TABLE ETIQUETTE. Meat is much, but manners is more. — PROV. He is a wise man that knows how to eat; a foolish one that don't. " Clinging to banished customs can only be excused in old people who are averse to changes and have earned the right to be humored in these things." " T T is an excellent custom of the Quakers, if only for a school of manners, — the silent prayer before meals. It has the effect to stop mirth, and introduce a moment of reflection. After the pause, all resume their usual intercourse from a vantage ground. What a check to the violent manners which sometimes come to the table, — of wrath, and whining, and heat in trifles! " Take plenty of time to eat. " Manners require time, as nothing is more vulgar than haste." " Let us leave hurry to slaves. The compliments of our breeding should recall, how- ever remotely, the grandeur of our destiny. The compliment of this graceful self- respect, and that of all the points of good-breeding I must require and insist upon, is deference. I like that every chair should be a throne, and hold a king. I prefer tendency to stateliness, to excess of fellowship." " Never do anything in a hurry," no one in a hurry can possibly have his wits about him. You may occasionally be in haste, but you need never be in a hurry; take care — resolve — . never be so. Negligence usually occasions hurry. We should be in a happy frame of mind, and appear at the table with light hearts and pleasant faces. A little delay between the courses gives time for cheerful conversation, and would be admirable in preventing our fast eating. Prompt attention to the hour as an invited guest, or at your own table, is of the great- est importance. Let your napkin fall carelessly over your knee, do not spread it over your lap, nor tuck it under your chin, nor spread it upon your breast. Some of a certain class of young New Yorkers are awfully proud of ex-President Arthur. I was saying to one of them how the president's grand manner charmed everyone. Then he gave me a very knowing look and said: "Oh, yes; he knows how to eat soup." " Undoubtedly, and a great many very commonplace people know how to do likewise — myself for instance." " How do you eat it, pray ? " " The regular regulation way, to be sure, as laid down in all the standard works on etiquette. I take it from the point of the spoon, and no matter how much I want more, never ask for the second plate ! " " You're out of time; go eat soup with the mummies." 53 54 HOME DISSERTATIONS. " A new departure in soup eating — and I without the pale! For goodness sake, post me. " Listen to your preceptor. The newest agony in soup, the aesthetic, the intense man - ner of imbibing it is to take it up with the spoon away from you and drink it from the side of the spoon, making a graceful movement from the soup to your mouth." "As to the small salt-cellars, ' known as individual salts,' there is not a single w:>rd to be said in their favor. In hotels they are particularly offensive, where we take off the top only to find suspicious lumps beneath. A friend at my elbow says: ' Oh, do speak of that dreadful habit of helping one's self to salt on the table-cloth, then taking it up on ;he blade of the knife, beating a light tattoo over the contents jDf the plate, and finishing v ith a decided whack!

AI-modernized reading of the original text

TABLE ETIQUETTE. Meat is much, but manners is more. — PROV. He is a wise man that knows how to eat; a foolish one that don't. " Clinging to banished customs can only be excused in old people who are averse to changes and have earned the right to be humored in these things." " T T is an excellent custom of the Quakers, if only for a school of manners, — the silent prayer before meals. It has the effect to stop mirth, and introduce a moment of reflection. After the pause, all resume their usual intercourse from a vantage ground. What a check to the violent manners which sometimes come to the table, — of wrath, and whining, and heat in trifles! " Take plenty of time to eat. " Manners require time, as nothing is more vulgar than haste." " Let us leave hurry to slaves. The compliments of our breeding should recall, however remotely, the grandeur of our destiny. The compliment of this graceful selfrespect, and that of all the points of good-breeding I must require and insist upon, is deference. I like that every chair should be a throne, and hold a king. I prefer tendency to stateliness, to excess of fellowship." " Never do anything in a hurry," no one in a hurry can possibly have his wits about him. You may occasionally be in haste, but you need never be in a hurry; take care — resolve — . never be so. Negligence usually occasions hurry. We should be in a happy frame of mind, and appear at the table with light hearts and pleasant faces. A little delay between the courses gives time for cheerful conversation, and would be admirable in preventing our fast eating. Prompt attention to the hour as an invited guest, or at your own table, is of the greatest importance. Let your napkin fall carelessly over your knee, do not spread it over your lap, nor tuck it under your chin, nor spread it upon your breast. Some of a certain class of young New Yorkers are awfully proud of ex-President Arthur. I was saying to one of them how the president's grand manner charmed everyone. Then he gave me a very knowing look and said: "Oh, yes; he knows how to eat soup." " Undoubtedly, and a great many very commonplace people know how to do likewise — myself for instance." " How do you eat it, pray ? " " The regular regulation way, to be sure, as laid down in all the standard works on etiquette. I take it from the point of the spoon, and no matter how much I want more, never ask for the second plate ! " " You're out of time; go eat soup with the mummies." " A new departure in soup eating — and I without the pale! For goodness sake, post me. " Listen to your preceptor. The newest agony in soup, the aesthetic, the intense man - ner of imbibing it is to take it up with the spoon away from you and drink it from the side of the spoon, making a graceful movement from the soup to your mouth." "As to the small salt-cellars, ' known as individual salts,' there is not a single word to be said in their favor. In hotels they are particularly offensive, where we take off the top only to find suspicious lumps beneath. A friend at my elbow says: ' Oh, do speak of that dreadful habit of helping one's self to salt on the table-cloth, then taking it up on ;he blade of the knife, beating a light tattoo over the contents of the plate, and finishing v ith a decided whack!

Home dissertations