Morris tribune., 1881-08-18
TABLE ETIQUETTE.
Rules Prevailing in Polite Society of wyom-
ing Territory.

Rules Prevailing In Polite Society of Wyom-
ing Territory.
We give some of the rules prevalentamong
the polite society in the metropolis of Lar
annie City. Wyoming Territory. The Lord
Chesterfield of that city appears to be Bill
Nye. Esq, Of the Boomerang:
There are great many people who be-
have we'll otherwise, but at table they do
things that If not absolutely outre and en-
semble are at least pianissimo and sine die.
1t is with view to elevating the popular
taste, and etherealizing, so to speak, the
manners and customs of our readers, that
we give below few hints upon table ETH
quette.
If by writing an article of this kind We
can induce one man who now wipes his
hands on the table-cloth to come up and
take higher ground, and wipe them on his
coat, we shall feel amply repaid.
1t you can not accept an invitation to
dinner, do not write your regrets on the
back Of a pool check with a blue pencil.
This is now regarded as 1icochet. A sniff
cient note to your host informing him that
your washerwoman refuses to relent is
sufficient.
On seating yourself at the table, draw off
your gloves, and put them in your lap I'M
der your napkin. Do not put them in the
gravy, as it would ruin the gloves and cast
a gloom over the gravy. If you have just
cleaned yourgloves with benzine, you might
leave them out in the front yard.
If you happen to drop gravy on your
knife blade, back near the handle, do not
run the blade down your throat to remove
the gravy, as it might injure your epiglotis
and it is not considered embonpoint, any
way.
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 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
now az reyoir.
Stones in cherries or other fruit should
not be placed upon the table cloth, but slid
quietly and unostentatouslv into the pock-
at of your neishbor or noiselessly under
the table.
If you strike worm in your fruit do not
call attention to it by MASKING it with the
nut cracker. This is not only uncouth, but
it is regarded in the best society as blase
and exceedingly rice versa.
Macaroni should be cut into short pieces
and eaten with an easy graceful motion, not
absorbed by the yard.
In drinking wine, when you get to the
bottom of the glass do not throw your head
back and draw in your breath like the ex-
haust of bath-tub in order to get the last
drop, as it engenders feeling of the most
depressing melancholy among the guests.
After eating considerable amount, do
not rise and unbuckle your vest-strap in
order to get more room, as it is exceeding
ly au fat and deshabille.
If by mistake you drink out of your fin
ger-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 diff
ficulty in steering the male portion of the
procession home.
Do not make remarks about the amount
youl companion has eaten. If the lady
who is your company at table, whether she
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 say to her:
"Great Scott! nope you will not kill your
self because you have the opportunity,
but be polite and gentlemanly, even though
the food supply be cut off for week.
If one of the gentlemen should drop q
raw oyster into his bosom, and he should
have trouble in fishing it out, do not make
facetious remarks about it, but assist him
to ind it, laughing heartily ali the time.