of entertainments with us. They consist of fewer courses,
which are served more rapidly. The guests are usually invited at seven
o'clock, and are seldom detained at table after ten. Music, either
private or professional, usually fills up the evening. It is customary
to invite a certain number of guests to come in after a grand dinner to
pass the remainder of the evening--a practice which proves that in
Parisian society people are far less "cantankerous" than they are in our
own. I can scarcely picture to myself a state of affairs wherein an
American belle or society-man would consider an invitation to "come in"
after dinner as anything but an insult. Which proves that we are not,
after all, as we pride ourselves upon being, the most sensible people on
the face of the earth in _all_ respects. That pleasant willingness to
accept invitations as they are really meant, and to appreciate
hospitality for its own sake, is a social lesson that the members of
American society would do well to study after the example set by their
Parisian brethren.

A Parisian dinner-party is far less conducive to indigestion than is one
of our own. Not only are the courses fewer, as I before remarked, but
the viands are less rich in quality and are served in smaller portions.
Delicacy of flavor, and not solidity, is the result aimed at by a true
French _cordon bleu_. There is also considerable taste and ingenuity
displayed in serving the ices, which are brought to the table in all
manner of pretty and fanciful forms. Thus, at one dinner-party a basket
formed of brown _nougat_ was handed round. It was filled with apricots
moulded in peach-tinted ice and of delicious apricot flavor. At another
the basket was of white _nougat_, and the ice-cream was colored and
moulded to represent pink and crimson roses. On another occasion a large
silver dish was borne in, on which was placed a bundle of asparagus, the
stalks held together by a broad blue satin ribbon. The ribbon was
untied, the stalks fell apart, and one was served to each guest,
together with a rich sauce from a silver sauce-boat. The asparagus-stalk
was composed of vanilla ice-cream, and the green part of pistacchio ice,
while the sauce was a delicately flavored cream. The imitation of the
vegetable was perfect in every particular, and was thoroughly deceptive.
The floral decorations at dinner-parties are usually on a far less
extensive scale than with us. A single basket tastefully arranged fo