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Chapter XXI
Toasts
Toastsare expressions offriendship,admiration,esteem or
hope. They voice a wish for another's welfare, for mutual
felicity and prosperity,or for turns in the tide of Fate. They
may be ironic, cynical or defiant, as a hope for a foe's van-
quishment. Nearly everyemotion may be voiced in them and
they may be given in verse or prose.
If host or hostess toast their guests, the guests Hkewise
may toast their hosts or hostesses. At pubhc banquets or
dinners the toasts become, too often, long-winded eulogies.
They are to be tolerated,not encouraged,although,of coirrse,
one must applaud, willy nilly.
In its best sense,the toast should be short and fehcitous,
a voicing of some nice sentimentfrom one person to another.
Many start the dinner with a cocktail toast to the host or
hostess. Butthe realtoasting comes with the sparkling wines,
when. Champagne or Sparkling Burgundy glass in hand,the
hour of conviviahty starts post-prandial eloquence.
It is not difl&cult to memorize a good toast,butsome of the
best are impromptu. The recipient of a toast tribute should
not be tongue-tied, but should make some response as graci
ous as the one bestowed. Wine tends toward joviahty and,
even if one cannot be eloquent,the mood of the glass accepts
the return toast as a gem of thought even if it be a mere re
ciprocal wish.
Toasts, as a rule, should be drunk standing, but as this
sometimes is awkward, the lifting of glasses high before
drinking may suflfice. Readers wUl find a toast to fit almost
any occasion in the following gleanings from masters of the
art:
A Few Popular Toasts
Come,fill the cup, and in the fire of Spring
Your winter garment of repentance fling;
The Bird of Time has but a little way
To flutter—and the Bird is on the Wing!
"Rubaiyat"(Fitzgerald trans.)
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