Without going as far as one woman, who used to declare she would rather have a piece of china completely smashed than to see it cracked, one may safely say that the good housekeeper never perceives even a trifling breakage in any piece of her table-ware without a real pang at heart. To avert these accidents she is wise if she intrusts to no hands but her own or those of an excep- 291 WHAT TO EAT — HOW TO SEEYE IT tionally careful maid the cleansing of her most precious belongings of porcelain and crystal. Sometimes, however, a woman's other duties are so pressing that she cannot spare the time to wash the delicate dishes which she prides herself upon having in con- stant use, and then she must simply make up her mind to be resigned to the losses she must sustain if she permits her servants to take entire charge of these breakables. Without using unsightly stone-ware, it is yet possible to procure for every-day service pretty crockery that is less easily broken than the delicate French china. In purchas- ing a dinner set which is to do steady duty, the housewife must be guided by prudential as well as artistic considerations. She can find what is known as the English Dresden and one or two other kinds of china which combine pretty designs with durability of material, and are not very expensive. Often there are included in a dinner set a full dozen each of tea, breakfast coffee, and after-dinner coffee cups ; and sometimes the set can be purchased to greater advantage by 292 CHINA AND GLASS taking them all. Frequently, too, the dealer will not break the set. Unless either or both of these conditions should prevail, there is little gain for the housekeeper in taking the whole set. Usually she already has a fair number of cups and saucers, and in any case she would not need as many as the set com- prises. By a little search it is often prac- ticable to pick up a broken set, consisting of a certain number of plates, vegetable and meat dishes, and in this day there is no ob- ligation upon one to have everything to match. The principal pieces should be alike, if possible ; but the fish, salad, dessert, and fruit plates may all be of different designs, and be none the worse on that account. Her dinner dishes purchased, the young mistress may congratulate herself. There is no other equally heavy pull ahead of her in the line of china. Now she may at her lei- sure pick up her pretty harlequin set of cups and saucers, her dessert dishes, her large cake and bread plates, and her small bread and butter plates, her fish set, her chocolate- pot, her bouillon-cups, her nappies, her indi- 293 WHAT TO EAT — HOW TO SERVE IT vidual dishes for shirred eggs, for scalloped fish, oysters, or chicken, and the dozen of other dainty fancies with which the china shops are crowded. Her accumulations will be all the dearer to her because many of them have been procured at the cost of a lit- tle personal sacrifice. When one begins to price cut glass she is generally wof uUy discouraged. The cost of the plainest cut is very high if the glass is heavy, and a little experience soon teaches the housekeeper that it is very poor economy to buy the thin glass for every-day use. It will often break in washing in spite of the most careful handling, and a slight blow to it means fracture. Now that pressed glass comes in such pretty patterns, it may be made to do duty for common use, and is so attractive that no one need be ashamed to put it on her table. " You should see my new glass dish," said a young housekeeper, gleefully. "It cost me just seventy-nine cents, and when you set it on handsome damask it looks like the real cut. Of course you can't put two cheap 294 CHINA AND GLASS things together, but my table-cloths are all so good that I can afford to set a few imita- tions on them."

AI-modernized reading of the original text

Without going as far as one woman, who used to declare she would rather have a piece of china completely smashed than to see it cracked, one may safely say that the good housekeeper never perceives even a trifling breakage in any piece of her table-ware without a real pang at heart. To avert these accidents she is wise if she intrusts to no hands but her own or those of an excep- tionally careful maid the cleansing of her most precious belongings of porcelain and crystal. Sometimes, however, a woman's other duties are so pressing that she cannot spare the time to wash the delicate dishes which she prides herself upon having in constant use, and then she must simply make up her mind to be resigned to the losses she must sustain if she permits her servants to take entire charge of these breakables. Without using unsightly stone-ware, it is yet possible to procure for every-day service pretty crockery that is less easily broken than the delicate French china. In purchasing a dinner set which is to do steady duty, the housewife must be guided by prudential as well as artistic considerations. She can find what is known as the English Dresden and one or two other kinds of china which combine pretty designs with durability of material, and are not very expensive. Often there are included in a dinner set a full dozen each of tea, breakfast coffee, and after-dinner coffee cups ; and sometimes the set can be purchased to greater advantage by taking them all. Frequently, too, the dealer will not break the set. Unless either or both of these conditions should prevail, there is little gain for the housekeeper in taking the whole set. Usually she already has a fair number of cups and saucers, and in any case she would not need as many as the set comprises. By a little search it is often practicable to pick up a broken set, consisting of a certain number of plates, vegetable and meat dishes, and in this day there is no obligation upon one to have everything to match. The principal pieces should be alike, if possible ; but the fish, salad, dessert, and fruit plates may all be of different designs, and be none the worse on that account. Her dinner dishes purchased, the young mistress may congratulate herself. There is no other equally heavy pull ahead of her in the line of china. Now she may at her leisure pick up her pretty harlequin set of cups and saucers, her dessert dishes, her large cake and bread plates, and her small bread and butter plates, her fish set, her chocolatepot, her bouillon-cups, her nappies, her indi- vidual dishes for shirred eggs, for scalloped fish, oysters, or chicken, and the dozen of other dainty fancies with which the china shops are crowded. Her accumulations will be all the dearer to her because many of them have been procured at the cost of a little personal sacrifice. When one begins to price cut glass she is generally wof uUy discouraged. The cost of the plainest cut is very high if the glass is heavy, and a little experience soon teaches the housekeeper that it is very poor economy to buy the thin glass for every-day use. It will often break in washing in spite of the most careful handling, and a slight blow to it means fracture. Now that pressed glass comes in such pretty patterns, it may be made to do duty for common use, and is so attractive that no one need be ashamed to put it on her table. " You should see my new glass dish," said a young housekeeper, gleefully. "It cost me just seventy-nine cents, and when you set it on handsome damask it looks like the real cut. Of course you can't put two cheap things together, but my table-cloths are all so good that I can afford to set a few imitations on them."

What to eat, how to serve it