The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1876-11-15
Table Manners.

1t was reported OF LOFQ byron thdL ne
said that the most ungracetul act which
a woman could perform was the eating OF
an egg. Commenting on this, calm
Western observer said that Byron had
probably never seen an American woman
hanging on by the teeth to a blazing hot
corn cob. To many nice people this will
be shocking story. But the vast ma
jOrity will see no suggestion OF any breach
Of good manners in the practice OF eXtrI-
eating the kernels Of corn from their
natural place of growth in the fashion so
rudeIy described by the Western OBJ
server However, it Is a fair lllustra-
ton Of our idea of table etiquette. 1T
was a transatlantic visitor who, following
the custom Of the country in the manner
Of eating green corn, was deluded into
asking the hotel waiter TO "put some
more beans on that stick, rs he extended
to him the exhausted corn cob, to which
ne had been " hanging on" As the re
fuement of manners Is, after all, purely
relative, il may be edifying to know what
would be thought ut our table manners
by Il very eminent French critic. An
Arab Sheik, who has more family an
tiauity at his back than the most ancient
of Partisan nobility, would think 1t the
height of rudeness for an entertainer to
omit t. proffer to his guest, between
thumb and finger, choice bit stripped
from the roasted sheep before them.
lie would be Justly offended if the guest
refused the offered token of hospitality.
But the eminent French critic who has
lust fallen foul Of NJ. St. Beuve for his
ill-breeding, would be sure to enrage and
disgust the high bred Arabian. Never
theless, the Frenchman talks as If he
we're giving laws to a world
For example, NJ. St. Beuve has
declared that man of genius can
not possess bad m1nners-a statement
which is as dangerous rs it Is dog
matte. Whereup0n the editor Of a Paris
publication. the title of which may be
translated as 'FThe Almanac Of the Art
of Living" convicts St. Beuve Of no less
than eight otfenses at table. These Of
lenses, it should be said, were noted by
the master of ceremonies of the household
of the late Emperor Napoleon. 1t adds
to their Nervousness that they were
committed at the imperial table, where,
in his double capacity of Senator and a
man of letters, the author Of CdacerieS
dit Lttndi was won't to break his fast 1t
is alleged that during this impressive
ceremonial Nj. St. Beuve spread his
napkin over both his knees he omitted
to crush the shells of two boiled eggs
which he had eaten; he asked for a sec
ond service Of chicken he touched the
bones Of the chicken with his fingers; he
said ''thank YOU to one of his servants;
he left his knife and fork on the cloth
he peeled pear latitudinally instead Of
! longitudinalJv, and offered half Of it to Il
lady; and, worse than all, he shifted at
his wine before drinking il. If the hap
less Senator had said that he would have
''some more" wine, instead of ''some"
wine, or had drank his coffee with
spoon in his cup, the deep damnation OF
his otfenses could not have been more
fully established. Let the prohigate
American who seeks to justify his blazing
hot corn-cob read the explanation and
rebuke of the editor of the Almanac de
Surior- Iiu'e, and despair.
This eminent authority declares that
! it is necessary that the napkin should be
nicely adjusted. 1t Is horrible to spread
it over the knees or to open it altogether.
1t should be partly unfolded, and posed
negligently on the knee" Could this
critic behold the capacious breast of an
English Milford or American Alderman
whitened by the snowy fall of his napkin,
his CONSERVATION would be absolute.
The other crimes of which NJ. St. Beuve
was convicted are duly specified, so that
! the anxious reader may see how much
he must himself avoid. To peel 4 pear
circumferentially, if We may use that
phrase, is so manfestly chad form" that
we take it for granted that even people
who seize their corn by the ear will be
warned The editor from whose crltl-
cism we have quoted finds it necessary
to tell the French people how to behave
at table which ought to be consolation
TO Centennial visitors at New York no
tells, when they do not know whether
they should drink or wash the spoons in
the water which they find in their finger
glasses The French (and therefore the
world are told that to eat sparingly
when dining out is a reflection on the
quality of the feast To dine abundant
" is to confess that one has a lean larder
Of his own. The happy medium is com
mended 10 the anxious dinerout. Ii
one IS afflicted with large appetite, he
may take off its edge at home. Ii he
has no hunger, he may say that he Is
'.indisposed." These are only 4 few OF
the multifaIiouS rules which are laid
down for students in the art OF living
well How much occasion there Is for
the dissemination o. such knowledge in
our own unhappy country, let those who
affect the blazing hot corn cob consider.