, 1880-07-26
age. Chaueer, one Of the earliest contri>
butors to English literature. describes

She let no morsel from hire lippcs faile,
Ne wette hire fingers in hire sauce depe
That no drope ne fell upon hire brest.
In curtesic was sette ful mOche hire lest.
Hire over lippe wiped she so clene,
That in hire coppe was no ferthng senc
Ofgrese, whan she dronken had hire draught.
Full semely after hire mete she raught.
In this country, where merit is the on>
ly basis of aristocracy, lowly birth is no
barrier to the highest social or political
distinction; conformity to established
customs is, however, deemed an essential
mark of good breeding, nonconiormity
being proof positive Of base birth and
low breeding, total absence of gentle
instincts which can be refined and wro't
into gentle manners. Every parent of
nice sensibillties, however lowly in sta>
ton, regards it as the highest duty of
the parent to instruct his or her chill
drtn in the amenities of social inter
course. taking the highest types OF social
refinement as their models All teachers
of any refinement make personal deport-
ment an essential branch of instruction.
A vulgar teacher is s,,cial pestllcncs,
eradicating by teaching and example the
gentler influences of home culture; an
educated boor is social nuisance, the
more offensive on account of the educa-
tion which alone gives hlm access to and
the means of annoying persons of refined
sensibilities. The most offensive of that
class is the editor who holds no position
in respectable society but by virtue of
his vocation, and betrays his base birth
and vulgar breeding by assailing those
customs which are taught to their chil>
dren by all mothers of gentle instincts as
essential marks of good breeding, and
observed by the most untutored back
woodsman who has any proper selt>re-
spect, when admitted to the association
OF persons of refinement, who uniformly
observe the customs pertaining to the
highest degree of culture. OF that quail
ity of boorish impudence we have the
following specimen in the Intelligencer:
eating with knife is certainly easier
aud more natural than sathlng with
fork Just as much danger and indelica-
cy is associated with one as with the
other This tabooing the knife is simply
one of fashions toibles, and is as foolish
as thousands of Others. 1t is but very
few years since drinking tea or ceffee
from the cup was as much out of favor
as eating with the knife is now The
saucer, which is now Il sort Of slop bowl
only, was the correct and fashionable
thing for drinking, though. like the fork
in eating, much less convent, mt than the
cup.'
Eating with the fingers is easier and
more natural than eating with a knite-
Society establishes rules and customs
which distinguish the civilized being
from the savage, and every gentleman
and lady observe those rules More than
century ago it was published of the
Prince Regent, as an evidence of his po>
liteness, that he once took tea at farm
house, and cooled his tea in his saucer as
the peasants did. That was an evidence
of true politeness which comes of gentle
breeding. Had he done the like at the
table Of the nobility or gentry, it would
have been boorish act. We come of
plain people, but among our earliest re >
collections-more than half a century
ago-are mothers instructions never to
put knife to the mouth at table; that
forks and spoons were invented to con-
vey food to the mouth. Tommy Prosch
has an undoubted' right to lick his knife
when he eats, to dispense with a pocket
handkerchief when be has the snitfles, to
wipe his nose on his sleeve and clean his
teeth upon the public toothbrush fur
nished for the use of guests at country
hotals, for those things are perfectly cons
sistent with his breeding. But when, as
the publisher of family newspaper be
advises our children to disregard the. i'm
structions of their mothers and teachers
in the ma tier of social proprieties, and to
initiate his own vulgar ways, we protest
SARGENT WHITE ATTHE FRoNT,-The
Standard OF Friday, in noticing Ham
cock meeting in Portland, says: "Col.
W. II. White, a prominent attorney from
Seattle, an old soldier in the Union army,
and at present the Commander of the
Grand Army Republic Post Of that city,
happened to be present and was intro
duced. He proceeded from the onset to