Etiquette of the Gilded Age Table

It may well be feared that an idle and degenerate race will follow this period of elegant display and high living. Fortunately this revel in costly food and table decoration is confined to the rich; so that the sweet, simple food and clean, dainty table-service of the ordinary family will not become a memory of the past.

“Luxury in Eating”

We are returning to the splendor of the ancients in our opulence of table decorations and in the luxury of our food, and it may well be feared that an idle and degenerate race will follow this period of elegant display and high living. Fortunately this revel in costly food and table decoration is confined to the rich; so that the sweet, simple food and clean, dainty table-service of the ordinary family will not become a memory of the past. 

We all know how fair a wedding feast may be furnished from a table set with white china, with viands prepared at home, and a few clusters, here and there, of wild eglantine and ivy, and table napery of spotless linen. But a society journal informs us that, for morning and afternoon wedding entertainment, the following table napery has been prepared:

Finest double damask linen edged with silver lace, monograms of bride and bridegroom in silver work in the corner. Bands or strips of white satin, edged with white plush and silver lace, destined to be laid under the flower decorations, which are only to be white and red roses. Tiny round serviettes edged with silver lace, worked with silver monogram. Specimen flower-holder for each guest, in the shape of a mother-of pearl tiny bouquet-holder set in a silver claw-stand for the table, and having a thick fall of silver and real pointe lace round the top where the flowers will rest. These, as well as the serviettes, will be carried away by each guest as a memento of the occasion.

The afternoon tea-cloths, finger, fruit cloths, etc… are white washing silk, thickly fringed and worked with silver roses. Another feature of elegant dinners is the little boxwood easel on which the dinner-card rests. These may be simple or very ornamental, as the hostess prefers.
 

The Shakespeare cards are very suitable, and quite appropriate, each one containing a selection. “The labor we delight in.” —Macbeth. “At first and last the hearty welcome.” — Macbeth. “Eat and make good cheer.” —Henry IV. “To say you are welcome were superfluous.” — Pericles. These are gilt-edged with ornamental painted designs, and may be used as a plate-card or attached to the bouquet for the guest as a welcome card. It will save both headaches and heartaches, and literally fulfill Shakespeare's exhortation,

“Now let digestion wait on appetite, And health on both,” 

if moderation is observed in eating and drinking the good things provided. 

There is one saving clause in the modern bill of fare—the numerous light dishes which are neither rich nor nourishing, and of which Hood says:

“But, then, my fare was all so light and delicate —

The fruit, the cakes, the meats, so dainty frail —

They would not bear a bite— no, not a munch—

But melted away like ice.”

— From “Gems of Deportment and Hints of Etiquette,” by Mrs. M. L. Rayne, 1882

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