Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1881-10-20
II ETIQUETTE.
How TO Act at Thanksgiving and
Sunday Dinners.

EAcuhnSe.l
There are a great numoer of people
who behave well otherwise, but at the
table they do things that, if not abso-.
lutely outre and ensemble, are at least
Pianissima and sine die.
If by writing an article of this kind
we can induce one man who now wipes
his hands on the tablecloth to come up
and take higher ground and wipe them
on his pants, we shall feel amply re-
paid.
If you cannot accept an invitation
to dinner do not write your regards on
the back of a pool check with a blue
pencil. This is not regarded as rico
Chef.
A simple note to your host inform
ing him that your w%Nsherwoman re-
fuses to relent is sufficient.
On seating yourself at the table,
draw off your gloves and put them in
your lap under your napkin. Do not
put them in the gravy, as it would
ruin the gloves and cast a gloom over
the gravy. II you have just cleaned
your gloves with benzine you leave
them out in the front yard.
Ifyou happen to drop gravy on your
knife blade, back zeal tie handle, do
not run the blade down your throat to
remove the gravy, as it might injure
your epiglottis, and it is not consider
ed embOndpoint anyway
When you are at dinner do not take
up a raw oyster on your fork and
playfully ask your host if it is dead.
Remarks about death at dinner are in
very poor taste.
Pears should be held by the stems
and peeled gently but firmly, not as
though you were skinning a dead
horse. 1t is not bon ton.
Oranges are held on a fork while
being peeled, and the facetiOus style
of squirting the juice into the eye of
your hostess is not au revoir.
Stones in cherries and other fruit
should not be placed upon the table.
cloth, but slid quickly and unostenta-
tiously into the pocket Of your neigh
Dor or noiselessly tossed under the
table.
If you strike a worm in your fruit
do not call attention to it by MASKING
it with a nut-cracker. This is not
only uncouth, but it is regarded in the
best society assblanc and exceedingly
vice versa.
Macaroni should be cut into short
pieces and eaten with an even, grace
full motion, not absorbed by the yard.
In drinking wine, when you get to
the bottom OF the glass, do not throw
back your head and draw in your
breath like the exhaust of a bath tub
10 order to get the last drop, as it en-
genders a feeling of the most depress-
ing melancholy among the guests.
After eating a considerable amount
do not rise and unbuckle your vest
strap in order to get more room, as it
is exceedingly au fat and dishabille.
If by mistake you drink out of your
finger bowl, laugh heartily and make
some facetious remark which will
change the course of conversation and
renew the friendly feeling among the
members Of the party.
Ladies should take but one glass Of
wine at dinner. Otherwise there might
be difficulty in steering the male por-
ton Of the procession home.
Do not not make remarks about the
amount your companion has eaten. II
the lady who is your company at the
table, whether sue be your wife or the
wife of some one else, should eat quite
heartily, do not offer to pay your host
for his loss, or to say to her, "GrsaI
Scott / hope you will not kill your.
self because you have the opportu
nifty" but be polite and gentlemanly
even though the food supply be cut Of
for a week.
If one Of the gentlemen should hap
, pen to drop a raw oysterinto his bosom
, and should have trouble in fishing j
= out, do not make facetious remark
5 about it, but assist him to find il
laughing heartily all the time.