Why should not hostesses make as much effort to stimulate the minds of their guests as they do to gratify their palates?
What a boon it would be to many a bashful man, sitting next to a lady with whom he has nothing in common, if some public entertainer during the dinner relieved him from the necessity of always thinking of what he should say next?
How much more he could enjoy the tasty dishes his hostess had provided; and as for the lady--what a number of suppressed yawns she might have avoided.

To take great pains and spend large sums to provide nice food for people who cannot enjoy it because they have to talk to one another, seems a pity.

Let one man talk to the rest and leave them leisure to eat, is my suggestion.
The opportunities afforded at the dining table may be turned to many useful purposes.

Of course not all are ill-paired, and many young men and ladies meet, sit side by side, engage in a friendly, pleasant conversation, renew their acquaintance at other times, and finally merge their separate paths in the highway of marriage.

Perhaps China might borrow a leaf from this custom and substitute dinner parties for go-betweens.