Ward McAllister’s memoir recounts his family’s fortunes and his own rise as a Gilded Age social arbiter. The cards cover his parents and childhood, his time in California, and anecdotes about money, manners, and sport.
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Chapter 1 · Question
How did the author describe his mother's character and appearance?
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Chapter 1 · Answer
The author calls his mother the most beautiful, Murillo-like woman he ever saw, and says she was as good as she was beautiful—an angel in charity and sympathy. She spent her time at hospital bedsides and in her children's schoolroom, receiving and caring for anyone, however humble. He notes her family descended maternally from the Corday family of France, which he says explains the family's long-standing Democratic politics.
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CHAPTER I.4 cards
How did the author describe his mother's character and appearance?
The author calls his mother the most beautiful, Murillo-like woman he ever saw, and says she was as good as she was beautiful—an angel in charity and sympathy. She spent her time at hospital bedsides and in her children's schoolroom, receiving and caring for anyone, however humble. He notes her family descended maternally from the Corday family of France, which he says explains the family's long-standing Democratic politics.
Chapter 1
Why did the author's father leave Princeton, and what debt burden followed?
A large fire in Savannah, his native city, burned it down and destroyed his grandfather's city property. His grandfather refused to leave his residence and was carried out of the burning building in his chair, then rebuilt, having his only son endorse all his notes to secure bank money. He undertook too much, and the author's father bore a burden of debt for one-third of his life, working at the bar.
Chapter 1
What did the father's mother require in her will regarding the people she owned?
She never forgave the author's mother for being a Northern woman. When she died, knowing her son was weighed down with his father's debts, she insisted he free all the negroes she owned and left him by will, making it her last dying request. The author says his father did so, became their guardian, and cared for them as long as he lived, protected by his repeated terms as Mayor of Savannah.
Chapter 1
How did the author and his brother Hall differ on love versus ambition?
At a village debating society in Springfield, Georgia, the brothers argued whether love or ambition is the stronger passion: Hall took ambition, the author took love, comparing himself to Venus the Victorious against Hall's Hercules and vowing to slay the Goliath with sling and stone. The twelve hearers decided for the author. He says Hall was governed by ambition, becoming a great Pacific coast lawyer who claimed he never lost a murder case.
Chapter 1
CHAPTER II.4 cards
Why did McAllister's wealthy godmother leave him nothing?
The author says he lived with an old maiden relative and godmother in Tenth Street, expecting to inherit her fortune. Instead, she divided a million dollars between the Presbyterian church and the Georgia Historical Society. He also describes her as saving to meanness, serving turkey from her Southern plantations so often that the household tired of it.
Chapter 2
What happened when a guest's calf was pricked at the Schermerhorn ball?
At the Schermerhorn fancy ball, where guests wore Louis XV costume, a friend of the author's doubted that another guest's fine calf was natural. He pricked the neighbor's calf with his sword and drew blood, but the man never winced. The author says this confirmed the impression that he had aided nature, though the victim later expressed his opinion forcibly.
Chapter 2
How did McAllister's father finally decide to move to California?
The author's brother Hall urged the family to come to San Francisco, claiming he made more in two months than their father earned in a year. The father dismissed these as Arabian Nights stories until Hall remitted a large amount of gold dust to the author. That tangible evidence, plus continual pleading, persuaded him; they left on May 13, 1850.
Chapter 2
What did McAllister find shocking about prices in San Francisco?
On arriving in San Francisco, the author, a hearty eater, was dismayed to learn eggs cost $2 apiece, a fowl $8, and a turkey $16. One week's mess bill for breakfast and dinner alone came to $225, and a single doctor's visit cost $50. He describes gloom settling on him until he began working in earnest.
Chapter 2
CHAPTER III.4 cards
What did the narrator find when he returned to his farm after three years?
He had planted 10,000 trees on his farm on Narragansett Bay before going to Europe, expecting a forest on his return. Three years later he found only one tree still struggling for existence. The chapter presents this as a wry personal anecdote about his failed attempt at farming.
Chapter 3
What happened at the badger drawing the narrator witnessed?
A badger was shut in a long narrow box with a trap-door. When the door went up, a terrier entered, seized the badger by the ear, and pulled it out and around the pit while the badger held back. The chapter states that if the dog failed to catch the badger by the ear, the badger would kill him.
Chapter 3
How did the narrator obtain Montilla sherry, and what did he think of it?
He asked a celebrated London physician dining with him for the palest, most delicate sherry in London regardless of cost. The physician warned that if he supplied it, the young narrator would not drink it. The narrator received a delicious Montilla sherry and sent a butt to America, calling it the most delicate wine he knew, served from soup to dessert.
Chapter 3
What did the sporting friend actually want when he asked to borrow money?
After the narrator had paid all his expenses and remunerated him liberally, the friend asked to borrow money as the narrator was about to cross the Channel. Fearing a large demand, the narrator refused, citing family and no money to lend. The friend only wanted a shilling to pay for the Times, which made the narrator feel sheepish.
Chapter 3
CHAPTER IV.4 cards
How did McAllister's Florentine cook roast a turkey?
He placed the bird on a spit inside an iron pot, covered it with hot coals top and bottom, and kept turning the spit while basting it. McAllister calls it the most perfect roast he ever ate, praising the walnut-fed Florentine turkey above the Newport and Southern birds, its skin mahogany-colored and crisp and its flesh tasting of walnut.
Chapter 4
What did the American girl do to the King of Bavaria at the Pitti ball?
While waltzing with McAllister, she deliberately punched the King in the ribs with her elbow as she passed him, then told McAllister she had been determined to do it and was now satisfied. McAllister apologized to the King and Grand Chamberlain, then soon disposed of his partner and never attempted her again.
Chapter 4
What decoration did the American claim, and why, at the Austrian Minister's ball?
Asked about his decoration, he drew himself up and said his country was a Republic; had it been a Monarchy, he would have been the Duke of Pennsylvania. The Order he wore, he said, was that of The Cincinnati. The minister withdrew deeply impressed, and McAllister intensely enjoyed the scene.
Chapter 4
Why did McAllister avoid the American Minister in Rome?
He had heard the Minister invited Italians to meet Italians and Americans to meet only Americans, explaining that while he admired his countrymen as enterprising and money-getting, there was not a gentleman among them. Carrying letters to him, McAllister gave the legation a wide berth so the Minister would get no chance to meet him.
Chapter 4
CHAPTER VI.1 cards
What did McAllister claim about his living costs in Pau versus New York?
The author argues that two winters in Pau and summers at Baden-Baden—keeping four horses, hunting weekly, and giving one or two dinners a week with an English housekeeper, ball included—cost him less than half what living in New York compels him to spend. He rented his villa for eight hundred dollars a year, and the ball itself cost eight hundred dollars.
Chapter 6
CHAPTER VII.4 cards
Why did McAllister return to New York from Pau?
He was called home by the stupidity of an agent who could not negotiate with his old friend Commodore Vanderbilt for an extension of the lease on their dock property. McAllister says he left Pau most unwillingly, giving up its charming associations, and returned to New York to deal with the matter himself.
Chapter 7
How did McAllister's father's old friends react to his Savannah entertaining?
The author recalls that his father's friends were at first piqued rather than gratified, saying a young fellow had come to show them how to live when his father had not pretended to do so, and they let him alone for a time. He took up the younger set, whose enthusiasm eventually made the old patriarch relent and invite him to a grand dinner.
Chapter 7
What comforts did McAllister provide his English guests on arrival?
Knowing Englishmen's habits, he gave each guest enormous cedar wash-tubs and hot sheets for their morning ablutions, followed by a good breakfast. They then drove to the river for his brother-in-law's ten-oared boat, The Rice Bird, with oarsmen in yachting rig and McAllister at the tiller, before shooting snipe over the rice lands.
Chapter 7
How did the British Consul's attitude toward McAllister change?
The Consul had ignored McAllister after hearing he had served filet de bœuf aux truffes et champignons. But within an hour of the English guests' arrival, the Consul rushed up the steps, embraced him, declared he had loved McAllister's mother thirty years before, and asked to be carried to his noble guests. Thereafter he held McAllister in respect and esteem.
Chapter 7
CHAPTER VIII.4 cards
How did the narrator secure an invitation to his friend's deer park?
He wrote to a friend who owned a deer park, calling himself a wanderer while praising the friend's ancestral home and great domain, and asked to be invited with his guests for a chance at the deer. The friend replied inviting them at once, promising that he and his whole county would receive and honor the noble guests.
Chapter 8
What was the outcome of the eight-hour deer hunt?
The party set out at daybreak with four lean, lifeless dogs and four burr-covered marsh tackeys, followed by half-naked children. They went through swamp after swamp with the tackeys fetlocks-deep in mud for eight hours and saw no deer. Only a wild turkey flew over, killed by the host's colored huntsman, the only man in the party who could shoot.
Chapter 8
How does the author compare the French chef with the Southern cook?
The author argues the French chef is an educated, cultivated artist whose sauces are the cuisine's feature, while African or Southern cooking has no single sauce. The colored cook has wonderful natural taste and makes things savory, but his cookery book is tradition. The chef uses more and costlier materials, discarding coarse joints, and came off much the victor in a side-by-side Newport dinner for sixty.
Chapter 8
What happened when the hungry hunters reached Mr. Jones's plantation?
They found a one-story log cabin, though Jones had boasted at Newport of silver stored in bank vaults and grand fêtes. Told the master dined on pea pie, the Southern friend shot a fat turkey despite the old darkey's protest and had it roasted. Jones returned astonished, then served small rice, pea pie, roast turkey, and Madeira he called the blood of his ancestors.
Chapter 8
CHAPTER IX.4 cards
How did McAllister make his Newport farm profitable after losing money as an amateur farmer?
He first lost three to four thousand dollars a year farming as an amateur. He then watched the Yankee farmers around him, concluded they knew the business better, and placed the farm on shares: he paid the running expenses and divided profits with his farmer, paying nothing for labor. The farm then earned him seven to eight hundred dollars a year clear of expenses, selling over three thousand dollars of produce from fifty acres plus seventeen acres of pasturage.
Chapter 9
How did McAllister give his empty Newport pastures an animated look for picnics?
Having no stock of his own, he feared hosting the country's brightest people with empty pastures. So he hired an entire flock of Southdown sheep, two yoke of cattle, and several cows from a neighboring farm for half a day and turned them into his pasture lots. Amateur-farmer guests marveled that he kept such a splendid flock on only fifty acres; he smiled and claimed he farmed for profit.
Chapter 9
What did the English lady of title say about Newport society compared with London?
The author reports that a fashionable English woman of title told him America was one hundred years behind London because its best society was so small that every member had an individuality. She called this charming, since such individuality in London was accorded only to the highest titled people. She added that one's person, equipage, house, and household were daily discussed in Newport.
Chapter 9
How were guests selected for McAllister's Newport picnics and country parties?
They were not indiscriminately invited. Newcomers outside the inner circle needed the combined backing and pushing of friends to get an invitation; whole families sat on probation for years awaiting trial and acceptance, and many were rejected. Once received, however, a guest was put on intimate footing with all, an intimacy the author says would take a lifetime to acquire in New York.
Chapter 9
CHAPTER X.4 cards
What were the 'Blue Room parties' and who controlled them?
Small subscription balls held at Delmonico's Fourteenth Street during the winters of 1870 and 1871, arranged and controlled by a Washington Place lady. They were confined to young men and maidens, with perhaps a dozen young married couples and a few elderly matrons invited. They became famous as the 'Blue Room parties' and had three hundred subscribers.
Chapter 10
What change in entertaining followed the arrival of two Colonial-descended women?
A new era came: old fashions passed away and new ones replaced them. The French chef literally made his first appearance, and artistic dinners replaced the old-fashioned solid repasts of the earlier period. European habits and customs were imported rapidly, and women sent to Paris for everything rather than using old modistes.
Chapter 10
What happened at the Prince of Wales ball's opening quadrille?
The floor gave way and the whole centre of the stage tumbled in as crowds rushed to be near the opening Quadrille d'Honneur. The Duke of Newcastle and the Prince retired to the reception room while architect Renwick and carpenters floored over the chasm. The quadrille was then danced, with old-fashioned curtseys and pigeon-wings.
Chapter 10
How were supper arrangements managed at the Prince's ball?
Guests entered the supper room by one stage door and left by another, with a horseshoe table around the room and liveried servants behind it. A raised dais held the royal party. A prominent citizen guarded each door, admitting newcomers only as fifty left, and John Jacob Astor made the author wait his turn.
Chapter 10
CHAPTER XI.4 cards
What did the Major insist was indispensable for the trip, and how was it resolved?
The Major insisted that taking a valet was indispensable, arguing that every college boy in England on three hundred pounds a year had his valet. McAllister contended valets were nuisances and not the habit in America, adding that their host would feel imposed upon if each guest brought a man servant. This argument settled the matter, and the two traveled together to meet the party at Staatsburg.
Chapter 11
How did McAllister prepare the long-shut Gibbons mansion for his ten-day party?
He telegraphed the agent to have an army of scrubbing-women clean the house from cellar to garret, bought kerosene and lamps for illumination, hired an experienced chef, made menus for ten dinners, lunches, and breakfasts, engaged a country band, telegraphed Baltimore for canvasbacks, arranged daily train deliveries of fish, vegetables, and flowers from New York, and ordered ices, bonbons, and cakes by express. He sent wines but no Madeira, since the cellar already held enough.
Chapter 11
What does the author argue about enjoying country life in America versus England?
The author argues that a country house can be made as perfect and enjoyable in America as anywhere else, provided you take the trouble and bear the expense. He contrasts this with Newport, whose charm is its ready-made society that takes care of itself. In England, he says, you inherit servants with your fortune, while in America you must give your own time and attention to have things properly done.
Chapter 11
What did the Major say about a gentleman's pace and dress, according to McAllister's sketch?
The Major urged McAllister to go slow, saying a gentleman should stroll leisurely and cast his eyes in shop windows as if seeking amusement, rather than tear through streets at a killing pace as if on business bent, since the man of fashion should have no business. He also had a holy horror of familiar garments, once telling McAllister his old coat fatigued him at the sight.
Chapter 11
CHAPTER XII.4 cards
Why did McAllister spend an entire day getting his dress-coat?
John Van Buren insisted he dine at the Union Club to meet Lord Hartington and Lord Edward Cavendish. McAllister had no dress-suit in the city and could not have it sent, so he took a way train and spent the whole day fetching the outfit, returning to the city in time for the dinner.
Chapter 12
What did Lord Hartington find odd about American speech?
Asked what struck him as odd in American habits, manners, and speech, Lord Hartington first avoided criticism, then laughingly said Americans all say "Yes, sir" and "No, sir," which in England is used only by servants. McAllister sat next to him and felt well repaid for the trouble of attending.
Chapter 12
Why did McAllister and others organize the cotillion dinners?
McAllister says one or two rich men then controlled society, shutting out strangers without letters and passing over people not in accord with them. He and others resolved to band together the respectable element so no individual could withstand them, adopting the motto nous nous soutenons, and their first step was arranging a series of cotillion dinners.
Chapter 12
What does the author argue in defense of fashion?
The author argues the common belief that fashionable people are selfish and frivolous is an error. He contends fashion nourishes art and artists, distributes money, prevents a humdrum money-making rut, brings hidden merit into notice, and is charitable. He says his experience found warm hearts in the garb of fashion, and that fashion selects its own votaries.
Chapter 12
CHAPTER XIII.4 cards
How did McAllister reduce the cost of cotillion dinners?
He applied the Paris restaurateur Phillipe's principle that expense depends on les primeurs, or out-of-season items. Leaving them out, an excellent dinner cost one napoleon a head instead of three. With Delmonico's help he figured the cost down to ten dollars per person, music and every expense included, for seventy-five or a hundred guests, producing a successful winter of cotillion dinners.
Chapter 13
What did the Earl of Roseberry say about America's emblematic bird?
While smoking and commenting on the dinner, the Earl of Roseberry told McAllister, "You Americans have made a mistake; your emblematic bird should have been a canvasback, not an eagle." The remark, made at one of McAllister's large cotillion dinners at Delmonico's, ties American identity to the canvasback duck served at table rather than the eagle.
Chapter 13
What trick did a masked woman play at the grand domino ball?
A domino challenged a distinguished nobleman to grant her request and pinned a Secession badge on him. As he passed through the rooms wearing it, the badge was taken as an intended affront to Northern people and resented. His friend, a member of Parliament, removed it. McAllister says many felt the nobleman was simply the victim of a cruel, mischievous, and silly woman.
Chapter 13
How did McAllister describe his first Newport cotillion dinner setting?
He gave it at Bayside Farm on a full-moon night, dining outdoors at 6 P.M. in the garden, with the house's gable end shielding guests from the sea breeze and keeping flies away. Guests sat on closely cut turf amid plants and vines; after dinner they strolled the beach or sat under trees, then danced in a barn fitted with lights, seats in the stalls, and a band in the hay-loft.
Chapter 13
CHAPTER XIV.3 cards
What did the banker's private ball at Delmonico's establish in New York?
A distinguished banker, head of an old family, gave the first private ball at Delmonico's to introduce his daughters to society, with about eight hundred guests and his best Madeira and Hock. The chapter says that, being a success, it became the fashion to give private balls there, and one could not have found better rooms for the purpose.
Chapter 14
Why did the energetic man turn his stables into a theatre?
Admiring the beautiful singer, he proposed turning his luxurious stables into a theatre and inviting fashionable society to see her act 'for sweet charity's sake,' to raise funds for sick and wounded soldiers. The chapter says all flocked to see her act, with fashionable beauties as amateur actresses supporting her, and the stable was made into a gem like a little royal theatre.
Chapter 14
What novelties appeared at the Silver, Gold, and Diamond dinners?
Delmonico named the three dinners Silver, Gold, and Diamond and had novelties at each. Dishes included canvasback duck made into an aspic, cold string beans with truffles as a salad, and truffled ice cream, which the author found very good. At one dinner each lady guest found a gold bracelet with the monogram of Jerome Park in chased gold in the centre of her napkin.
Chapter 14
CHAPTER XV.2 cards
Why did the young man's trotting-horse courtship at the Glen fail?
He hired two fast Rhode Island trotters to drive his lady to the Glen picnic, boasting he could cover seven miles in twenty minutes. McAllister warned the pace would alarm her and dust would ruin her dress. They arrived mud-covered; she burst into tears and gave him the mitten. McAllister concludes: "Trotting horses and fashion do not combine."
Chapter 15
What accident occurred on the dark eleven-mile drive home from Bristol Ferry?
After dancing late, the party drove home in darkness. McAllister, fortified with champagne, judged the road straight, though the Major's coachman warned it was not. A drag drove off a bridge, upsetting it and miring four horses in mud and water. The party became a funeral cortège, walking the last ten miles; a diplomat seeking water was rebuffed by a farmer who recognized "McAllister's picnickers."
Chapter 15
CHAPTER XVI.4 cards
How did the Duke of Wellington help McAllister's father and Dominick Lynch at Almack's?
They arrived at Almack's knowing no one and were ignored. The Duke of Wellington, who had sent them tickets, entered, saw them, took each by the arm and walked them twice up and down the room before leaving. Once he departed, everyone crowded around them, and they were soon presented to every person of note, enjoying a charming evening.
Chapter 16
How did McAllister describe the origin of Almack's?
McAllister recounts his father's account that Almack's originated through powerful women of influence banding together to organize these balls, thereby making them the greatest social events of London society. He remembered this when resolving in 1872 to establish an American Almack's in New York, but chose men instead of women as its founders.
Chapter 16
Why did McAllister want a new association instead of one-man social rule?
He observed that rich, powerful leaders became exacting and domineering, crowding out people of moderate means. He argued homage to a society leader must come from esteem and admiration, not be exacted or forced. Concluding there is strength in union, he gathered quiet representative men to form an association for giving winter balls.
Chapter 16
What rules did McAllister set for the Patriarchs association?
He formed an Executive Committee of three who met daily at his house. The name Patriarchs was adopted, membership limited to twenty-five, and each Patriarch's subscription gave the right to invite four ladies and five gentlemen per ball, including himself and family. Distinguished strangers, up to fifty, were to be asked.
Chapter 16
CHAPTER XVIII.4 cards
How does McAllister advise launching a relative's daughter into society?
Rather than giving a single ball, he arranged theatre parties, suppers, and opera visits with the jeunesse dorée, spread word of her beauty and supposed fortune, secured her cotillion partners, guided her smiles and frowns, criticized her dress until perfect, and advised a first season at Bar Harbor and a second at Newport.
Chapter 17
What advice does McAllister give newly married women about their husbands?
The author advises young wives to keep flirting with their husbands after marriage as before, remain as attractive and coquettish as when they captivated them, and improve rather than neglect their toilet. He argues that the more a woman is appreciated by the world, the more her husband values her, and that conspicuous jealousy in fashionable life is a mistake.
Chapter 17
How does McAllister distinguish a 'nob' from a 'swell'?
The author argues a nob is born to position, like a poet, nascitur non fit, and looks quietly on; a swell creates himself, and society is sustained by swells. A nob can become a swell if he spends the money, but this is unnecessary for his social existence. He adds that the support of swells is more advantageous than being in with nobs.
Chapter 17
What does McAllister say defines a gentleman and how should he dress?
He defines a gentleman as free from arrogance and self-assertion, considerate of others' feelings, unpretentious, and equally courteous to inferiors and equals. On dress, an English friend advised never seeing your dress-coat tails, always wearing the fashionable hat, avoiding white waistcoats or conspicuous watch-chains if stout, and white or light gray gloves in an opera box.
Chapter 17
CHAPTER XIX.4 cards
According to the chapter, what makes a dinner invitation eagerly sought?
The author argues the first aim is to make dinners so charming and agreeable that invitations are eagerly sought and guests feel it a privilege to dine where they will meet only those they wish to meet. He holds that success in entertaining cannot be taught by a book but comes from magnetism and tact, which combined constitute social genius and form the ladder to social success.
Chapter 18
Why does the author insist on serving only one soup?
The author argues that in America servants are often unskilled and have a charming habit of occasionally giving ladies a soup shower bath, so he invariably discards two soups and insists to the protesting chef that there be but one. He notes that if two are served, one is light and the other heavy. He praises the Tortue claire as replacing the old Mock Turtle with forcemeat balls.
Chapter 18
What rivalry over terrapin does the chapter describe, and which side does the author take?
The author describes a rivalry agitated for thirty years or more over the proper way to cook terrapin. Baltimoreans contend the black stew, a chafing-dish method simply adding salt, pepper, and Madeira, produces the best dish; Philadelphians contend fresh butter and cream secure greater results, known as the Trenton stew, originating in an old eating club in Trenton, N.J. The author agrees with the Philadelphians.
Chapter 18
Why does the author object to rum-flavored sorbet?
The author argues sorbet should never be flavored with rum. A true Parisian sorbet is simply punch à la Toscane, flavored with Maraschino or bitter almonds. The sorbet is a digestive and is intended as such, whereas granit or water ice flavored with rum, universally given here, impedes digestion instead of aiding it and may be dangerous. He prefers pouding Nesselrode, the best of all the ices if good cream is used.
Chapter 18
CHAPTER XX.4 cards
How did Madeira wines get their names, and what did age do to poor versus fine Madeira?
The author states these wines generally took their names from the ships in which they came over. He argues age never improved a poor Madeira: if it arrived poor and sweet, it stayed poor and sweet even at seventy or eighty years, while famous Madeiras dating to 1791 remain perfect if properly cared for. He says we should value wine like women, for maturity, not age.
Chapter 19
How should Madeira be stored and served, and what fining method does the author endorse?
The author argues Madeira should be kept in the garret; light and air do not injure it, and a piece of corn cob is often a good cork. Drawing it off its lees occasionally makes it more delicate, but too often may spoil it, as the lees support and nourish it. He says fining with only the white of a perfectly fresh egg and Spanish clay is proper and judicious, but milk is ruinous.
Chapter 19
What were the Savannah and Charleston afternoon wine parties like before the Civil War?
From 1800 up to the Civil War, afternoon wine parties were the custom in Savannah and Charleston. Guests were asked to taste Madeira at 5 P.M. after a 3 P.M. dinner. A polished mahogany table held finger bowls with four pipe-stem glasses each, olives, parched ground nuts and almonds, and half a dozen bottles of Madeira, and guests tasted and commented on the wines for an hour or more.
Chapter 19
What prejudice about Malmsey does the author reject, and what sealing mistake ruined one cellar?
The author notes a common prejudice against Malmsey as a lady's wine and sweet, but argues that when very old, no Madeira can beat it; he cites his 1791 'All Saints' wine. He also describes his father-in-law, who had the largest private Madeira cellar in the United States, making the fatal mistake of hermetically sealing the wines in glass gallon bottles with ground glass stoppers in his cellar, keeping them from light and air and preventing the wine from breathing.
Chapter 19
CHAPTER XXI.4 cards
According to the chapter, how should champagne be frappéed, and what is the result?
Layer small pieces of ice and rock salt in a pail, keeping the bottle's neck free of ice because the small quantity of wine there would be acted on first. Turn the bottle every five minutes if possible. In twenty-five minutes it should be perfect and served immediately; when poured, the wine should contain little flakes of ice.
Chapter 20
What does the author argue about the age at which champagne should be drunk?
The author argues the fashionable world has accepted Brût champagne, but another revolution is coming: Americans will follow the English and never drink champagne until it is eight to ten years old. He cites a London gentleman objecting to drinking 1880 champagne as absurd, and claims old champagne like 1874 sells for high prices.
Chapter 20
What mistake does the author say people make with claret, and how should it be served?
The author argues people cling to claret until age makes it too thin and watery, filling cellars and holding it until it loses first-class characteristics. He says to decant all clarets, even vin ordinaire, before serving. At dinner with both Burgundy and claret, give the finest claret with the roast and Burgundy with the cheese.
Chapter 20
Why does the author advise against keeping a large wine cellar in America?
The author argues Americans are such 'Arabs' that they never stay home to enjoy their country and climate. After building a house with a wine cellar, they dash off to Europe, so a New Yorker lives in his residence at most four or five months a year. Servants then leisurely drink the cellar's wine bottle by bottle.
Chapter 20
CHAPTER XXII.4 cards
According to the chapter, who goes in last when guests proceed to dinner?
The lady of the house almost always goes in last, with all her guests preceding her. The exception is when the President of the United States or Royalty dines with you: that guest takes in the lady of the house and precedes all the guests. When no ladies are present, the host asks the most distinguished guest to lead the way, and the host follows all the guests.
Chapter 21
How long does the author say a good dinner should last at table?
The author argues one hour and a half at the table is long enough. He criticizes both extremes: Napoleon the Third insisted on being served in three-quarters of an hour, while one fashionable woman boasted of dining out in one hour and forty minutes from leaving home to returning, which he calls absurd. He attributes the shift to stately dinners previously spun out too long.
Chapter 21
What does the chapter say about table decoration and flowers at the best dinners?
The author argues florists once took over tables, making costly flower gardens, and now the best dinners show perhaps one handsome basket of flowers in the centre, no bouquets de corsage or boutonnières, and austere simplicity with a few silver dishes of bonbons and compotiers of fruit. He still thinks nothing decorates a table like flowers, and prefers all of one kind, such as roses, tulips, or carnations.
Chapter 21
What obligation does the chapter attach to accepting a dinner invitation?
The author argues a dinner invitation, once accepted, is a sacred obligation; he jokes that if you die before the dinner, your executor must attend, though he says this is not literal but illustrates the obligation. If declining, do so as early as possible, and send your note of acceptance the day after receiving the invitation.
Chapter 21
CHAPTER XXIII.4 cards
According to the author, what is the main advantage of Swedish women cooks over French chefs?
The author argues Swedish women cooks are exceptionally clean, doing their work without making dirt, whereas a French chef requires scullions tracking his footsteps to keep things clean. He also calls them excellent and economical, noting they earn nearly as much as men—sixty dollars a month plus a scullion maid—and that in 1856 he had the best chef in Pau for twenty-five dollars.
Chapter 22
How do household expenses differ between a woman cook and a chef, per the author?
From experience the author reports that with a woman cook his butcher's bill ran $250 to $275 a month, versus $450 to $500 with a chef; the grocer's bill was about $75 versus $125. This excludes entertaining. He adds that an A1 chef earns $100 a month and takes ten per cent commission on butcher, grocer, baker, and milkman bills, or five per cent if less capable.
Chapter 22
What marketing advice does the author give for choosing fish, sweetbreads, and poultry?
He advises looking at fish gills, which should be bright red. Sweetbreads come in pairs, one fine and one inferior; pay extra to have the butcher cut them apart and give only the two large heart breads. For poultry, fowls fed on rice have white fat and those on corn meal yellow fat; the feet reveal the bird's age, and black and red feathered fowls are preferred over gray.
Chapter 22
What does the author say about hostesses who ignore dinner details, and who does he cite as counterexamples?
The author argues that hostesses who boast of never attending to dinner details usually reveal it in the dinner itself. He cites Madame Rothschild, who gives the best dinners in Paris and personally supervises everything, and the Duchess of Sutherland, who inspected every arrangement herself. He adds that he daily comments to his cook on the previous day's performance, since French cooks need praise and criticism.
Chapter 22
CHAPTER XXIV.4 cards
How did McAllister treat a new, heavily varnished ball-room floor?
He sprinkled it thickly with corn meal, swept it off, and renewed the dressing from time to time. He adds that a too-slippery hard-wood floor may be treated with powdered pumice-stone, swept off before dancing; and a floor not slippery enough gets repeated doses of corn meal until even a rough floor is fit for dancing.
Chapter 23
What problem arose after the opening quadrille at the Turkish Ball?
The quadrille was danced on the stage of the Academy of Music while guests filled the galleries. When it ended, the dancers retired to their boxes, leaving McAllister nearly alone on the vast dancing floor. He rushed about collecting dancing men, got a respectable number onto the floor, and infused spirit into the dancing. The ball went on to a late hour.
Chapter 23
What lesson did McAllister draw about serving on committees?
The author argues he had learned never to join a committee in any social matter unless he formed it himself or it was made up of personal friends who would second and support him. He says social projects need hard head-work and hand-work, and that ignorant members criticize, deluge one with worthless suggestions, then appropriate the credit when success comes.
Chapter 23
How did McAllister come to meet James G. Blaine at the Yorktown ball?
Scanning the galleries, McAllister noticed a wonderfully bright and intelligent face and wondered who it was. He went into the box, introduced himself as one of the Floor Committee, and asked the man's name. The man laughingly replied, "I am James G. Blaine." McAllister said his instincts had not failed him, claiming he never fails to discover beauty in woman and genius in man.
Chapter 23
CHAPTER XXV.4 cards
What novel lighting and decorative effects did the Newport ball introduce?
The ball introduced electric light for the first time at a ball in this country, with two powerful jets thrown through grottos of immense ice blocks, making the ice resemble illuminated prisms. The ballroom was an open tent with white and scarlet bunting, bordered by plants. The author notes the only criticism was that the light made deep shadows.
Chapter 24
How was the Newport ball's tent arranged for guests?
A huge tent holding fifteen hundred people covered the villa grounds, with a dancing platform inside. Guests were received at the villa, then directed to a Japanese room with art objects, lanterns, and costumed Japanese boys serving tea, then to a salon with nooks for flirtation couples, then to the ballroom. Supper was served at small tables throughout the night.
Chapter 24
How did McAllister first meet Attorney-General Brewster?
Secretary of State Frelinghuysen, McAllister's former New Jersey lawyer, spotted him in Willard's barber-shop. Frelinghuysen told him Brewster dined at the hotel at seven and to look for an old-fashioned, courtly gentleman of the Benjamin Franklin style. McAllister approached after Brewster reached his coffee, and Brewster immediately promised him the office.
Chapter 24
What did McAllister do for Brewster after receiving the office?
McAllister hosted Brewster at Newport among fashionable people, which he describes as a new awakening of cultivated enjoyment for Brewster, whom he calls the brightest conversationalist he ever met. Later a young friend, advised by McAllister, gave Brewster a banquet at Delmonico's, presided over by an ex-Secretary of State and ex-Governor and his wife.
Chapter 24
CHAPTER XXVI.4 cards
What new standard of fortune did New York society adopt in this era?
The author argues New York's idea of fortune leaped from one million dollars to ten, fifty, and one hundred millions, with luxuries following suit. Dinners now required five or six liveried servants plus a butler, music between courses, and sometimes gold plate instead of silver—all meant to show money and taste rather than vulgar display.
Chapter 25
How did the English officer's pony ride lead to Newport's Casino?
The officer, a guest of the journalist, rode his polo pony into the Newport Reading-room club hall on a dare. The club withdrew the journalist's guest invitation, and the journalist retaliated by building a superb Casino—club, ball-room, and restaurant—opposite his residence. The author cites this as proof that social agitation is beneficial.
Chapter 25
What happened with the mysterious Blue Domino at the journalist's ball?
A woman in a blue domino arrived in her own carriage, trusting her servants not to betray her. She whispered provocative secrets to the men, becoming the belle of the evening, then asked McAllister to escort her out. A dozen men blocked the way, but she dashed through, was thrown into her carriage, and her identity was never discovered.
Chapter 25
Why did McAllister bring his own Madeira to Governor Morgan?
Morgan planned to dine President Arthur and had sent to New York for his Madeira. McAllister warned that once moved, aged Madeira needs at least a month's repose before it can be tasted, and Arthur was a good judge of it. So McAllister carried two decanted bottles himself, sitting mid-carriage, one in each hand.
Chapter 25
CHAPTER XXVII.4 cards
Why did Attorney-General Brewster take a week to plan McAllister's dinner?
McAllister says Washington people were slower of action than New Yorkers; it took his host fully a week to consider and map out a dinner for him. He enjoyed the visit overall, and just as he was leaving the President asked him to dine, requiring him to cancel other engagements and remain.
Chapter 26
How were guests arranged at the White House dinner McAllister attended?
McAllister was separated from the ladies he brought and could not find them to enter the drawing-room together. He was ushered in from a side door to join the gentlemen standing in line on one side, while the ladies entered from an opposite door and formed a line opposite the men. The President then entered, bowed, and offered his arm to a lady to lead the way to dinner.
Chapter 26
What did McAllister consider the four most striking points of the 1890 New Year's Ball?
He names: the reception of over twelve hundred people as at a private house by three society ladies; the Quadrille d'Honneur of Sir Roger de Coverly sets danced by distinguished ladies, with the "nobs" and "swells" uniting; the supping of over twelve hundred people at once at small tables; and the cotillion led by a distinguished State Senator representing family, wealth, and political position.
Chapter 26
What defects marred the Metropolitan Opera House ball, and what was its date?
McAllister says the ball would have been twice the success had ideas been properly carried out. The artificial ceiling planned to shut out the galleries was not completed, the electric lights were not shaded as they should have been, and the elevated music stands ordered by the authorities were unsightly and marred the intended effect. The ball was given as a New Year's Ball on January 2, 1890.
Chapter 26
C. C. GOODHUE,4 cards
What was the stated purpose of the Patriarch Balls?
The organizers aimed to make the balls thoroughly representative, embracing old Colonial New Yorkers, adopted citizens, and men of ability and integrity. They wanted the money power included but not controlling it. Patriarchs were chosen solely for fitness, and each promised to invite only guests who would do credit to the ball.
Chapter 27
How did the Management handle a Patriarch who invited an objectionable guest?
Responsibility for inviting each batch of nine guests rested on the Patriarch who invited them. If an objectionable element was introduced, the Management let it be known by whom that party was invited and notified the offending Patriarch that he had done an injury, asking him to be more circumspect. Public upbraiding by society was expected to prevent repeat offenses.
Chapter 27
According to the author, what was the secret of the balls' success?
The author argues the whole secret lay in making the balls select and the most brilliant of each winter, making invitations extremely difficult to obtain and of great value. They served as a stepping-stone to the best New York society, so that anyone repeatedly invited had a secure social position. The author also credits identifying oneself with the undertaking as the secret of success.
Chapter 27
Why did the organizers refuse to lower the subscription or curtail expenses?
They replied they could not do so if it endangered the success of the balls. While giving them, they wanted to make them the great social events in New York society, with the best suppers, lavishly decorated rooms as good taste permits, sparing no expense to make them a credit to themselves and the city.
Chapter 27
D. C.--Their Rise and Fall--The Mother Goose Ball--My…2 cards
Why did married women, not young girls, become the belles of the Patriarch Balls?
The author explains that in the new Patriarch association, married women took a more prominent place than young girls, who had traditionally been the focus when families entered society to launch daughters. Critics argued this overturned old New York customs and was "Europeanizing New York too rapidly," since previously parents took a back seat while bringing out their daughters.
Chapter 28
What was the Mother Goose Ball and its featured quadrille?
It was a fancy dress ball where powdered hair was required for ladies not in fancy costume. Its feature was the Mother Goose Quadrille, danced at eleven o'clock by sixteen couples, with characters including Tom the Piper's son, Mother Hubbard, Bo-Peep, and Punch and Judy. The evening's highlight was the singing of nursery rhymes, followed by a Pinafore Quadrille and a Hunting Quadrille.
Chapter 28
Source and licence
Text used: Project Gutenberg eBook #55300 (Public domain in the United States). Generated from the full text; cards paraphrase the source.
Version: Public domain edition. Retrieved 2026-10-29. Cards reviewed 2026-10-29.
These cards paraphrase the text for study. They are not a substitute for reading the book, and they do not reproduce long passages.
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