Page:Everyday Luncheons.djvu/14

4 ever-present help in time of trouble, and yet the point is simply this—every woman should provide for herself at noon such a luncheon as she would not be ashamed to ask a friend to share with her.

Another story, of a different sort, is told by a well-known authority in household matters. She had two friends, a mother and daughter, who were "very, very poor." She dropped in unexpectedly upon the V. V. P. people and found them at their noon luncheon, which she shared willingly when asked.

The V. V. P. people were seated at a table covered with an immaculate cloth of the very finest quality—probably one of the pattern cloths which come at twenty-five dollars—the china was fine and thin, and the silver solid. The simple and informal luncheon of the V. V. P. people consisted of a cream soup, with whipped cream on it, Hamburg steaks, with a garnish of fringed celery, French fried potatoes, crackers, imported cheese, a fruit salad, tea, and a "delicious apple pudding." With all due respect to the household authority, someone must have hinted to the V. V. P. people that she was coming unexpectedly to luncheon. This also, as the lady takes pains to emphasize, was given "without apology."

The unexpected guest at luncheon has not escaped the finely barbed pen of the satirist.