FOR a small company the high tea is an excellent form of entertainment. It is not suitable for a large assembly, but when a limited number of guests have been invited to spend the evening in some such recreation as card-playing, it is very pleasant to ask them first to high tea. Or if the latter part of the evening is to be devoted to dancing, a chosen few of the guests may be invited to tea first, and the remainder requested to come later. In that case no supper should be offered to the dancers except cake, ices, and coffee.

Should the dining-table be large enough to accommodate all the guests bidden to the high tea, it may be drawn to the requisite length, and all the company seated about it. But if, from the limited dimensions of the dining-room, or because it better suits the fancy of the hostess, small tables are preferred, these may be laid so as to accommodate at each six, or four, or even two, always taking care in the last case that the right two are placed together.

If one large table is used, it may be spread with either a dinner or a tea cloth. Flowers should be in the middle upon a pretty centre-piece, and there may be small vases set about here and there. Individual bouquets are not at all necessary. The places should be arranged as usual, with small silver for each course, and the usual accompaniments of butter-plates—or of bread-and-butter plates—salt-cellars, glasses, napkins, etc. If it is warm weather, the table may be further beautified by the bowls or baskets of fresh fruits that are to make part of the dessert, and, in winter, dishes of cake, of preserved or brandied fruits, etc., may be on the table. Should the hostess prefer, however, these may be placed on the sideboard, thus allowing space for the more substantial viands, which at a tea are seldom relegated to the position on the side-table that they would take at dinner.

At the head of the table sits the hostess, with the tea-tray in front of her. It by no means follows, however, because this repast is called a tea that the Chinese herb should be en Évidence. If the party is composed chiefly of young people, the chances are strongly in favor of their preference being for coffee or chocolate. They may be offered their choice of these beverages, which the hostess pours out, the servant passing them with cream and sugar, that each may add of these to suit himself. Russian tea may possibly be offered, but even this is apt to be less popular than either chocolate or coffee.

Should small tables be used, the hostess may preside over a tray placed upon one of them, or, when it seems more convenient, the cups may be filled outside, and passed to each with the cream-pitcher and sugar-bowl. It saves some delay in serving if there are a cream-pitcher and sugar-bowl on each table. These little tables may be covered with small cloths or large napkins, and need have nothing else upon them beyond the necessary furniture for each place, except, perhaps, a vase of flowers. While small tables are often admirable as accommodating more people with comfort than could be seated at a large table, yet the latter gives opportunity for a prettier display of floral decoration, china, silver, etc., than is afforded by the former.

The bill of fare is easily arranged. There are no raw oysters or clams, as at a lunch or dinner; and while bouillon may be provided, it is not at all necessary. The meal may begin with oysters in some form, as fricasseed, fried, broiled, steamed, or panned, or in croquettes. With them are passed bread-and-butter (brown or graham bread cut thin is good with oysters) or rolls. The plates are then removed, and the next course brought in. This may consist of chicken—broiled or fried—or broiled birds, or French chops, and of potatoes in some form, as À la parisienne, French fried, or hashed with cream and browned. Cold tongue or ham is sometimes also passed at this time, and warm bread in some shape, as French rolls, sally-lunn, tea-biscuit, rusk, or waffles. The coffee or chocolate is also served at this stage in the proceedings.

After this course comes a salad—lettuce and tomato mayonnaise, or chicken, lobster, or salmon—fresh plates being served for this, as a matter of course. Olives and some fancy cheese—Brie, Roquefort, or Gorgonzola—usually come with the salad. Cheese at this stage is strongly recommended by the epicure; but it is not essential, except to those who hold, in the words of the old doggerel, that

The table is now cleared, and the dessert brought in. This may be quite simple, as, say, preserved or brandied fruit with fancy cakes; or it may be more elaborate, and comprise jelly, charlotte-russe, or fresh fruit of some kind, and light cakes. Ices are not strictly en rÈgle, although no canon of taste is seriously offended if they are offered. It is better, however, to serve them later in the evening. Still, they are not essential even then. Finger-bowls set on doilies laid on pretty plates must be passed the last thing before the guests quit the table.

Of course the menu suggested above may be altered to suit the season and the taste of the entertainer. Lobster or crabs, clams or shrimps, may be substituted for the oysters. Green pease may accompany chops, or sweetbreads may be the principal meat dish of the second course. Roast duck, turkey, or chicken may be provided if broilers are out of season, or birds may be served with a lettuce or celery salad for the third course. And when one reflects upon the fancy dishes which may be prepared for dessert—the blanc-manges, the jellied fruits, the Spanish or Bavarian or Hamburg creams, the charlottes of divers kinds, the whips, custards, and syllabubs—the only difficulty that arises is where to choose.

A pretty notion is to introduce some unexpected feature into the high tea which will appeal to the imaginations of the guests as well as to their palates. A little ingenuity will suggest some novelty of this sort. The literary salad, which has become well known in certain localities, may yet be unfamiliar in others. This is made by cutting a number of slips of paper, writing on each one a prose or poetic quotation, and attaching each strip to a leaf of pale green tissue-paper, cut and crimped into the fashion of a lettuce leaf. Different shades of the paper should be selected, so that the tints may blend as they do in a veritable head of lettuce. These leaves are then arranged in a bowl, and at some point in the meal, usually just before the dessert, the bowl is passed, and each guest draws out at random two or three of the leaves. The endeavor then is to guess the authorship of the different quotations, and a prize is usually offered to the one who guesses the greatest number correctly. The prize may be the bowl or dish in which the salad is served. Or, instead of quotations, conundrums may be written on the slips, and puzzling out their answers usually affords a great deal of amusement.

A bright young hostess, who was always bubbling over with new and charming ideas, hit upon the clever one of having her guests' characters told by chirosophy. She obtained a specimen of the handwriting of each of those whom she had invited, and sent the samples to a specialist, who deduced from each an estimate of the characteristics of its writer. The verdicts thus obtained were enclosed each in an envelope bearing the name of the person whose peculiar bias was therein described. The envelopes were then bound with ribbons, tied, and sealed. One was laid at the place of each guest at the table, and after providing a fruitful source of wonder and comment during the early part of the meal, the seals were broken when the fruit was passed. Each read aloud the statement contained in her envelope, and it was curious and amusing to observe with what accuracy many idiosyncrasies and singular traits of disposition had been indicated.