ABOUT TABLECLOTHS

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 19, 23 January 1926, Page 15

ABOUT TABLECLOTHS

A writer who has not given consideration to the fact that where there is one " fine old table, preferably oak," there are a million of plain deal, writes regarding white tablecloths as follows: —

It is strange how many people are still addicted to the use of the white tablecloth for meals. The lean years of war taught many of us to do without it; but so strong is the force of custom that many households have gone back to the good old custom of "laying the cloth." Who first decreed that it was not quite nice to eat one's dinner unless it were served on white napery It is a very old and, to my mind, a rather ridiculous custom. A spotless white tablecloth is, I admit, charming to the eye. But how long does the tablecloth remain spotless? If it were possible to have a clean one for every meal, I might vote for it; but, since few of us can face the laundry bill that would resnlt, I should like 'to banish the tablecloth. Coffee and tea stains are not pleasant to contemplate at dinner time. It is easy, some housewives object, to cover them with a clean table napkin. But what is more unpleasant than to have a table napkin spread in front of" you as though you were a clumsy eater or a | two-year-old? Surely the surface of a fine old table, preferably oak, polished until it glows as soft as velvet, is far more beautiful to behold than the whitest of liven? „

It is certainly cleaner and more hygienic. After each meal it is lightly polished with a cloth, and bears no unappetising reminders of the me.ils that, went I ifore.