or laid upon it so that the stems are
toward the center and covered by the base of the bowl.

If the clergyman is to wear vestments, a room must be put at his disposal.

At the hour set for the ceremony, the clergyman enters the room first and
takes his place at the font. The guests naturally make way, forming an
open aisle. If not, the baby's father or another member of the family
clears an aisle. The godmother carries the baby and follows the clergyman;
the other two godparents walk behind her, and all three stand near the
font. At the proper moment the clergyman takes the baby, baptizes it and
hands it back to the godmother, who holds it until the ceremony is over.

=THE CHRISTENING DRESS=

The christening dress is always especially elaborate and beautiful. Often
it is one that was worn by the baby's mother, father, or even its grand or
great-grandparent. Baby clothes should be as sheer as possible and as
soft. The ideal dress is of mull with much or little valenciennes lace
(real) and finest hand embroidery. But however much or little its
trimming, it must be exquisite in texture. In fact, everything for a baby
ought to be hand-made. It can be as plain as a charity garment, but of
fine material and tiny hand stitches. If the baby is very little, it is
usually laid on a lace trimmed pillow. (This lace, too, must be
valenciennes.)

The godmother or godmothers should wear the sort of clothes that they
would wear at an afternoon tea. The godfather or fathers should wear
formal afternoon clothes. The other guests wear ordinary afternoon
clothes and the mother--unless on the sofa--wears a light-colored
afternoon dress. She should not wear black on this occasion.

As soon as the ceremony is performed, the clergyman goes to the room that
was set apart for him, changes into his ordinary clothes and then returns
to the drawing-room to be one of the guests at luncheon or tea. The
godmother hands the baby to the nurse, or maybe to its mother, and
everyone gathers around to admire it. And the party becomes exactly like
every informal afternoon tea.

The only difference between an ordinary informal tea and a christening is
that a feature of the latter is a christening cake and caudle. The
christening cake is generally a white "lady" cake elaborately iced,
sometimes with the baby's initials, and garlands of pink sugar roses. And
although according to cook-books caudle is a gruel, the actual "caudle"
invariably served at c