l simulation is the marring
of the feast.

The housewife has many emergencies to face. How to work out of
difficulties never met with before taxes all of her ingenuity. She must
not allow her perplexity to appear if she is dealing with children or
servants, as that would cause them to lose faith in her infallible
wisdom.

Does company come in without warning and the sense of hospitality
constrain one to invite them to lunch or dinner, the careful Martha is
ready for the emergency, and if too late to send to market and what is
prepared must be supplemented with something else, she has plenty of
canned goods in her storeroom and improvises some dainty dish without a
suggestion of flurry. If not so thoughtful she graciously serves her
guest with what she has, and never by word or look implies that the call
is inopportune.

The true "emergency mistress" is the quiet woman whose friends
characterize her as having "plenty of common sense." She stores her mind
with useful knowledge and her pantry shelves with abundance of supplies;
her work basket always has thread of all colors and needles of every
size therein. She has patches to match every garment worn by her
children.

The American eatertainer is prone to excess in the quantity which he
offers to his guests. He does this out of a mistaken idea of
hospitality, not from any fear of being called mean if he should give
only a small repast.

As a rule a dinner should consist of not more than five or six chief
courses, i. e., soup, fish, _entree_, roast and vegetable, each one
served separately, followed by an _entremet_ of some sort, and fruit.

The art of dinner-giving consists in properly combining such dishes as
are appropriate to follow each other on the same evening. I have seen a
_menu_ composed of turtle soup, salmon, venison and woodcocks, all
excellent things in their way, but when brought together only leaving a
sense of excessive oiliness and richness.

As an _entree_ the _roti_ should consist of game, and vice-versa. The
salad served with poultry and game should be green salad with a simple
dressing of oil and vinegar. No set rules can be laid down.

It is true the caterer is an important element in the modern art of
dinner-giving--he "saves all the trouble;" but he is a stereotyped
quantity. You know just what he will serve, just how he will serve it,
and how enthusiastically grateful you would be if he would occasionally
leave out croquettes, for insta