The servants practical guide : a handbook of duties and rules / By the author of "Manners and tone of good society".

Date:
[1880]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The servants practical guide : a handbook of duties and rules / By the author of "Manners and tone of good society". Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Leeds Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Leeds Library.

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    ladies of the house, or some intimate friend of its mis- tress, pour out the tea ■with the assistance of some of the gentlemen present. The servants do not remain in the drawing-room after they have brought in the tea, and when anything extra is required in the way of -additional cups, fresh tea, more bread and butter, &c., the mistress of the house would ring and give the necessary orders. The tea-table would he prepared in the drawing-room half an hour before the hour at which the guests had been invited. The tea and coffee would not be brought in until the hour named in the invitation, say four or five, either hour being considered equally fashionable. The tea-table is not cleared, or the things removed, until after the departure of the guests, when the foot- man, man-servant, or parlour-maid would perform that duty, and rearrange the drawing-rooms. It is the footman’s duty to prepare the table for tea, and to bring in the tea and coffee; the butler carries in the urn; he also announces the guests as they arrive. (See Chapter “Announcing Visitors.”) At afternoon “ At Homes,” or large Five o’clock Teas, tea is served in the dining-room ; a buffet is formed of the dining-table, which is placed at the upper end or the side of the room, if the doing so affords greater space; thus the buffet extends the length of the room or the width of it; the buffet is covered with a white damask table-cloth; the centre