The custom of having a decorated service plate at each place is such a good one that it is likely to remain long in vogue. It is intended to hold the oyster plate, the plate with the bouillon bowl if the latter has no saucer, and the plate with the first hot course, after which it is removed with the one that has been used. When the guests come to the table this service plate holds a roll folded in a napkin.
Small bowls with two handles are used for the bouillon or soup at luncheon, but if one does not have them, an ordinary cup of rather good size is substituted. The plates used are ordinarily of rather smaller size than those seen at dinner, as the dishes are of a lighter character, and the handsomest are reserved for the fingerbowls, which are put on the table with the bonbons and coffee only, unless the meal begins with fruit, when they appear twice.
The question of lighting the table is one that often puzzles young housekeepers or novices at entertaining. "Shall we use candles at _luncheon_?" they ask, bewildered at the seeming absurdity of the idea. At first thought it may seem that is a foolish thing to do, yet there is good reason for having them at certain times. In the city, especially in winter, the dining-room is apt to be dark and therefore gloomy, and the cheerful glow of candles is both attractive and hospitable. Besides, they are extremely decorative: indeed, one sees them unlighted sometimes at formal luncheons when the day is sunny, used entirely for the colour they give the table. On the other hand, they should not be recklessly and indiscriminately used, for there are days when they would be ridiculously out of place, as in the summer, with open windows and a flood of brilliant light in the room. They are also out of place at a very simple meal to which only a few friends sit down, but they are in keeping with a rather elaborate company luncheon, and on a table set for such a meal they are both beautiful and appropriate.
There are other pretty ways of lighting the table besides using candles; there are devices to be used where electricity is available, such as lovely little electric candles with rose shades which give the effect of real flowers; then there are varieties of lamps, especially the so-called "fairy lamp," a pretty thing which is very practical as well as attractive; there are also combinations of the lamp and candle, which have in their favour the fact that they do not take fire and destroy their shades. But nothing is ever prettier than the old-fashioned wax candle in white or colour, in silver candlesticks, with or without shades. Nothing gives such reflections on the dishes, the silver and glass, and the mirror-like surface of polished wood as their flickering lights. If one owns several of these, she has the foundation for endless variety. She may group them in twos, or stand them singly about the table, or she may buy a branched top and convert one into a candelabrum, or she may arrange several candelabra in the same way.