The Toledo chronicle. [volume] (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1873-1924, 1878-04-11
The Small Arts Of Living.

HARDLY anything Is TOO small TO
spoil the comfort of life, if it be mis-
placed. A speck in the eye, kernel
Of wheat in the boot, a pin-point touch
ing the skin, q band too tight or a
needed strap gone, and good-by COM
fort
Considering how much depends on
our daily food, it is surprising how lit
tie is thought of the conditions under
which it is taken, in many families.
Some people think good deal more Of
what is on the table than what is said
or done around it; and some few, per-
haps, reverse the order-an operation
that may do very well for special occa-
sions, when what is said is something
extraordinary; but one that we shall
beg to be excused from ssas regular
Diet even if the gods came to dine,
until we are able to dispense with all
that is implied in a good appetite!
The cookery is too big topic to
touch in this connection; though what
with cookery schools, better knowl-
edge among the people, and higher
standards made familiar by our best
hotels and dining places, the art has
greatly advanced in this country within
the present generation. Good bread,
properly broiled steak, and roast
done to turn, no longer excite the
special wonder that once they did. By
and-by perhaps it will not be unusual
to find good soup, or vegetables that
haven't been spoiled in cookingi
But consider the meal cooked how
shall it be best enjoyed? By having it
daintily and tastefully arranged and
! served, in the first place. We always
mark the good house wife up a notch or
two in our esteem if we see that, how
ever competent help she may have. she
always slips out to give the .'last
touches" to the table before the fam
| lily or the guests sit down. Some do
it for the guests but not for the
family, but that is an error. The ar
tistic arrangement of the table furni-
ture; the skill that avoids crowding
dishes together, or leaving spaces too
bare; the forethought that looks out
for flowers for the dinner table, though
the center table go bare; the quick eye
which sees that everything is in its
place-these supplement the fare won
derfully.
Promptness in each member of the
family is another essential 1t democrat
ICES the group to have stragglers drop
ping in all the way through the meal,
and gives restaurant air-a sugges-
ton of mere +" feeding'-to the family
meal. which it should never have. We
would make an exception in favor of
breakfast. Nothing is more absurd
and unwholesome than our American
iron-clad habit of hazing everybody out
of bed whether they are ready to awaken
or not, and sitting them down to a
laboring mans breakfast two or three
hours before they want anything. The
necessities of business or of school re-
quire punctuality in a majority of cases;
and then it is the chiefest virtue. Tardy
and irregular meals for those who want
them on time, have done their full
share toward retaining in the world SO
large . store of ..original SIM" II
takes triple-plated saint-especially if
he be of the male persuasion!-to stand
the test of waiting for dinner about five
| days out of seven. But when there is
no necessity in the case, the constitu-
uiOhs tSAl dhCAb dllO tdSJCS VI buC I'LL
ferent members of the household should
be well considered in the management
of breakfasts.
A little more formality in serving the
family meals wouldn't harm some
households. There is no need of saw
ing all the company manners for
company; if you do, the children, at
least, will probably be found wanting
when the occasion comes. We rather
enjoyed hearing, recently, of the pune
tiliousness as to dress and department
with which certain college chums are
wont to grace their dinners together
once week. Full-dress suits, care
fully-spread board, silent and attentive
walters, courtesies toward each other
such as the most polite society demands;
the aesthetics of dining are thus kept up
in an isolated life that leaves SO many
young fellows mannerless.
Many preachments have been direct
ed to teaching the necessity of cheer
fulness and contentment at meals. It
cannot be too often enforced. The wis.,
dom, on purely physical grounds, of a
a tranquil mind at meal times, is as old
as Bacon, in our language, and as
ancient as the patriarchs in practice.
The time given to the table ought to be
doubled in many families, and the
cheerfulness, good nature and domes-
tic conversation increased in like
ratio. "While we live, let us live''-
in the little matters as well as the
greater ones.-Golden Rule.