Wilmington daily gazette., 1873-09-27
Children at Table.

We always rebol in shirt II ne notice N
often conspicuously posted in boats and hotela
children not allowed at The frat table" saws
the Hearth and Home. On principle we ulter
our protest against il, since all WeII-bred men
and women must have been at some period Of
their existence Well-bred boys and girls In
practlce' 30 lar as we have had TO do with the
rising - generation, We have especially trained
them 10 proper behavior at the table. The
table is the social centre of home; and vhile
ealing, regarded simply per se is not e5lhetic
ana YET around 1t cluster 30 many pleasant assoc-
atIons and 40 much may be done 10 make iis
appointments delightful that the fact is that the
way they eat draws the line between the barbar-
Gus and the civilized people of the earth. "The
gentlemen is quiet; the lady is serene" saws
Emerson'does he not? And if we accept his die
tum as correct, how are We to have the finished
product unless We begin at the beginning? The
nameleas grace belongs TO cultivated person
cannot be leaned from a manual of etionette
II comes by degrees. So, madam il Won are
shocked when your little girl puts her knife into
her mouth and helps herself to berries with her
own spoon, you need not be il you have allowed
her during several years to eat at the nursery
table. What else could you expect? ChiIdre n
are reproductions Of The world around them.
and 1t TO save yourself trouble you let that world
be made OF the ignorant and the repuIsive, YOU
reap what you have sown when you have a
harvest Of bad habits to uproot aud destroy, DO
men gather grapes Of thorns, or fgs of thistles?
Stlll, having so much confessed, we must say
that very short journey and very short stay
at fashionable hotel is enough to put even so
established faith as ours TO pretty severe
test. We do not blame the children. Far
from it. Despite our yielding credence to the
dogma that treats Of original sin, we hold 10 il
that, naturally, children enjoy being good.
Ihey are never 30 happy as when they are
obedient and Rmiable. We think, Too. that
nothing ia easier than to have them So and the
harsh measures to which some people are Quick
TO resort to that end, if they could see them
selves with our eyes, would seem to them
illuminating exhibitions Of their own weak
ness. Without Sel-cOntrol, the person who
attempts to control a child 10 verv likely 10 fall
lamenthby. Oddly enough, the people who
never in their lives particle OF ftIess for sC
delicate task are the very people who
are POSED of desire to show their mismanaOe-
ment 10 places where it Is sure 10 be seen
Mater tamilias and her half dozen little one.
Tile Ia to the break fast table, where with ella.
NOR and Oucry aud considerable pushing and
pulling, the latter are Accommodated with seats
Then ensueS what may be described a. an
intermittent skirmish. Lottie reaching for the
butter and upsetting Kate's coffee cup (every
one OF tue brood drinks coffee and deVOurs
plckles), and John dipping his bread into the
gravy, or screaming like a savage because his
mother interCepts him on the way and prevents
his act. my children are 30 spoiled" the poor
thing remarks. with q manner half proud and
half dspreciating, and the sufferers whose COM
fort they have wrecked have no difficulty in
believing her. lfgOOd digestion Waa on appe-
tlte depend on the ancestors Of not cniy q we'll
appointed and palataby-dressed meal, but upon
the company around the board, then It IS a
manifest truth that invalids and nervous people
at least if not all who are civilized, even the
well and strong should be protected from incur
sions OF barbaFians. 1t is an objectionable
thing in parents to let children grow up igner-
ant OF the common conveniences of society, and
painfully awkward and rude For their own
sake7, as well Ss for those of others, We entreat
mothers to notice how the little ones behave .,
the table, TO get over the mistake Of enjoying
company manners, and to make the prOhibitoTy
notice unnecessary