ter pate, or other fish. Or the bouillon may be followed by a dish such
as sweetbreads and mushrooms, or chicken pates, or broiled chicken (a half
of a chicken for each guest) or squab, with salad such as whole tomatoes
filled with celery. Or the chicken or squab may be the second course, and
an aspic with the salad, the third. Individual ices are accompanied by
little cakes of assorted variety. There used always to be champagne; a
substitute is at best "a poor thing," and what the prevailing one is to
be, is as yet not determined. Orange juice and ginger ale, or white grape
juice and ginger ale with sugar and mint leaves are two attempts at a
satisfying cup that have been offered lately.

=THE BRIDE'S TABLE=

The feature of the wedding breakfast is always the bride's table. Placed
sometimes in the dining-room, sometimes on the veranda or in a room apart,
this table is larger and more elaborately decorated than any of the
others. There are white garlands or sprays or other arrangement of white
flowers, and in the center as chief ornament is an elaborately iced
wedding cake. On the top it has a bouquet of white or silver flowers, or
confectioner's quaint dolls representing the bride and groom. The top is
usually made like a cover so that when the time comes for the bride to cut
it, it is merely lifted off. The bride always cuts the cake, meaning that
she inserts the knife and makes one cut through the cake, after which each
person cuts herself or himself a slice. If there are two sets of favors
hidden in the cake, there is a mark in the icing to distinguish the
bridesmaids' side from that of the ushers. Articles, each wrapped in
silver foil, have been pushed through the bottom of the cake at intervals;
the bridesmaids find a ten-cent piece for riches, a little gold ring for
"first to be married," a thimble or little parrot or cat for "old maid," a
wish-bone for the "luckiest." On the ushers' side, a button or dog is for
the bachelor, and a miniature pair of dice as a symbol of lucky chance in
life. The ring and ten-cent piece are the same.

If a big piece of the wedding cake is left, the bride's mother has it
wrapped in tin foil and put in a sealed tin box and kept for the bride to
open on her first anniversary.

The evolution of the wedding cake began in ancient Rome where brides
carried wheat ears in their left hands. Later, Anglo-Saxon brides wore the
wheat made into chaplets, and gradually the belief developed th