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guests arrived, our artistic Shimizu would place on the dining room table the plates of dainty cookies, shortbread and sandwiches. Finally, she would scrub two crisp lemons and cut them into thin slices, then cut the slices in half before arranging them in overlapping rows on a rectangular white porcelain plate, with an elaborate silver lemon spear at each end.

When she had observed most of the guests arrive, Shimizu would light the candles with a long and thin bamboo splinter, but the great, long-spouted silver teapot would not be brought from the kitchen until later.

Always arriving by the appointed time, Mother's guests were very proper ladies who dressed most fashionably in voluminous fine-lace-encrusted fineries, swooping hats sur-topped by delicate flowery and lace-edged gloves that camouflaged the glitter of diamonds. When all were assembled in the large living room adjoining the dining room, Mother would announce the name of the fortunate appointee she had chosen to "pour", amid exclamations of disappointment by those not so fortunate.

That was the signal for all to move to the dining room to witness the formal seating by Mother of the assigned lady at the head of the table. Shimizu, seeing Mother's nod, brought from the kitchen the hot teapot and placed it carefully at the head of the table. The Lady Of The Day then grandly poured its delights into the fancy teacups amid murmurs of admiration.

When all the guests had been served, she would leave her station (etiquette did not permit refills) and retire to the comfortable seating in the living room with the other ladies, where they would converse quietly about very proper subjects as they sipped gently from fine porcelain cups and munched tiny bites of cookies and sandwiches.

Hostesses of such events always made it a point to call the society editors of the two Honolulu newspapers to disclose the nature of the party, who was to pour, and the names of her guests. The next-day editions always printed this newsworthy social item, especially naming the lady who "poured". I'll bet they had fun!

In retrospect, Father's entertaining visiting plantation managers on our broad lanai was much simpler. His guests enjoyed "Around The World Scotch Whiskey" in heavy cut crystal tumblers over ice and filled with sparkling water from his braided-wire-encased bottle charged with a pressure canister. All five managers were Scots, brought to Hawaii due to their engineering capability, especially in designing flumes to carry irrigation water to distant fields of sugar cane.

Learn more about this author, Edgar Nash.
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