Etiquette Throwback 1922: The Dinner Table of Yesterday
Emily does some delicate work to lure traditional readers to modern table settings.
Emily Post, Etiquette, 1922: The Dinner Table of Yesterday
This is a favorite of ours. The Dinner Table of Yesterday is an interesting section because, in it, Emily is showing us what was in fashion for tablescapes and talking about why it is no longer. The yesteryear that Emily refers to are the tablescapes and dining styles of the late 1800s and early 1900s. She carefully paints her picture, and it’s interesting to see her delicately balancing how she talks about the old and the new.
*Please note that grammar and spelling in the following excerpt follow early-20th-century standards.
Chapter XIV Formal Dinners
THE DINNER TABLE OF YESTERDAY
All of us old enough to remember the beginning of this century can bring to mind the typical (and most fashionable) dinner table of that time. Occasionally it was oblong or rectangular, but its favorite shape was round, and a thick white damask cloth hung to the floor on all sides. Often as not there was a large lace centerpiece, and in the middle of it was a floral mound of roses (like a funeral piece, exactly), usually red. The four compotiers were much scrolled and embossed, and the four candlesticks, also scrolled, but not to match, had shades of perforated silver over red silk linings, like those in restaurants to-day. And there was a gas droplight thickly petticoated with fringed red silk. The plates were always heavily “jewelled” and hand painted, and enough forks and knives and spoons were arrayed at each “place” for a dozen courses. The glasses numbered at least six, and the entire table was laden with little dishes—and spoons! There were olives, radishes, celery and salted nuts in glass dishes; and about ten kinds of sugar-plums in ten different styles of ornate and bumpy silver dishes; and wherever a small space of tablecloth showed through, it was filled with either a big “Apostle” spoon or little Dutch ones criss-crossed.
Bread was always rolled in the napkin (and usually fell on the floor) and the oysters were occasionally found already placed on the table when the guests came in to dinner! Loading a table to the utmost of its capacity with useless implements which only in rarest instances had the least value, would seem to prove that quantity without quality must have been thought evidence of elegance and generous hospitality! And the astounding part of the bad taste epidemic was that few if any escaped. Even those who had inherited colonial silver and glass and china of consummate beauty, sent it dust-gathering to the attic and cluttered their tables with stuffy and spurious lumber.
But to-day the classic has come into its own again! As though recovering from an illness, good taste is again demanding severe beauty of form and line, and banishing everything that is useless or superfluous. During the last twenty years most of us have sent an army of lumpy dishes to the melting-pot, and junky ornaments to the ash heap along with plush table covers, upholstered mantel-boards and fern dishes! To-day we are going almost to the extreme of bareness, and putting nothing on our tables not actually needed for use.
You can imagine a few daughters-in-law from the era sighing their relief at reading such a passage. This is what we think of as a gentle nudge passage. Emily lures in the reader, who maybe remembers or is holding on to such a table setting fondly, by almost treating them like they are in a club whose members are capable of knowing such things. But as she gets to reminiscing with her reader, she starts to paint a picture of the impracticality of this style and uses a little self-deprecating humor to get the reader to join her in noticing it, as if saying silly us, we used to fill every space! It is here that she’s likely caught her reader. They are with her now, thinking of the past as worthy of being in the past, and are ready to hear about the trend today and why it’s being used or suggested. She’s guided them there, and now she’s poised to bring in the advice of today. But just to keep her traditional reader on the line and not wriggling away from modernity, she paints the picture of today with its own caution, not letting it be a perfect replacement for the past, even if she clearly thinks it’s a step in the right direction.
Have you ever attended a meal set from a different era? If so, we’d love to hear about it! If you can’t post here, head on over to the Monday post, where the comment thread is open to all.
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Thanks for taking the time to explore some old-school etiquette with us today. We love sharing sections like this one. Keep an eye on your inbox for the Saturday Sip; it’s up next!
All our best,
Lizzie and Dan
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