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309
The Ladies' Book of Etiquette, and Manual of Politeness
·
Florence Hartley
75
CHAPTER
XI.
DINNER
COMPANY.
ETIQUETTE
FOR
THE
HOSTESS.
In
issuing
invitations
for
a
large
dinner
party,
the
usual
form
is--
Mr.
and
Mrs.
G----
request
the
favor
of
Mr.
and
Mrs.
L----'s
company
to
dinner,
on
Wednesday,
March
8th,
at
----
o'clock.
If
your
husband
is
giving
a
party
to
gentlemen
only,
he
will
have
a
card
printed
or
written
for
the
occasion,
but
your
duties
as
hostess,
if
he
wishes
you
to
preside,
will
still
be
as
arduous
as
if
your
own
friends
were
included
in
the
invitation.
The
directions
given
in
the
chapter
on
"Evening
parties"
for
the
arrangement
of
the
parlor
and
the
dressing-rooms,
will
apply
here
equally
well,
but
the
dining-room
(in
this
case
the
centre
of
attraction)
requires
still
more
careful
attention.
Any
fault
here
will
mar
your
own
comfort
and
the
pleasure
of
your
guests,
and
must
be
carefully
avoided.
Send
out
your
invitations
by
a
servant,
or
man
hired
for
the
purpose;
do
not
trust
them
to
despatch
or
penny
post.
Be
careful
in
selecting
the
guests
for
a
dinner
party.
Remember
that
conversation
will
be
the
sole
entertainment
for
several
hours,
and
if
your
guests
are
not
well
chosen,
your
dinner,
no
matter
how
perfect
or
costly
the
viands,
will
prove
a
failure.
The
most
agreeable
dinners
are
those
whose
numbers
will
allow
all
the
guests
to
join
in
a
common
conversation,
and
where
the
host
has
spirit
and
intelligence
to
take
the
lead,
and
start
a
new
subject
when
the
interest
in
the
old
one
begins
to
flag.
Dinners
where
the
guests
depend
entirely
upon
the
person
next
them
for
conversation,
are
apt
to
be
stupid,
as
it
requires
marvelous
tact
to
pair
off
all
the
couples,
so
that
every
one
will
be
entertaining
in
tete-a-tete
conversation.
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