The Vancouver independent. (Vancouver, W.T. [Wash.]) 1875-1910, 1877-04-20
Knives and Forks.

their chop-sticks, or small, thin sticks OF
wood or ivory with which they eat, and
fancy they must make very dirty work at
their meals, yet they are clearly and CIV
iized compared with the habits of our
ancestors some three hundred years ago.
Then forks were unknown; each man had
his own knife, and at dinner seized the
Joint with his hand, and cut off what he
wished; the dish was then passed on to
the next, who did the same. The knife
then cut up the small portions into small
pieces, which were put into the mouth
by the fingers of the hand unoccupied by
the knife.
In many parts of Spain, at present,
drinking glasses, spoons and forks are
rarities; and in taverns in many countries,
particularly in some towns in France,
knives are not placed on the table, be-
cause it is expected that each person has
one Of his own, custom which the
French seem to have retained from the
old Gauls. But as no person will any
longer eat without forks, landlords are
obliged to furnish these, together with
plates and spoons.
None of the sovereigns of England had
forks till the reign of Henry VIII; all,
high and low, used their fingers. Hence
in the royal households there was dig
nitary called the ewar, or ewary, who,
with set of subordinates, attended at
the meals with basins, water and towels.
The office of ewary survived after forks
came partially into fashion. We learn
that when James l. entertained the Span
ish ambassador at dinner, very shortly
after his accession, "their majesties washed
their hands with water from the same
ever, the towels being presented to the
king by the lord treasurer, and to the
queen by the lord high admiral" The
Prince of Wales had an ever to himself,
which was after him used by the ambas-
sadOr.
About the first royal parsonage in Eng
land who is known to have had fork,
was Queen Elizabeth; but, although sew
eral were presented to her, it remains
doubtful whether she used them on ordi
nary occasions. Forks came so slowly into
use in England that they were employed
only by the higher classes at the middle
of the seventeenth century.
About the period of the Revolution,
1868, few English noblemen had more
than dozen forks of silver, along with a
few iron or steel. AT length, for general
use, steel forks became an article of man
ufacture at Sheffield; ut first they had
but two prongs, and it was only in later
times that the three-propged kind were
made. AS late as the early part of the
eighteenth century, table forks-and we
may add, knives-were kept on so small a
scale by country inns in Scotland (and
perhaps in some parts of England) that
it was customary for gentlemen in travel
ing to carry with them a portable knife
and fork in shagreen case. The general
introduction of silver forks into Great
Britain is quite recent; it can be dated
no farther back than the termination of
the French war in 1814.-Karly Days.
HARD FARE.-One of the surviving
passengers of the Inflated English vessel
Strathmore, wrecked on the Croset Islands
in the South Pacific, gives a sad account
of the hardships endured on the island.
About fifty of the passengers and crew
escaped from the wreck, and were on the
island nearly seven months. The island
was a mile long by half a mile wide, of
volcanic origin, and having no wood for
fuel, and no vegetables or fruits for food.
Birds were abundant, coming by thou
sands to hatch their eggs and raise their
young on the rocky cliffs, and these were
the chief food of the castaways. No
tools or dishes were brought from the
vessel, but few rude ones were made by
ingenious hands. Curious shifts we're
resorted to meet emergencies. A large
sea boot served as a vessel to hold melted
lard, and another to bring and hold wa
ter. A shoe was put to use as drinking
cup. The chief difficulty was to provide
any fuel for a fire, but they managed by
the use of birds feathers and dried skins
to raise heat enough to do their rude
cooking. The weather was cold and
stormy, and they had neither houses nor
tents for comfortable shelter. But most
of them who escaped to the island sur
vived their hardships, and were taken off
! by an American whaler, attracted by their
signals of distress.
ONLY ONcE.-The day after New
Years Madam Blank asked her husband
for new toilet. "But, my dear friend"
said he, this is the third in two months,
and you know very well times are So hard
that" You will kill me" replied the
disappointed woman, bursting into tears,
land my funeral expenses will cost you
more than new DRESS" "But l would
have to bury you only once" was the
comforting rejoinder.
THE Lebanon CO., Shakers combine
usefulness and beauty in the arrangement
of their cemetery. They plant tree over