A Blue Breakfast

1895

A blue breakfast that Mr. Edmund Russell tells about is both suggestive and amusing. It was in summer time of course. He says: "In a city where I was lecturing, a society dame asked a number of friends to a little breakfast. They found their hostess exquisitely gowned in blue, presiding over a beautiful breakfast table, the center of which, up to the plate line, was one mass of lovely blue morning glories — bloom and tendril. This artistic effect was produced by fine wire netting adjusted over graduated glasses of water, in which the delicate stems of the vines were kept moist and fresh. The harmony of blue and green was carried out through the entire service — one course in old blue Conton china, then one in green majolica, followed by a third — a grandmother's set of green and blue and gold bands.

"But what excited the most interest and admiration was a set of pale blue open work dessert plates, just the tint of the beautiful morning glories. When asked about these unique plates, the hostess touched with her slender, turquoise decked hand her plate, which seemed almost as rare and fine as her jewels, and said: Yes, I purchased those on my trip abroad. They were my greatest extravagance and are said to be literally unique. I could secure but nine, so when I wish to use them I have to limit my guests to that number. These unique blue plates were for a number of days the talk of all society. A few weeks after the little blue breakfast one of the guests, visiting an unfrequented part of the city on an errand of charity, discovered on the pavement before a small, shabby china store six baskets of the identical pale blue plates — marked 12½ cents each. Was the hostess of the blue breakfast attempting art, cleverness or impudence?" — Philadelphia Ledger.