find the rest at dinner. VII. How to Receive Guests. The hostess, before the arrival of the earliest, should make a last survey of dinin<T-room and parlor to see that all is arranged in order, and then, accompanied by the oTown members of her family, wait in the parlor to receive the guests. 1. The room must be neatly and tastefully arranged, well lighted, and in win- ter, well warmed. 2. The welcome should be pleasant and cordial, the lady advancing slightly to receive each guest as announced. A formal stiffness should be avoided, and should 382 TWENTIETH CENTURY HOME COOK BOOK. either the dinner or the guests prove tardy, the defect should be atoned for by pleasant and divertino; conversation, not a trace of annoyance being allowed to become visible. 3. If the dinner is ultra formal, a tray containing cards is handed around amono- the orontlemen, each card containing the name of a gentleman and that of the lady he is to escort in to dinner. 4. These cards are sometimes enclosed in envelopes and left on a tray in the hall, or handed to the gentlemen, by the servant, as he is announced. 5. In less formal parties the hostess or host pairs off tiie couples. Each guest should be introduced to those with whom he or she may be unacquainted. VIII. At the Table. 1. On going in to the table the host leads the way with the most distinguished or eldest lady, the hostess follows last with the gentleman who is most entitled to be honored. 2. The host places his escort at his right, and this order is followed with all the guests; the ladies sitting always to the right of the gentlemen. 3. When all have reached the table, they stand at their designated places until the hostess seats herself; then the other ladies immediately follow, and their escorts then take seats. 4. There should be no observable difference in the time of the seatino- of the two sexes, but the lady having taken her chair, should be followed immediately by her escort. 5. In passing the various dishes, the servants begin at the lady upon the right of the host, ending with the hostess; while those serving the other side of the table begin with the gentleman seated to the right of the hostess and end with the host. 6. As soon as seated, guests remove their gloves, and lay over them their napkins. 7. The napkin, it is almost useless to say, is never to be used as a handkerchief, or tucked, as a child's bibb, into the collar of the coat or waist-coat. 8. Unless raw oysters are provided, soup is always the first course. If it is not relished, a sip or two may be taken, or it may, without any breach of etiquette, be left untasted.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

5. The costume of a lady should be elaborate, fully as much so as for a ball, and she is expected to wear her richest jewelry. The dress should be of silk, or of some thin white fabric, and fashionably made. The hair, dressed; the gloves, delicate in color and perfect in fit; and the fan, either match or contrast with the color worn. VI. Informal Dinners. 1. A Sunday dinner, or an informal invitation, does not require full dress either for lady or gentleman; though for either, dark, neat clothing should be worn. 2. The costume of the lady should be demi toilette. 3. For the gentleman, a frock-coat will do well in most parts of the United States. 4. It is veiy important to reach the house to which you have been invited at the proper time. If you call too early, your hostess may not be ready to receive; if too late, you commit the unpardonable rudeness of causing the dinner to lose its freshness, and the other guests to wait. 5. Ten to fifteen minutes before the appointed hour is about the proper time to reach the house. 6. The very sensible rule now obtains never to wait the dinner for a single guest, so if you are the solitary exception to promptness, it should cause you no annoyance to find the rest at dinner. VII. How to Receive Guests. The hostess, before the arrival of the earliest, should make a last survey of dining-room and parlor to see that all is arranged in order, and then, accompanied by the grown members of her family, wait in the parlor to receive the guests. 1. The room must be neatly and tastefully arranged, well lighted, and in winter, well warmed. 2. The welcome should be pleasant and cordial, the lady advancing slightly to receive each guest as announced. A formal stiffness should be avoided, and should either the dinner or the guests prove tardy, the defect should be atoned for by pleasant and diverting conversation, not a trace of annoyance being allowed to become visible. 3. If the dinner is ultra formal, a tray containing cards is handed around among the gentlemen, each card containing the name of a gentleman and that of the lady he is to escort in to dinner. 4. These cards are sometimes enclosed in envelopes and left on a tray in the hall, or handed to the gentlemen, by the servant, as he is announced. 5. In less formal parties the hostess or host pairs off tiie couples. Each guest should be introduced to those with whom he or she may be unacquainted. VIII. At the Table. 1. On going in to the table the host leads the way with the most distinguished or eldest lady, the hostess follows last with the gentleman who is most entitled to be honored. 2. The host places his escort at his right, and this order is followed with all the guests; the ladies sitting always to the right of the gentlemen. 3. When all have reached the table, they stand at their designated places until the hostess seats herself; then the other ladies immediately follow, and their escorts then take seats. 4. There should be no observable difference in the time of the seating of the two sexes, but the lady having taken her chair, should be followed immediately by her escort. 5. In passing the various dishes, the servants begin at the lady upon the right of the host, ending with the hostess; while those serving the other side of the table begin with the gentleman seated to the right of the hostess and end with the host. 6. As soon as seated, guests remove their gloves, and lay over them their napkins. 7. The napkin, it is almost useless to say, is never to be used as a handkerchief, or tucked, as a child's bibb, into the collar of the coat or waist-coat. 8. Unless raw oysters are provided, soup is always the first course. If it is not relished, a sip or two may be taken, or it may, without any breach of etiquette, be left untasted.

Twentieth century home cook book