The Northern Pacific farmer. [volume] (Wadena, Minn.) 1878-1885, 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 prevalent among
the polite society in the metropolis of Lar.
annie City. Wyoming Territory. The Lore
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 dc
things that if not absolutely 0~tre and en-
semble are at least piomissimo 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 Ell
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.
| If you can not accept an invitation to
dinner, do not write your regrets on the
back of pool check with blue pencil
This is now regarded as ricochet. A suff-
Gent 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
! gloom over the gravy. If you have just
cleaned your gloves 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 epiglottis
and it is not considered enabOnp0iqat, any,
way.
When you are at dinner do not take up
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 It is not bon
ton.
Oranges are held on fork while being
peeled, and the facetious style of squirting
the juice into the eye Of your hostess is
now aW reV0ar.
Stones in cherries or other fruit should
not be placed upon the table cloth, but slid
| quietly and unostentatiously into the pock-
ct of your neighbor 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
IL Is regarded III JQo DoSG society HIS OtUSG
and exceedingly vice versG.
Macaroni should be cut into short pieces
and eaten with an easy graceful motion, not
absorbed by the yard.
After eating considerable amount, do
not rise and unbuckle your vest strap in
order to get more room, as it is exceeding
ly Ga& .fait 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
your companion has eaten. If the lady
who is your company at table, whether she
T. $3.50 wifa or the wifa of some one else.
should eat quite heartily, do not offer to
pay your host for his loss, or say to her.
"Great Scott! hope 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 a
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 find it, laughing heartily ali the time.