Page:Everyday Luncheons.djvu/15

Rh An imaginary hostess was confronted by a large party of women, most of them strangers, who "dropped in" to luncheon. She was distressed only for lack of dessert. "Proceeding to the pantry," writes the satirist, speaking for the imaginary lady, "I discovered on the shelf before me one cupful of butter, two cupfuls of sugar, three cupfuls of flour, four eggs, one cupful of milk, and two teaspoonfuls of baking powder. These materials I at once mixed into a delicious cup cake and the question of dessert was solved."

Another satirist, with a more trenchant pen, writes of another imaginary lady who was confronted by seven unexpected guests for luncheon when there was absolutely nothing in the house. Being a woman of resource, she made no apologies—they never do in the stories—and within half an hour invited her guests to partake of a particularly fine stew. The hilarity of the occasion was marred only by the four-year-old son of the hostess, who persistently mourned for his lost kitten. Surely satire could go no further than this!

A lively form of entertainment has been recently in vogue. Housekeepers gather together, and the hostess distributes pencils and slips of paper. Each woman writes on as many slips of paper five "left-overs" likely to be in any refrigerator at any time. These are all shaken