The Handy Cyclopedia of Things Worth Knowing Part 2

If a large number of guests are expected it is necessary to have a maid or two in attendance to remove cups and saucers, keep the tea urn replenished with hot water and to bring additional cakes and sandwiches if the supply on the table is in danger of running short. Two women friends are generally asked to preside at the refreshment table, one at each end to pour tea and chocolate, and, as this task is an arduous one and much of the success of the entertainment depends on its being well done, it is advisable to relieve the ladies in charge during the afternoon. This, however, like every other feature of the entertainment, should be arranged beforehand. The charm of an afternoon reception lies in its apparent informality, but every detail should be considered in advance and all contingencies provided for. The debutante, and especially her mother, should be relieved from all such responsibilities before the guests begin to come.

The mother's duties consist in welcoming her guests and presenting her daughter to them. If many people are arriving the guests are quickly pa.s.sed on to some one of the ladies a.s.sisting, whose duty it is to see that they meet some of those who are already in the room and are eventually asked to the tea table. A part of the receiving party, and certainly the hostess and her daughter, should remain together in a place where they may be easily found as the guests enter the room.

No more sympathetic act of friends.h.i.+p can be shown a debutante than to contribute toward the success of her party. Girls who are asked to a.s.sist should remember that their first duty is not to entertain their own friends who may happen to be present, but to see that everyone is welcome and that especially those who are not acquainted with many in the room have an opportunity to become so. Anyone asked to a.s.sist at a function of this sort is in a sense a hostess, and it is quite within her province to enter into conversation with any unoccupied guest whether she has been introduced or not.

The usual hours for an afternoon tea are from four to six, but in the case of a coming-out reception the hour is often prolonged to seven so as to allow more men to be present than would be the case if the time were restricted to the early afternoon. In these busy days few men are at liberty to make afternoon calls, and it is always a compliment to a girl if her tea includes a sprinkling of black coats. Whatever hours are decided on, they should be engraved on the cards sent out two weeks before the tea. These are of the form and size of an ordinary visiting-card and include the daughter's name below that of her mother's. If she is the eldest unmarried daughter or the only girl in the family the card reads as follows:

Mrs. Geo. Baker Blank Miss Blank

December 9, 1911 4 to 7 o'clock

The daughter's given name is only used in case she has an older unmarried sister.

Ball and Evening Reception.

A more elaborate form of coming-out party consists of a ball or of an evening reception followed by dancing, and in this case the card contains the word "Dancing" below the date of the entertainment and the hours at which it is given. Few homes are large enough to provide for even a small dance, and so a party of this sort is generally given at a hotel. The guests as well as the receiving party wear evening gowns without hats, and men are expected to come in full evening clothes, which means the long-tailed coats and not the popular Tuxedo, white gloves, and, although this is not obligatory, white waistcoats.

After a girl has been introduced into society she has her individual visiting-cards, makes her own calls and is allowed to receive her own friends. Social customs differ with locality, and the chaperon is less customary in the West than in the East. In many cities girls are allowed to go to the theater and to evening parties with a man friend without a married woman being included in the party. A wise girl, however, is careful that any man she meets shall be introduced as soon as possible to some older member of her family and to introduce a young man calling for the first time to either her mother or father. Also when she accepts an invitation to an evening's entertainment she insists that her escort shall call for her at her own home and bring her directly home at the close of it. Dining or supping at a restaurant alone with a young man is sure to expose a girl to criticism.

A Woman's Lunch.

There are many pleasant forms of entertainment offered to a young girl entering society in which men are not included, and the most popular of these is a woman's lunch. This is a favorite form of entertainment for a young married woman to give in honor of some girl friend who has just come out in society or whose engagement has just been announced. One o'clock or half after is the usual hour, and the meal is served in courses and is as elaborate as the household resources may allow. The decorations of the table are important, and three courses are sufficient if they are carefully arranged. Handsome street costumes are worn for a function of this sort, and the guest of honor, if there is one, dresses as the others do. Outer wraps are left in the hall or in a room put aside for this purpose, and, as a rule, hats are retained and gloves removed when the guests sit down at table.

The custom of wearing a hat during lunch is not an arbitrary one, and it is not universal. In France, for example, where social customs are most carefully observed, it is the custom to wear handsome afternoon gowns if invited for the noon meal and to remove hats. The noon meal there is a social function, and certain formalities are observed. In London, on the contrary, no matter if a number of guests are expected, lunch is an informal occasion, and women dress for lunch as they would for an afternoon tea.

Hats are worn and women are prepared to rush off afterwards to meet other engagements. The English custom prevails now in the large cities in America, and, moreover, women seem disinclined to remove their hats after they are once dressed for the round of the day's social obligations.

It is simpler and really quite conventional to leave the wearing of hats to the individual. The hostess should ask her guest if she wishes to take her hat off or retain it, and she can at the same time intimate to her guest, if she is a stranger in the town, what the others will probably do in this connection. True hospitality on the part of the hostess is to make her guests at ease, and true politeness on the part of the visitor is to conform to the rules governing the community that she is visiting.

PROPER APPAREL FOR MEN.

American gentlemen are no longer dependent on English tailors or on English fas.h.i.+ons as they were some years ago. The American type of physique is a distinct one, and London tailors have never been able to fit American men as well as they do their own clients. Moreover social life is so different in the United States from what it is in England that men really need different clothes.

Practically all American men are business men for the working hours of the day, and few of them have any time or inclination for anything save business clothes while daylight lasts. For dinner or for the evening what are generally called evening clothes are permissible, and in fact obligatory in large cities for anything beyond the most informal home functions.

For the evening there is the informal and formal dress suit. The former consists of the long-tailed coat worn with either a white or black waistcoat. For a dancing party or formal dinner the white waistcoat is generally preferred, and, if it is worn, it must be accompanied by a white lawn tie. A made-up bow is considered incorrect. The accompaniments to a suit of this sort are patent-leather shoes and white kid gloves if dancing is a part of the evening programme.

The informal evening suit includes the shorter dinner jacket or Tuxedo, as it was formerly called, and, strictly speaking, this is only considered proper for the club or for parties where ladies are not expected to be present. However, men who commonly dress for dinner in the home circle generally prefer the dinner jacket to the long coat, and well-dressed men are often seen wearing it at small dinner parties, at the theater or at any informal evening event. This coat is always worn with a black tie and waistcoat, and it is not a suitable apparel for a dance or any large formal evening affair.

The correct dress for a daytime wedding is a black frock coat with light trousers, light fancy waistcoat and gray gloves and gray Ascot or four-in-hand tie, and the frock coat with black waistcoat proper for church or when making afternoon calls. Many young men are adopting for afternoon wear the English morning suit, which consists of a cutaway coat with trousers and waistcoat to match and made of some other color save black.

WEDDING ANNIVERSARIES.

First Anniversary Cotton Wedding Second Anniversary Paper Wedding Third Anniversary Leather Wedding Fifth Anniversary Wooden Wedding Seventh Anniversary Woolen Wedding Tenth Anniversary Tin Wedding Twelfth Anniversary Silk and Fine Linen Wedding Fifteenth Anniversary Crystal Wedding Twentieth Anniversary China Wedding Twenty-fifth Anniversary Silver Wedding Thirtieth Anniversary Pearl Wedding Fortieth Anniversary Ruby Wedding Fiftieth Anniversary Golden Wedding Seventy-fifth Anniversary Diamond Wedding

HOW TO SELECT COLORS

The Natural Laws of Tints, Tones, Shades and Hues.

Some combinations of color are pleasing to the eye, and some are discordant. The reasons for this are based on natural laws and are explained in a very simple manner in a learned article by Dr. W. K. Carr which originally appeared in Shop Notes Quarterly. Impressions continue upon the retina of the eye, says Dr. Carr, about one-sixth of a second after the object has been moved. For this reason a point of light or flame whirled swiftly around appears as a continuous ring. Or take a piece or red ribbon, place it on white paper, look intently at it for thirty seconds and suddenly remove the ribbon. The portion of the paper which was covered by the ribbon will then appear green. The explanation is that the color sensation in the eye is caused by the almost unthinkably rapid whirling of electrons around their atoms, and that the retina, becoming fatigued by the vibration of the red, is therefore less sensitive to them. When the ribbon is suddenly removed, the eye sees, not the blue, yellow and red which produce the white surface of the paper, but, because of the fatigue of the eye to the red, it sees only the blue and yellow const.i.tuents of the white light. But blue and yellow produce green; hence the tendency at the eye to see the complementary of a color. This may be referred to as the "successive contrast of colors."

Colors for Blondes and for Brunettes.

Now, for a practical application of this knowledge.

The hair of the blond is a mixture of red, yellow and brown. As a rule the skin is lighter, that is, it contains not so much orange, and the tinges of red are lighter. Nature, therefore, very properly made the blond's eyes blue, since the blue is complementary to the orange of her hair.

The brunette's skin, on the other hand, has more orange in it, and hence a color favorable to one would not be becoming to the other.

What would be the effect of green upon a complexion deficient in red? It would certainly heighten the rose tints in the cheeks, but the greatest care should be exercised in the selection of the proper shade of green, because the brunette's complexion contains a great deal of orange, and the green, acting upon the red of the orange, could readily produce a brick-dust appearance. Green, therefore, is a risky color for a brunette, and so is violet, which would neutralize the yellow of the orange and heighten the red. But if the orange complexion had more yellow than red, then the a.s.sociation of violet would produce pallor.

Yellow, of course, is her color, since its complementary violet neutralizes the yellow of the orange complexion and leaves the red.

But with the yellow-haired blond the conditions are very different. The complementary of blue is orange, which improves the hair and freshens the light flesh tints. A blond, therefore can wear blue, just as a brunette can wear yellow.

In arranging flowers the same law holds. Complementary colors should be placed side by side; blue with orange, yellow with violet, red and rose with green leaves. And anyone who successfully selects his wall paper and house furnis.h.i.+ngs is drawing unconsciously, perhaps, on an intuitive knowledge of these fundamental facts. Dark papers are bad, especially in rooms with a northern exposure, because they absorb too much light. The complementaries of red and violet are exceedingly trying to most complexions, and orange and orange-yellow are fatiguing to the eye. The most pleasing effects are to be had with yellow, light blue and light green, for the latter freshens the red in pale skins, and the blue heightens blond complexions, and goes well with gilding and with mahogany and cherry furniture.

COLOR CONTRAST AND HARMONY.

The following tables will be found useful in selecting colors for dress, decoration, or any other purpose in which the proper application of the true laws of contrast and harmony in color is desirable:

Contrasts in Color.

Yellow contrasts with-- Purple, russet, and auburn.

Red contrasts with-- Green, olive, and drab.

Blue contrasts with-- Orange, citrine, and buff.

Harmonies in Color.

Yellow harmonizes with-- Orange, green, citrine, russet, buff, and drab.

Red harmonizes with-- Orange, purple, russet, citrine, auburn, and buff.

Blue harmonizes with-- Purple, green, olive, citrine, drab, and auburn.

THE CARE OF THE TEETH.

Decay of the teeth, or caries, commences externally, appearing upon the enamel or bony structure of the teeth. Usually it is the result of chemical action produced by decomposition of food. Acids found in some fruits will cause decay if allowed to remain in contact with the teeth.

Then there are the natural mouth acids, which, although not strong, are none the less effective if allowed to remain long enough around the teeth. Microscopical examinations have shown that the secretions of almost every person's month contain more or less vegetable and animal life that will withstand the application of acids and astringents and will only succ.u.mb to alkalies. A dentifrice or mouth wash should be alkaline.