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Show THINGS YOU CAN DO AT A DINNER. Ways of Entertaining Your Guests Which Are Not Commonplace. It is very hard to invent anything; new that will help to make dinner pass off well and make it remerabemL If one has money enough and brains it is lew difficult, but there are always go many people who have more money and qnite as generous an allowance of brains who have done the thing before and done it ao much better. The gaHtronomic part ctf the dinner is not considered that is a matter for the cook j but there is mvtf'h more to a good dinner than food, alt'igh some people will deny this and call it abwurd. There is a great deal in making tho diners at ease with one another if they chance to be strangers, and that cannot be done by substituting Little Neck clams for ysters. But it vrm done very cleverly tho other night in this city where some bright young people of New York were to meet some as clover young people from two other cities. When they seated theinsolves they found a large, square envelope at each plate addressed to each of the dimmr party, and with mutual bows of the head they opened them with some curiosity curi-osity and read them with gradually increasing in-creasing smiles. , Each note began abruptly as follows ; "My Dear Miss," or "Mr.," as the case was, "This is to assist you getting along well with the mun or girl on your right. Ilia full name is , and ho is interested in , noted for , talks well on , and becomes tiresome on his special hobby, which is ." Then followed a warning not to speak of such and such topics, or to refer to this or that political, religious or public question ques-tion in terms of disrespect. Of course the notes were at once passed on to the man on the right, and so on around the table, and the ice in conne-quence conne-quence was broken at once. It is just as well to remember, however, that the writer of the notes should possess great tact, and not too keen a sense of humor, because the slighteet jewt which might offend would lie fatal. The opportunities in the way of dinner din-ner cards and menu cards are vast Sometimes they can be made very pleasant pleas-ant reading by clever quotations under the names, which compliment or satirize , the diners, and sometimes they can be mailt) very vajuamt) oy HiHojfrajins ana tketchoa by clever urtifttB. One man in Philadelphia, who is noted for this sort of tliiug, gave a dinner to a theatre party who were going to Bee Henry Irving, and had the menu cards made of photographs of the actor, with his and Miss Terry's autograph underneath. under-neath. At another time he gave a dinner din-ner at the Ritteiihouse club to a dozen men, on which occasion the menu cards were printed without punctuation and in a solid Mock of type, something like this: 'LittlenefkclamspeiLioupwhitebait if thestowardcanuotgetwhiti-baitbroileds nieltJilambsbrains," etc. The card ended end-ed with, "Clieefeandthensual8weetthingB coffoeandlargefatexpensivecigars." Sonio menu cards now have places for the autographs of the diners, and some time during tho dinner they are started around the table with stylographic pens, and every one present signs his name to every other pereon's card until he gets ov-ft back again. New York Even- |