persons who invented these have gone to join hands with the perpetrator
of the red tablecloth. May their works soon follow them! Complete
sets of dishes are giving way to the character and diversity imparted
to the table by odd pieces and sets for different courses. However, a
pretty, inexpensive set of porcelain or china--something which will
bear acquaintance, and of some easily replaced standard pattern--is a
good beginning, for one rarely starts out with a full equipment of fine
china, and even so, there should be something stronger to bear the
heaviest brunt of wear. All complete sets contain one hundred and
seven pieces, and include one dozen each of dinner, breakfast, tea,
soup, and butter plates, and cups and saucers of medium size, three
platters of various sizes, vegetable dishes, covered and coverless, and
a gravy boat. Tureen, sugar bowl, and cream pitcher, and after-dinner
coffees are not included, but may be ordered extra.

The choice in everyday sets lies between plain white--preferably the
French china, known as Haviland, which can be bought for $35--and the
blue-and-white English porcelain of different makes--Copeland, Trenton,
etc., a desirable set of which costs $15 and higher. All-white is
entirely blameless from the standpoint of good taste, and has a dainty
fineness in the Haviland of which one rarely tires, while it never
clashes with anything else on the table. It is so infinitely
preferable to cheap, gaudy decorations, so sincerely and honestly what
it seems to be, that it has a certain self-respecting quality which one
cannot help but admire. Blue-and-white has an attraction which has
never died since it had its birth in the original Delft, which is
copied so extensively now in Japan and China. And though the porcelain
is but an imitation, it is a clever one, and one which leaves little to
be desired in decorative value and general effect. The design may
strike one at first as being a little heavy, but it improves on