Tea table

“ We are glad to record that one seldom happens upon one, these days. How the English used to revile them! In the simplest homes it is always possible at the tea hour, to have a table placed before whoever is to "pour" and a tray on which are cups, tea, cream, sugar, lemon, toast, cake or what you will, brought in from the pantry or kitchen. There was a time when in America, one shuddered at the possibility of dusty cups and those countless faults of a seldom-rehearsed tea-table! ”

“ On the top of the card or below the name write the name of the guest for whom the tea is given, if it is an affair in honor of some guest.
Decorate the rooms simply or elaborately as one chooses. For a small tea simply fill the vases with flowers, and make a special feature of the tea table in the dining room. Have a center basket of flowers and ferns tied with satin ribbons on the handle, or have cut glass vases at the corners. Use lighted [Pg 52] candles, white, or the color of your flowers, if carrying out a certain color scheme in the dining-room. ”

“ If the rivals thus caught jump and dance with pain, the effect is increased. The serving maid who brings the tea in Scene 5 wears a cap and apron and carries a tray bearing a number of unbreakable wooden and tin dishes which make a great clatter in falling without causing any damage. The tea table, a small one, supported by a single post in the center, may be cut from brown paper and pinned on the screen before Scene 5 appears. In shadow it will seem to be just as real as an actual table, but of course a real table may be used if preferred. ”

“ Conquest had lavished pains on the occasion, putting flowers in the rooms, and strewing handsome objects carelessly about, so as to impart to the great shell as much as possible the air of being lived in. To the tea-table he had given particular attention, ordering out the most ornamental silver and the costliest porcelain, and placing the table itself just where she would probably have it in days to come, so as to get the effect she produced in sitting there, as he liked to do with a new picture or piece of furniture. ”

“ Young ladies find it a very pretty recreation to make the tea-table attractive with the floral arrangements, the basket of cake, the sandwiches, the silver tea-caddy, the alcohol lamp burning under the silver or copper kettle, the padded "cozy" to keep the tea warm, the long table around which young gentlemen and young ladies can sit, while mamma, patient American mamma—receives the elder people in the parlor.
It is no longer the elderly lady who presides at the tea-kettle; the tabbies do not make or drink the teas; the younger pussies are the queens of four-o'clock tea. ”

“ To one side near the fireplace a man and two women drinking tea are seated at an ornately carved, square tea table with a matching stand for the hot water kettle. On a dish or circular stand in the center of the table is a squat teapot with matching cups and saucers arranged in parallel rows on either side.
Tea-drinking guests seem to have been free to sit or stand according to their own pleasure or the number of chairs available, and Barbé-Marbois noted that at American tea parties “people change seats, some go, others come.” ”

“ Mrs. Tempest seated herself in her own particular chair, beside which was her own particular table with one of those pretty tea-services which were her chief delight—a miniature silver tea-kettle with a spirit-lamp, a cosy little ball-shaped teapot, cups and saucers of old Battersea. ”

“ Every thing about the establishment is conducted with much neatness and good taste; and the dinner table, with its rich service of silver and variety of dishes, had an air of completeness that would do credit to any society. Our tea-table, also, was a type of the best order of things; and, though the ladies left before the retiring of the gentlemen, it must have been a great relief to get away when not partaking in the conversation. With this class of people tea is not served until half-past eight o’clock ”

“ Every one knows that a tea-gown is a hybrid between a wrapper and a ball dress. It has always a train and usually long flowing sleeves; is made of rather gorgeous materials and goes on easily, and its chief use is not for wear at the tea-table so much as for dinner alone with one's family.
It can, however, very properly be put on for tea, and if one is dining at home, kept on for dinner. Otherwise a lady is apt to take tea in whatever dress she had on for luncheon, and dress after tea for dinner. ”

“ A tea is the simplest and easiest kind of an entertainment to give, for the only essential requisites for its success are prettily [45] arranged receiving-rooms, with as many flowers as one can afford; a gracious hostess, who stands during the hours of the function to receive her guests and is properly dressed in a becoming high-necked house dress; a few other women, who also receive in pretty dresses; and a dainty tea table, which may be presided over by a woman friend or two of the hostess. ”

“ The tea-table is not cleared, or the things removed, until after the departure of the guests, when the parlour maid would perform that duty, and re-arrange the drawing-rooms. It is the footman’s duty to prepare the table for tea, and to bring in the tea and coffee ”

“ If no gentleman is present, a lady gets up and takes her own tea which the hostess hands her, carries it to her own little individual table, comes back, takes a plate and napkin, helps herself to what she likes and goes to her place.
If the cake is very soft and sticky or filled with cream, small forks must be laid on the tea-table.
As said above, if jam is to be eaten on toast or bread, there must be little butter knives to spread it with. Each guest in taking her plate helps herself to toast and jam and a knife and carries her plate over to her own little table. ”

“ A tea table of fine proportion and gracefully scrolled apron, and with finely shaped cabriole legs. Although the table illustrated is an excellent one, four-leg tables are found throughout the Southern states—rarely however of this quality. This table has the indented corner top.
PLATE II. Bottom—Queen Anne Dish-Top Tea Table—Walnut. (North Carolina—c. 1730-1750) . This charming dish-top table, although not embellished with carving, has exceedingly graceful lines. It is unquestionably a tea table, showing the raised rim, to prevent dishes from sliding off. ”

“ The tea canteen kitchen was a department in itself. There were huge boilers for hot water, rows of bright copper tea urns, and an electric cutter for bread. Two girls stood at a table buttering enormous piles of slices.
"What monotonous work!" remarked Avelyn.
"Yes, it is rather," answered Miss Gordon. "They give that to the novices, and pass them on to something else afterwards. But one gets accustomed to all the work, and doesn't mind. Now we'll have some tea ourselves. ”

“ It is indeed a question amongst the devotees to the tea-table, whether the bubbling urn has been practically an improvement upon our habits; it has driven from us the old national kettle, once the pride of the fireside. ”

“ The most of the world's work ought to be finished by six o'clock p.m. The children are home from school. The wife is done mending or shopping. The merchant has got through with dry-goods or hardware. Let the ring of the tea-bell be sharp and musical. Walk into the room fragrant with Oolong or Young Hyson. Seat yourself at the tea-table wide enough apart to have room to take out your pocket-handkerchief if you want to cry at any pitiful story of the day, or to spread yourself in laughter if some one propound an irresistible conundrum. ”

“ For smaller affairs the tea-table is indispensable. An assistant hostess usually presides at each end of the table, one pouring coffee, chocolate, or bouillon, the other tea. In summer cool beverages, such as lemonade, fruit-punch, or wine-cup, may be used; but where older people are present, tea, either iced or hot, is almost indispensable. Whatever the season of the year, if the day is cold and wet a warm drink should be provided. Sandwiches of many kinds, little cakes, bonbons, and salted nuts are the usual refreshments, to which ices are often added, and occasionally salads and oysters. ”

“ A fluted edge is a most uncomfortable finish for a drinking vessel. The wafer-basket may be silver, china or cut glass.
For the winter months many hostesses have introduced a variety on the menu of the five o'clock tea table. Tea is a doubtful beverage in many hands, and is wholly abjured by many women as injurious to the complexion, hence a big, egg-shaped urn, beneath which a tiny alcohol jet burns, is set up in the corner of the drawing-room. The urn is filled with chicken bouillon, served piping hot in small silver cups, and with an invigorating dash of sherry for those who prefer it so. ”

“ A tea-table, presided over by the hostess herself, or one of the ladies present, formed the great centre of attraction: people gathered in groups round it, not formally arranged, but some sitting, others standing—les petits jeunes gens, the adolescent beaux, making themselves useful, and handing the tea, in lieu of the attendance of servants, which, as tending to formality, was as much as possible dispensed with. ”

“ In one way or another, then, there are few families where the tea-table is not spread at least once a week, while in many homes it is a daily institution. It only ceases to be delightful when it is, through carelessness, allowed to slip into a groove, and when the suggestion of making it attractive is put aside with the excuse, "Oh, anything will do for tea!" ”

“ If there are no little tables, she either draws her chair up to the tea-table, or manages as best she can to balance plate, cup and saucer on her lap—a very difficult feat!
In fact, the hostess who, providing no individual tables, expects her guest to balance knife, fork, jam, cream cake, plate and cup and saucer, all on her knees, should choose her friends in the circus rather than in society. ”

“ In Print and Photograph Division, Library of Congress. Although the Englishwoman apparently is defying established tea etiquette by drinking from a saucer and allowing the cat on the table, her tea furnishings appear to be in proper order. The teapot is on a dish and the teakettle is on its own special stand, a smaller version of the tripod tea table. ”

“ To return to the tea-table.—Unless you are positively sure, when you have a visiter, that she drinks the same tea that is used in your own family, you should have both black and green on the table. Either sort is often extremely disagreeable to persons who take the other. Drinkers of green tea, for instance, 42have generally an unconquerable aversion to black, as tasting like hay, herbs, &c. and they find in it no refreshing or exhilarating property. ”

“ Ladies leave outer wraps in hall, or dressing-room, but do not-294- remove their bonnets. Gentlemen who expect to spend but a few moments, carry their hats with them into the drawing-room.
The table is made attractive with beautiful linen, china, and silver, and salads and oysters, ices and cake turn this entertainment from a simple afternoon tea into a "high tea." The tea-room is never deserted, and, although servants are in attendance, there are young girls to pour the tea and add the charm of their presence to the hour. ”

“ Place a folded napkin at the left of the plate, a bread and butter plate at the tips of the forks with butter spreader laid across the plate. Near the top of each plate individual pepper and salt cellars, at the right of each plate place a glass for water, and sugar bowl and cream pitcher at each end of the table.
Food should be passed at the left and placed at the right. When coffee and tea is served, place a cup at the right of each person.
When clearing off the table, food must be first removed, then the soiled dishes, glass, silver, then crumb. ”

“ She stood by the tea-table in a light-coloured muslin gown, which had a good deal of pink about it. She looked as if she was not attending to the conversation, but solely busy with the tea-cups, among which her round ivory hands moved with pretty, noiseless, daintiness. ”

“ The Baroness found it amusing to go to tea; she dressed as if for dinner. The tea-table offered an anomalous and picturesque repast; and on leaving it they all sat and talked in the large piazza, or wandered about the garden in the starlight, with their ears full of those sounds of strange insects which, though they are supposed to be, all over the world, a part of the magic of summer nights, seemed to the Baroness to have beneath these western skies an incomparable resonance. ”

“ Provide a place for ladies to dress their hair, with a glass, pins, and combs. A pitcher of cold water and a tumbler should be added. When the company is small, it is becoming a common method for the table to be set at one end of the room, the lady of the house to pour out tea, and the gentlemen of the party to wait on the ladies and themselves. When tea is sent round, always send a tea-pot of hot water to weaken it, and a slop-bowl, or else many persons will drink their tea much stronger than they wish. ”

“ In the center of this is a tall vase holding a miscellaneous bouquet, and at the corners of the centerpiece are small vases of similar design holding similar bouquets. All edibles are on the table at once, there is no removing of courses. The teacups, silver teapot with satin cosey, silver or china hot water pitcher and sugar and cream are placed in front of the hostess. The hostess asks the taste of the guest as to sugar and cream and fixes the tea herself. The maid passes the tea and then retires, and the service becomes informal, the guests assisting. ”

“ The tea is served in the same room when the guests are few, and in another room of the suite if the reception is large. Usually a single table is set, with coffee or chocolate at one end, and tea at the other, served by young ladies, friends of the hostess. ”