The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1880-08-19
The KniHe-and Fork Question.

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wipe his wittel on manchet of bread
than on his doublet; 'twere more tidy
and comedy. Goodly breeding belongeth
to a gentleman. IT'S more like Flamand
boor than aught else to sully napkin
with grease of knife. Bethink We of
manners, my Lord" This, from an old
play of about 1918, shows that the knife
and fork question must have agitated
the world at an early date. "They be-
hayed strangely and in an indecOrous
manner" writes a French chronicler,
describing the habits of the Russians,
at Versailles, half a century later.
Their knives they wiped on their
boards and it was most distasteful; they
were not gems ne bonnie cOmpdg1ie.
Their garments were greasy and they
smelt ill-favored." OF course, nobody
nowadays would think of cleaning his
knife in the primitive manner, though
at hotel or restaurant it might be per-
fectly legitimate to give dingy spoon,
knife or fork little friction on the nap
kin, and, in fact, there are certain
Italian restaurants in this city where
it has passed as a custom with
the clientele to aid the walters in this
way. Needless to say that anything of
this character akin to furnishing the
steel or silverware at private house
would be one of the rudest things to do.
We are not conscious of having ever re-
marked want of care in the cleaning of
knives or forks at a private dinner,
but still when the minor equipage of a
house is scanty and when fish is
served, and the same small wares have
to do second duty and the cook or waiter
is not careful and flavor of lsh awak-
ems the suspicion of the guest, the effect
is disagreeable. Now, if the mistress
of the house only knew that a grain of
carbonate of soda in the water in which
pastry plates or knives, forks or spoons
were to be washed, would carry away
all the ichthyous odOrs, then some very
unpleasant ideas occurring to the minds
of the guests might be obviated. We
slowly approach. then, that absorbing
topic, how the knife and fork are to be
used, or what is to be done with them
when the plate is passed to be replen
ished. We think the question divides
itself into two distinct phases. If there
is a servant the knife and fork may be
left on the plate. 1t is then the duty
of the attendant who carries the plate
to the place of replenishment to take
care of the knife and fork, putting them
on one side of the plate so as to be out
of the way of the new supply of food.
But this leaving of the knife and fork
is quite optional. To cross, however,
the knife with the fork is to give extra
trouble. If, however, there is no one
in attendance, it is wiseSt to retain the
knife and fork. Volunteer assistants
at table. those other guests who pass
along the plate, may not be accustomed
to this duty and accidents detrimental
to their neighbors' dresses or coats by
the fall of the knife and fork may occur.
There are several positions which the
person who retains his own knife and
fork can assume. He might hold the
knife in one hand and the fork in the
other and apply the butts of each of
them on the table, grounding arms, in
fact, and thus assume most awkward
and stupid position. 1t is perfectly
easy thing to hold the knife and fork in
luc III Ou bllC IdOlC, vi CNCA W
place them there, though if they be
dripping from the food, which rarely
occurs, the table-cloth would be soiled.
If there be stands on the table of course
the knife and fork can be stacked on
them; but such stands are rarely in use
to-day, save for the carver. The bother
about this matter is slight after all, be-
cause in a well-regulated service plates,
knives and forks are changed at every
course, and besides it is exceptional
when guests ask for a second helping
of the same dish. 1t might as well be
said here of the marked improvement |
as to the use of the knife tits not
now as universally sheathed in man or
a woman's mouth as if they were sword
swallowers. Thirty years ago, in France
the use of the knife at dinner was al |
most tabooed. The custom was to d.
vide the food with the fork, rather an
awkward custom, as forks have gener-
ally no cutting edge and to aid the act
Of conveying food to the mouth on the /
fork, by means of a bit of bread. Long |
habit makes people amazingly clever /
about this kind of thing and to see a /
we'll cultured Charleston or Savannah I
loading her fork with grains of I
rice. without spilling kernel, is the I