This artifact of my great-grandma's recipe collection was passed on to me years ago, and I ran across it again while packing. The recipes are old-fashioned, interesting, and often scary, but I'm more interested in the bits of wisdom imparted at the back of the book. Behold:

What the Right Napery Means
The best meal is a disappointment if the table looks unattractive. The basis of charming service is the linen — it must be smooth, shining, clean — with the refreshing appearance that only Linit gives.

The simplest meal is “good enough for company” — when the table is right. With fresh pretty napery — a flower or so for the center-piece, and carefully served food — unexpected guests have no terrors.

For centuries, the linen chest, and future home-making, have been synonymous. The hope chest and the Bride will always endure. Our daughters are destined for home-making. Young though they may seem, girls of all ages can be interested in correct table setting — the care of napery — the acquiring of linen that some day will grace a real home — the doll’s house grown up!

Teach her to hem table linen — make doilies and runners to use with her doll’s dishes. Let her wash, Linit and iron them herself. Teach her that lovely things last if they are cared for. Show her your best linens — teach her to love them. If you care properly for them now, they will be hers later — and her children’s children.

Plant in her that precious germ of conscious womanliness that later will help her to be a true home-maker. (108)