The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, December 14, 1902, Page 30

30 THE SUNDAY CALL. “That all-sofrening, overpowering knell, The tocsin of the soul—the dinner bell.” es mo difference if we are all nt Morgans and import our rom London at such a fabulous that it makes ordinary folks t makes mno difference if our bugely pleased with the extraordinary concoctions that mixers can so bountifully sup- le is not temptingly set half of the dinner is lost. he family dine by themselves, vy the case at holiday time, it d ome of the events of the the entire family gather about d with a feeling of expectation re ake the most appropriate dec- about Christmas or New berries or a mountain of piled high In the center of , i perhaps more in keeping with The groundwork of the table course, immaculate linen, and the should fall in soft rays from either candlesticks or a banquet lamp. se things have an influence and ficance is an unspeakable purity in the iteness, a giorious cheer in the light and a balm in the blos- som’s fragrance that defies anything and everything, no matter how pretentious it might be, Naturally the first thing to be consid- & sign There linen’s w mellow ered is the tablecloth. It {s presumed been beautifully laundered at it is absolutely devold of es. Sometimes, though, everything s to try its very best to be contrary &nd the linen is anything but smooth. Now I am going to tell some of you a secret that proba will shock the model house- wife, bu a trick well worth knowing, even gs always go just so in your house s barely possible that the cloth may have a stray wr'gtle and that your time is ted. Put aa fron on to heat and wh t is good ana warm, not hot mind press the linen just as you would anything else, using the table as &n ironing board. The soft, heavy husher will ep the table from scorching and you will find that the experiment will be & huge success all around. The flowers may be arranged in a vase of cut-glass or rock crystal. Just a cluster of roses, or if preferred growing ferns in & silver fern stand is frequently used. For formal dinners a single bud or boutonniere in a flower tube is placed at each service plate When the vase for the flowers is high the candlesticks should be the reverse in t i order not to obstruct the view across the table. Mirrors are not used any morc and centerpieces of linen are but little in vogue. The chief idea is simplicity. This charming simplicity, by ~the , de- mands. the - very best of keramics and quantities of well cut glass. After the final arrangement of the flow- ers comes the placing of the napkins, cui- lery, silver and cut g.ass according to the courses and wine to be served. The wine should be graded up from the mild to the better vintages .as the dinner progresses, until the game and roast courses are reached, when the wines should be of the best pessible to obtain. The table represented on this page is a home dinner and the silver and glass are all put on in an informal fashion, but where guests are bidden all pieces in- tended only for a specific course are not placed upon the table until ready.for use and are removed at the end of the course. This is a falr list of what one should use for a Christmas dinner: 4 Service plates, bread and butter plates, olive dish, radish d.sh, celery tray, celery dips, salt- ed almonds, the silver, the cutlery, water glasses. OYSTERS—Oyster _ plates, Worcestershire mustard pot, salt and peppers, horseradish pot, sauce bottle, tobasco bottle, vinegar cruets, SOUP—Soup tureen, wafer tray, soup plates, sherry decanter and glasses. FISH-—Fish dish, famekins, sauce boat, fish plates, Rhine wine decanter and glasses. THE ENTREE—Entree dish, entree plates, Bordeaux or claret decanter and glasses. ROAST—Roast platter, two vegetable dishes, gravy tureen, individuai plates, champagne Elasses or decanter and glasses for Bordeaux, Hock, Burgundy or claret, \THE ASPARAGUS—Platter, ates. P SALAD_8alad dish, plates, mayonnatse bowl. PUDDING—Pudding dish, plates, sauce boat. ICECREAM—Icecream tray, plates, cake plates. CH lemon tray, sauce boat, ESE—Cheese dish, cheese plates, dessert knives, cabarets having parts for radishes, water cress, etc. 2 FRUIT—Fruit comports for ' fruit, raisins, nuts, etc.. plates, silver knives, port wine de- canter and glasses. CAFE NOIR—Coffee maker, sugar bowl, tray, cups and saucers, cognac decanters, F L COURSE—Liquer glasses, cordial decanter and sticks and trays for clgars. The service or plates are purely decora- tive and .should pe strong in colors and rich gold effects. The latest fad is to have them distinctly plain and with a monogram, a crest or some other equally distinctive design. The Americans have a little fashion all their own and that is serwing bread and decanter and glasses, candle- butter with every course. Peoplé who think that bread aud butter plates are out of fashion are entirely misinformed. They have a decided value and should never be omitted. In fact, their convenience com- mends them to general and permanent use. These little plates, unless one has a complete set of some particular pattern or 3 . =3 /. =—7A N color, ‘should be of white and gold. as they harmonize with all the china. Olives, radishes and celery are by far more palatable when served cold, conse: quently the dish for each should be deep enough to hold sufficient ice to bed them in. When celery gr radishes are served without ice they soon wilt and lose their flavor, but when bedded properly in @ tray for that purpose they make a decora- tive feature for the table. The oyster course cannot very well help being simple. Oysters and clams should always be served in their natural shells, or else much of the flavor is lost. There are some new dishes which imbed the shells in crushed ice, but they are not at all necessary, although convenient. The kind of soup should always depend upon the kind of dinner that is to follow. 12 there is to be a heavy dinner the soup is better if it is clear and only a little of it. Boulllon is properly served in a two- handled cup with a saucer, the cup being about the size of a tea cup. The fish.set consists of a large fish dish, a sauce boat and individual plates,, all elaborately decorated with scenes from fishdom deftly executed. To be sure the fish tastes quite as well if the plates are absolutely plain, but the idea is pret- tily carried out and is a little amusement for the guests, who never miss anything in' that line. E - The roust beef set is the main feature . ot the dinner and the china for it should be ‘more_ elaborately decorated than any other. ‘Vogue, as it is rather new and very effect- ive. The Minton is simple, being, as a rule, white or cream with a dash of color and a little gold. The game sets are frequently beautiful and very fine. Painted generally by the best of decorators they usually represent the twelve months of the year, and, as a The Royal Copenhagen is much in - consequence, are all vastly different. The glassware is extremely beautiful now and every new fad is more graceful than the last. The first thing that pre- faces a dinner is a cocktail, and the glasses are plain or fancy as one pleases. For water, goblets, and not tumblers, are proper. - Tumblers may be used at break- fast and luncheon, but the handsome and convenient goblet should be in strong evi- dence at Christmas. The wine glasses vary in shape ma- terfally. It is quite the latest thing to have the champagne glass very tall, the creme de menthe a little taller, while the Rhine wine is the highest of them all That really makes the six glasses all of a varled size and color, for the two tallest ones are frequently of green with a dash cil 'red to set them off. AN EASY LESSO IN WHIST. By Mrs. E. P. Sciiell. MONG the difficulties that besét the whist player in his effort to build up a Glbraltar system of openings is the question of what to lead from king, queen and small cards. A great many authorities advo- Table Set tate that king should be led—or queen under American leads, if holding more than four in suite.' But the exhaustive experimenting of the last few years has brought to the front the lead of a low card from -this combination, and this opening {s preferred by a large number of strong players, For the beginners or the student the lead of an honor from this holding is cer- tainly to be recommended. It is surer, and in the long run it will lead into fewer entaglements. But the expert wishes to play every pos- sible combination to the best advantage, ‘and endeavors to reduce everything to the last refinement of analysis. The theory on which the lead of an honor is based is clear enough, apd very simple. The card led forces the ace, if with the adversary, and leaves the leader in com- mand, or gives the valuable information that partner holds the ace. Again, as two tricks are about all that can be made in a plain suit, on an average, until trumps are out of the way, there is dan- ger in leading low, that the first trick may be taken cheaply by the adversaries, ‘when the ace will capture the second, and so the original leader never takes a trick in his best suit. The advocates of the lead claim that the chances are even that partner will hold either ace or a card big enough to force it, and that it is a losing game to sacrifice an honor to draw the adverse ace, thus leaving the leader with or'y one winner in the suit. Of course, it is readily to be seen that 1if partner holds ace, the form of opening is immaterial, save in some situations—as, for instance, when third hand holds the ace alone. Argument upon the question to be of any value must be based on the theory that the ace is against the leader, The mathematical sharp ‘and experts have experimented with the problem, and tell us that there is a small percentage in favor of leading an honor. But the prob- abilities are calculated only on the ques- tion of taking or not taking a trick with one of the two honors. They do not shed 5 ¢ HBRO: by ., TETER CHARZAND WaitersAilian ce,local 30. \.any lighf upon the effect the high or the low lead will have in the long run upon the possibilities of bringing in the long suit. And this, after all, is the more im- portant matter. When the leader has but four in suit an adversary will hold, we are told by mathematicians, an equal or greater number 633 times in a thousand, and is then practically sure to be left with winning cards after the king and queen have been played. Partner will hold ace or jack about four times in nine; he will hold both about once in nine. There are other distributions and condl- tions in which he may take the trick or force the play of the master card, secur- ing the command on the third ronud to the leader. ‘When partner holds ace or jack, and one additional, advantage attaches to the lead of the small. On the other hand, when he has no high card and the first round fails to bring out the ace, both king and queen may be shut out. When the ten accompanies the king and queen the suit should be opened regularly. The play of the king, if the ace be adverse, will leave the leader with the major ten- ace, from which he may finesse on the return, retaining the command. The point that should decide whether to lead high or low is just this: What do you ex- pect to accomplish with the suit? Do you intend to play it as a long suit, expecting to bring in the.tall of it as winners? It s0, lead low by all means. But if you have no hopes except for the trick or two that may be got with the high card, play the king. The strength of the low lead ‘when playing for the whole suit consists in the fact that even if the ace be adverse you retain command for the all important third round, a matter often of quite as much consequence in plain suits as in trumps. In a critical hand, where trump strength is pretty evenly divided, the pos- session or 1oss of this point of vantags is often decisive as to the bringing in or shutting out of long suits. A trophy deal where two different sys- tems of tactics were applied to the same hands at table No. 1. North and South play the 'establishment game; at “the other a cross Fuff is instituted. North. 8. 1,8 6 H. C-K, 9 1,2 D—Q, 9, 3, 2 Fast, West. S—K, Q975 H.—§, 3. 2 C.—10, 8, 5. D—A, 5 4 D-K, 516 Ten of clubs trumps; North leads. tanford /rudio 7 (\,_. 4 =i Tk. N. E. 8. W. 1 Js 23 3s Qs 2. Jh Kh *Ah sh 3 *Qd Jda 8a 4 4. 24 10d Ka *Ad 5. 6s 10h *Qh 3n 6. *Ke 6c de bo 1. 2 Je *Ao 100 8. 9¢ *Qe 3¢ 80 9. 8s 2h *Sh Ts 10. 3a 4s b 5d 1. *sd éh [ s 12. 10s *As 4h s 8. *Tc Sh Th Ks North and South, §; East and West, & Trick 1—East wants to keep his spade re-entry for the assistance of his strong heart suit, so passes the jack on to his partner, but why he played the deuce is not easy to understand. According tke “modified” system the four is the proper card. Trick 2—His partner having denied the ace, West naturally places it to right, otherwise he might have continued the suit. - Trick ¢é—South- leads trumps to frus- trate the cross-ruff impending upon the other side of the table. North and South have, however, a much more effective cross-ruff situation established, for the former can over-trump West In the heart suit. Considering the fact that as far as South knows he and his partner have no suit established and spades entirely against them, it looks as though the surest gain would follow the return of the heart. The result would probably have been the same, however. TABLE NO. 3. E. Tk. N. . 8. Ww. 1 Jh Kh *Ah 3h 2 24 %h *Qn sh 3 *2 6h 4h 4 4 9% 0d X4 *Ad i 6 23 38 *Ks 6 3s As *30 s 1. *Te sh Th 5d 8. Qd Ja L éd *50 9. ¢ 6o *Ao 10¢ 10. *Ke 0h sh a9 1, Js s e 9 12, 3d *Je 8da c 13. 10s *Qe 7d Qs North and South, 8; East and West, 5. Trick 1—North hits his partner’s hand, but it is questionabie whether the single- ton lead is sound from his holding. Ths rufing tactics “pan out” better th could have been expected on account the fact that South’s hand also contains a singleton. Trick —The diamond lead, after West's two discards, looks a little hazardous. [t loses a trick. If North had come back with the spade, which his partner has al- Teady ruffed, South would have returned his last heart, enabling the trump nine to score and North and South make Wwith each of their trumps,