| Show 7 5 w 5 i kalt z rt u imry u s fal jl great and good invention which will enable you to pass a pleasant evening in gay company at small outlay of cash or worry YOU arc impressed IF necessity of returning some of the hospitalities you have enjoy 1 ed in your social circle or if there is a guest under your roof and you long to celebrate somewhat in her honor ask in a score or more of your friends to an instruction party an instruction party is a great and good invention it is a pleasant ana inexpensive way of passing an evening in gay company it keeps every guest occupied and therefore happy and cheerful it relieves the hostess of some of the brain work of looking anxiously after her silent friends or the touchy ones and of keeping general conversation on the bounce better still all the real work of it can be completed even in detail well beforehand one servant will render all the outside assistance that is necessary and it affords an opportunity for securing he attendance of the masculine element for an instruction party is strictly an evening affair to which the women can wear their gowns if they like this newest kind of a novelty party is given in the following fashion to prepare for it you must send out your invitations about one week ahead write them out yourself on plain square white correspondence cards saying that I 1 mrs james L brown requests the pleasure of your company on tuesday evening april irth at 40 washington street to meet miss lockwood the favor of an requested you can add in the right hand corner of the card instruction party but that is not necessary it is necessary to prepare in detail for the entertainment beforehand to do this you temporarily transform your drawing room into what resemblance of a school room it may be made to take put chairs across the floor in as many rows as are necessary to seat nearly all the guests who accept and at the end a desk the other preparations include thea making of as many pink white green yellow and blue paper muslin aprons as there are to be feminine guests present and the cutting out from stiff white paper of extra large patterns of small boys broad turnover collars to the front of each collar mu st be fixed ly a pin a big bow of bright ly colored cheesecloth A supply of cheap scratch pads and lead pencils completes the list of properties that arc requisite you must think out your questions in advance the whole scheme and fun of an instruction party is its gay burlesque on a childrens school whereat under various absurd guises puzzles in spelling history geography etc are presented for elucidation by quick wits As a rule three classes rill up an evening with fun and occupation until supper time but the questions to be propounded to the classes must be carefully thought out in advance A good deal of cleverness and ingenuity must be exerted in doing this and you must also choose some member of your family who is capable of occupying the chair of schoolmaster school master with not so much stern dignity as with and a capacity for stirring up the fun of every situation promoting laughter and good nature A school mistress will do as well as a master if you know someone with the proper qualifications for the position she must be pretty enough to wear a dainty white ruffled muslin apron an elbow sleeved apron with black mittens a pair of big gold bowed specs a pair of large tucking combs and a bunch of big artificial short curls on either side of her forehead after the fashion of 1850 in addition to this picturesque makeup make up the teacher if a woman must carry a half knitted sock if 1 man a good stout black ruler As hostess you roust be prepared to receive the earliest of the arrivals at the door of your drawing room wear your prettiest whether it i high or open in the neck if you and your husband are giving the party he must stand beside you and help re ceide but if you are giving the entertainment tain ment in honor of some woman who is visiting you or who is visiting in the neighborhood let her receive beside you and introduce to her everyone she has not met previously it is essential as at all evening affairs to provide a dressing room for the women guests and as both men and women enter the drawing room pin about the shoulders of ape first the wide white paper collars and the gay neckties and to each woman give an apron which she will know how to adjust if you dont own a dinner bell buy one thus arrayed let the guests enter the drawing room schoolroom school room and seat themselves where they like after you have handed to the grownup grown up scholars pads and pencils and after the majority of your friend have arrived ring loud and long the largest i dinner bell you can procure when all the guests have got into their seats haili let the school maam make her entrance you or some of your family sit in the front row of chairs and lead in the fun making and in showing the guests how the game of the instruction party is played the humor of itha situation is greatly promoted when the guests as pupils arc inspired to imitate all the tricks of children at school this will bring down upon them the stern reprimands of the school mistress who can appoint n monitor if she chooses when some semblance of arder is secured the teacher begins her spell ing lesson by giving out sentences of defective words to which some dixs ing vowels or consonants must be supplied in order to make sense for example this seemingly meaningless jumble of can be turned by he mere addition of twelve os into the sentence old oxford dons know good port from wormwood the cabalistic phrase with the help of three Is becomes nothing more difficult to read than loud blows the blast the teacher gives out each defective sentence as though it was one long word the pupils write down the row of letters on their scratch pads three to five minutes time allowance is given them to work over each puzzle and write the best answer to it their wits can suggest single words from which all the as or Is or cs have been taken arc given sometimes in preference to sentences and in half an hour the geography lesson is called some details for your first instruction party A large wisp of hay pulled into 1 knot is laid conspicuously on the teachers desk and the pupils arc given three minutes in which to discover that this represents the republic of hayti A lump of ice follows to represent chili the letters M and T arc placed on a childs red worsted hood to indicate mt hood and a new jersey laid on the desk signifies the state of that name A china lion and plaster lamb placed close together before the geography class will suggest concord to the quick wilted after a half hour of this diversion during which the pupils write down their best guesses on their scratch pads the history class is called the task for this class is represented by pictures cut from magazines and exhibited for three minutes consideration an illustration from a comic publication of the cook giving warning can easily be interpreted as the declaration of independence a policeman arresting a woman may readily suggest the name of caesar and the battle of bull run is the very natural inference to be drawn from the picture of a light footed steer chasing an artist from his pasture A half dozen well chosen pictures exhibited by the chool maam and passed down for inspection by the class will bring the school term to a close the big bell is rung again school is declared dismissed and scratch pads arc handed up for examination by the teacher who then dis i prizes pretty trifles arc given to those who have distinguished themselves in spelling geography or history by guessing correctly the greatest number of puzzles to those who have in each class made the smallest number of correct guesses the teacher presents long white paper dunce caps filled with candy and then a tin medal is given to the pupil whose conduct has been above reproach finally supper is served you can attractively serve a simple but dainty supper by placing a big bowl of lemonade in one corner of the dining room and arranging on the dining table as many little luncheon baskets as you can buy or borrow in your neighborhood line the baskets with mixed paper and put into each one three or four sandwiches a crisp vienna roll the interior of which is dug out and filled with meat salad a big tart filled with candied fruit a goodly slice of chocolate cake a long broom straw on which eight or ten crystallized cher ries are strung nuts olives and cheese sticks add a fork knife and spoon and a couple of japanese paper napkins in the top of every basket and let the guests make their own choice from the array of gay little hangers tied up with bows of brightly colored jap anese paper let them also make up their own little supper groups and serve themselves from the remona dc bowl by half past eleven the school will be ready to disperse and you must again take your place by the drawing room door and bid everybody good night your husband or your guest of honor at your side EMILY HOLT |
