Arizona weekly enterprise., 1882-09-16
Table Manners,


 rass q neophyte, who does not know which to take first, says Clara De We're, in Cincinnati Gdzcie. The smallest fork is for the raw oysters, which gen erally precede a handsome dinner, the next smallest for the fish, and so on. In eating oysters the shell is steadied on the plate with the fingers of tle left hand, and the oysters are not cut, but eaten whole. Soup should be served with large spoons and never with des- sert spoons, and there is good reason for this etiquette of spoons. Soup is nothing if not hot; and as it is the cus- tom to give but a very small helping of soup-about half ladle full to each person-h is eaten quicker, and, there fore, hotter with large spoon than with small one. The way in which 8 man takes his soup is by many people regarded as the test of his table man. ners-to tip the plate and to take the soup from the point of the spoon are sins against the morality of the dinner table, as great as to suck down the liquid with the sound of a miniature maelstrom. The best law-giyers on the subject demand that the spoon shall be swept through the soup away from the person, and the soup drank noise lessly from the side of the spoon, which should be slightly tipped, as if it were small cup or bowl. For thirty years, until brief time ago, fish had been ea- ten with fork and a bit of bread crust to poke the flakey bits upon the tines, and to this day 6ld-fashioned people fancy that that bread crust improved the flavor of their salmon or black bass. But one evening the youngest son of an Earl discarded this crust of bread and ate his fish with two silver forks. This notion found such favor that so- ciety dropped the humble crust and adopted the extra fork. After time it was found cumbersome and was super seded by dainty little silver fish knife and fork, which are in general use in houses where the latest adjuncts to con- venience and elegance are in order. If no fish knife be forthcoming, the diner out can fall back upon either his crust or his extra fork, and still be shining in good company. Very small helps of fish are always given. When game is eaten it is needlessxo say that the old license for holding the bone delicately between the finger and the thumb has long since expired. ''Set never on fish nor flesh, Aast nor fowl, truly more than two fingers and thumb. for that is courtesy" is the old measure for manners, now disbarred. The leg of 6 fowl or game bird is never given as a helping to a guest, unless at pinch, but the wing or breast cuts. From these he cuts off the meat which can be easily got at, and leaves all those nor sels about which there is the slightest difficulty. A good host looks with greater favor upon greediness than upon indecision. Always refuse or accept promptly, and know whether you pre- fer light or dark meat. One of the most objectionable diners out is the woma;l who really has no choicen in tk1sa matters. Vegetnbles are Gcnerally ea@ ten with fork. avitj, 15e or three ex- captions. as rs.ssiishcs. watek ereSs. and olives. asparagus is eaten by elderly | eeatlemea who adhere to the customs 6f t|ie!E youth by holding the stalks in their fingers. The younger generation cut off tue pods of the asparagus with a fork, and q knife if necessary, that is if l tough, and leave altogether the upper | parts of the stalks. Salads belong to the 1 joint, and are eaten off small salad ! plates placed at the left of the dinner plate. The usual mode of eating cheese is to cut it in small.squares and place ii with the knife on a morsel of bread, which is then conveyed to the mouth by the fingers. The English fashion oi serving celery with cheese is a growing one. It is cut into fair-sized mouthfuls and thus eaten instead of bites being ta. ken from the end of stick of. celery held between the fingers, schoolboy fashion. If wine is drank the glass should be taken by the stem and not bI the bowl. Sparkling wines, the lates dictum declares, should be drank a once and not slipped. In the matter O taking wine. one can decline altogether if one chooses. without any breach O good manners. Men turn down the glass, and some of them make consid. erablefnnecessary parade in SO doing A woman motions the waiter away witt her forefinger put on the edge of the glass. If q lady does not intend drink ing more wine than remains in hei glass, she should make little motion of dissent when the servant is about tC replenish it-otherwise a good glass O. wine is sent away untested until the art ful waiter consumes it himself behind the door of the buffers pantry. NJ condiments except salt are now put up on the table. Individual salts are pure ly American. In the best houses a pref erence is shown for ample silver sal ieres. The custom cherished by many people of putting little piles of salt or | tho tnl a1,,fh ,-n .o1. .r Al ]. est table etiquette, and though not ex actlY crime, is yeXatious to the host ess, and gives her faultless table shab by look during the removes. The sal should be deposited on the rim of tn, plate, on the left side, too, if vol have respect for the old time tradition that ''salt and pepper shoul, always be handed from left to right. It is no longer the custom, as it one was, to wait till every one is helped A little tact will decide that question i Q doubt arises. The hostess must pre- r tend 10 eat till her most lingering gues Is done to keep him company. It i niW1ys proper to ask for second cut o % declare a preference for rare or un derdone beef or the reverse at an in formal dinner, but one never asks twic for soup, fish, salad, and rarely for des sert. When dinner is served la Russ one asks for nothing except perhap time to see what is on his plate befor the waiter spirits it away. When tn finger bowl placed on napkin an, glass plate arrives in the progress o the dinner, the finger bowl should b removed with the right hand and set il front of the plate, and the little doil
 should then be placed at the left. leay ing the plate free for the fruit. It always proper to pare an apple, to GU a peach, or prepare an orange with tn knife and the fingers Some neonl