nce, and surprise you with a less
hackneyed delicacy.

Make no attempt to vary your usual bill of fare. Your guest will
infinitely prefer the newness of your dishes to an imitation of her own.
If you live in the country, the home-made bacon and ham will be a real
treat; and a bass, fresh from the river, will be a revelation to one who
has only eaten fish after it has been packed in ice. If you live in the
city do not attempt to serve spring chicken to your country guest. It is
impossible for a town chicken ever to become the tender, toothsome
morsel she is used to at home. But the juicy steaks and roasts you are
so tired of, are a treat she can seldom enjoy at her distance from
markets.

Oriental sweetmeats have become so popular for afternoon tea tables in
New York that many shops keep an extensive selection of these piquant
novelties. Among the first favorites are candied Chinese oranges; dates,
plums and other stone fruit crystallized by foreign processes and
stuffed with nut mixtures; Turkish pastes and East Indian goodies of
unpronouncable names.

When a plate is taken to be replenished always leave the knife and fork
on it.

Don't drink green chartreuse. Take the yellow. Also beware of the man
who takes sweet soda with his brandy, and a man who wants claret from
the ice box.

Use your napkin with a finger behind it, drawing it around or across the
mouth. Don't use it like a mop and your mouth as if it were the deck of
a fishing sloop.

When two or more forks are at your plate, use the smaller one for fish,
or whatever the first course may be. The steel knife is for meat. When
you have finished, place the knife and fork on your plate crossing each
other. Any good servant will know that you have finished.

Don't fold your napkin unless you are dining at home and intend using it
again. And if you are entertaining guests, do not do it then, as you
thus indicate that you are determined to save the washing of at least
one bit of linen.

Tucking a napkin under the chin as if the user was now to be stuffed
like a turkey, is in very bad taste. Lay your napkin across your lap. If
it falls to the floor, quietly beckon the servant at a convenient time
to restore it.

It is no longer the thing to perfume the water in finger glasses, or to
offer the _bowls_ with slices of lemon in them. So many people have a
positive objection to perfume of any kind that its use in this way is
discontinued. The pretty Japanese cust