The Rock Island Argus., 1881-08-08
Table Etiquette.

There are . great many people who
behave well otherwise, but at table they
do things that, If not absolutely oattre
and ensemble, are at least piaassstnao
and sine die. 9 - fss
It is with view toelevating the pop
ular taste and etherializing, SO to
speak, the manners and customs of our
readers, that we give below a few hints
upon table etiquette.
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 pants, we shall feel amply
repaid.
If you cannot 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
Tic0cket.
A simple note to your host informing
him that your washerweman refuses to
relent is sufficient "a s-s5e..F ID.
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
If YOU have just cleaned your gloves
y
out in the front yard. So
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 epiglottis, and it is not considered
enbonpOi1at, anyway
When you are at dinner do not take
up raw oyster on your fork and play
fully ask your host if it is dead. Re-
marks about death at dinner are in very
poor taste.
Pears should be held by the stems
and peeled gently and firmly, not as
though you were skinning dead horse.
It is not bon ton.
Oranges are held on fork while be-
ING pulled, and the facetious style of
squirting the juice into the eye of your
hostess is now dat 9-e0oS5.. &
Stones in cherries or other fruit
should not be placed upon the table
cloth, but slid quietly and unostenta-
tiously into the pocket of your neigh
Dor or noiselessly tossed under the ta-
BILE.
If you strike q worm in your fruit do
not call attention to it by MASKING it
with nut-cracker. This is not only
uncouth, but it is regarded in the best
SocIoIy ssS OSuSc dno SASSOoAAS OsCO
VeTSG.
Macaroni should be cut into short
pieces and eaten with an even. graceful
motion. not absorbed by the yard.
In drinking wine, when you get to
the bottom Of your glass do not throw
your head back and draw in your
breath like the exhaust of bath tub
in order to get the last drop. as it en-
genders 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 an fat and 6JasbabSIte.
If by mistake you drink out of your
finger-bowl, laugh heartily and make
come 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 make remarks about the
amount your 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 heart
lily, do not offer 10 pay your host for
his less or say to her, Great Scottl
I hope you will not kin yourself be-
cause you have the opportunity"
but be polite and gentlemanly, even
though the food supply be cut off for g.
week.
If one of the gentlemen should drop
a raw oyster in his bosom and he
should have trouble in fishing it out,
do not make facetious remarks about
it, but assist him to find it, laughing
heartily all the time. Boomerang.