Great cornstalks, with the husk merely turned back to show the yellow ear, are extremely effective. A huge bunch of these on either side of the drawing-room door will take the place of palms. They may also be placed at the entrance to the dining-room, their sentinel-like appearance making them charming as a doorway decoration. Here and there great pumpkins, hollowed out to admit of the flower-pot with its growing green, make unique jardiniÈres. A bunch of corn, where the ear is red, tied by means of a bow of yellow ribbon to the chandelier, admits of the same suggestion as the mistletoe of Christmas time, and makes a pretty spot of color, besides being the cause of much quiet fun.

A pretty feature is to have a pumpkin table brought in during the refreshments and hold a guessing contest, which gives an opportunity for much merriment and for the giving of prizes to the lucky guessers.

This table should be arranged as follows: Upon a small, highly polished table (mahogany is perhaps the richest in effect), place a dainty, embroidered centrepiece, and set upon this a large pumpkin, either on a silver dish or resting directly on the white linen. This pumpkin should be hollowed out, as the others, leaving only its yellow shell, the pumpkin holding an assortment of fruit, luscious and beautiful—highly polished red-cheeked apples, oranges, bananas and grapes; trailing here and there among them a few red leaves, or if they can be obtained, a spray of wild clematis, of bitter-sweet, or of smilax.

The guests are told that underneath the fruit lies something suggestive of nature's ways, and therefore of the occasion and that they are to guess what it may be and how much of it there may be.

The guesses will be many and varied. The fruit-dish may be passed, the fruit disposed of, and underneath will be found the pumpkin's seeds, which have been gathered together. The prize for the guest that guesses the nearest can be a little horn-of-plenty drinking glass. If one wishes to give souvenirs of the occasion, charming little pencils can be obtained that have the lead appearing from a miniature ear of corn. This feature, however, is quite unnecessary.