The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1882-08-31
Table Manners,

The modern way OF laying table
in which several sets of knives and forks
are laid at each plate is apt to embar-
rass neophyte, who does not know
which to take first, says Clara De We're,
in Cincinnati Gdzette. The smallest
fork is for the raw oysters, which gen
orally precede 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 the 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 Gus
tom to give but a very small helping of
soup-about half ladle full to each
person-it is eaten quicker, and, there
fore, hotter with a large spoon than
with small one. The way in which a
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 miniature
maelstrom. The best law-givers 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 a
small cup or bowl. For thirty years,
until brief time ago, fish had been ca
ten with fork and bit of bread crust
to poke the tiakey bits upon the tines,
and to this day old-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 4 time it
was found cumbersome and was super
seeded 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 needless to 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, beast nor fowl, truly more
than two fingers and thumb. for that
is courtesy" is the old measure for
manners, now disbarred. The leg of a
fowl or game bird is never given as q
helping to guest, unless at a pinch,
but the wing or breast cuts. From
these he cuts off the meat which can be
easily got at, and leaves ali those NOR
seis 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 woman
who really has no choice" in these
matters. Vegetables are generally ca
ten with fork, with two or three eX-
! ceptions, as radishes, water cress, and
olives. Asparagus is eaten by elderly
| gentlemen who adhere to the customs
of their youth by holding the stalks in
their fingers. The Younger generation
cut off the pods of the asparagus with a
| fork, and knife if necessary, that is if
| tough, and leave altogether the upper
parts of the stalks. Salads belong to the
| 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 it
with the knife on morsel of bread,
which is then conveyed to the mouth by
the fingers. The English fashion of
serving celery with cheese is Il growing
one 1t 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. Ii wine is drank the glass
should be taken by the stem and not by
the bowl. Sparkling wines, the latest
dictum declares, should be drank at
once and not slipped. In the matter of
taking wine. one can decline altogether,
if one chooses, without any breach of
good manners. Men turn down the
glass. and some of them make consid-
cradle unnecessary parade i'm so doing.
A woman motions the waiter away with
her foretinGer put on the edge of the
glass. If a lady does not intend drink
inc more wine than remains in her
glass, she should make little motion
of dissent when the servant is about to
replenish it-otherwise good glass of
wine is sent away untested until the art
ful waiter consumes it himself behind
the door of the butler's pantry. No
condiments except salt are now put up
on the table. Individual salts are pure
ly American. In the best houses pref
erence is shown for ample silver sal
ieres. The custom cherished by many
people of putting little piles of salt on
the tablecloth is a violation of the ME-
est table etiquette. and though not ex-
actly a crime, is veXatiOus to the host
ess, and gives her faultless table ashab-
by look during the removes. The salt
should be deposited On the rim of the
plate. on the left side, too, if you
have respect for the old time
tradition that ''salt and pepper should
always be handed from left to right. :"
1t is no longer the custom, as it once
was, to wait till every one is helped.
A little tact will decide that question if
doubt arises. The hostess must pre-
tend to eat till her most lingering guest
is done TO keep him company. 1t is
always proper to ask for second cut or
to declare preference for rare or un-
derdone beef or the reverse at al in
formal dinner, but one never asks twice
for soup, fish, salad, and rarely for des-
sert. When dinner is served Ia Russo
one asks for nothing except perhaps
time to see what is on his plate before
the waiter spirits it away. When the
finger bowl placed on q napkin and
glass plate arrives in the progress Of
the dinner. the finger bowl should be
removed with the right hand and set in
front of the plate, and the little dolly
should then be placed at the left. leay-
ing the plate free for the fruit. 1t is
always proper to pare an apple, to cut
peach, or prepare an orange with the
knife and the fingers. Some people
waste their energies by sticking these
fruits on fork and carving them with
out any touch of the fingers, but this is
unnecessary. Cake at dessert is broken
and eaten as bread would be. and not
cut into small squares with a knife.
After the fruit is eaten the fingers are
dipped into the finger bowl, and dried