The daily Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1878-1???, 1883-12-21
What You are Not to Do if you Wish
To be in Good Form,


eighty small pages telling what people
mainly men-shall not do in the par
lor nor at the table, Don't is the
title of the brochure and the first word
in every paragraph. 1t is somewhat
English in tone, and handbook English
at that and much of it childish. Thus;
Don't handle your knife or fork awk-
wardly Don't stab with the fork or
carry it as if it were dagger lin a
beltP] always carry food to the mouth
with an inward curve of the fork or
spoon" To tell man that he shall
not carry knife as dagger is all well
enough, but when it is prohibited from
carrying soup over the Decline, or
even on an outward curve, one is in
clined to look for the fundamental prin-
ciples that make up the science of eat
ing soup and also for the mental
diameter of the man who writes it up.
The discovery is easily made: Don't
bend over your plate or drop yolr head
to get each mouthful Keep an upri ght
attitude as near as you can without be-
ing stiff" This revelation simply
makes the eating of soup most seduc-
tive pasiime. Any kind of soup would
do as an experiment; the mind, being
charmed with the science of sitting up
right and curving the spoon inward,
will naturally be oblivious of seasoning
or flavor. If there are, say, dozen at
the table, the spectacle will be all the
more instructive. 1t can not be eX-
pected that all will be in training, so to
speak, and by casting the eye about
while the other eleven spoons are
going round the curve, considerable
useful information will be CLEANED. We
quite understand the injunction:
''Don't ask for second service of
soup" The natural inclination would
be to continue the operation indefinite
", and the whole party would 90 to
pieces on the first course.
Censor also knows something about
napkins. Don't tuck Your napkin
under your chin, nor spread it upon
your breast. Don't spread your rap.
kin over your lap; let it fall over the
knee" This one can see at glance
is very important. If spread over the
lap the napkin might get soiled, but by
allowing it to fall over the knee ii is
practically out of the line onward
curve" The most glittering generally
in the list of table rules is to "eat
gently and quietly and easily In
cutting meat keep your elbows close
to Your side" Don't mop your face
OF beard with your napkin" and
don't load up the fork with food with
your knife and then cart it. " 1t isn't
considered the thing TO spread slice of
bread and then bite it. The bread
should be broken and each piece but
tered, and, above all things. don't
crumb bread into your soup. A sem
sitive man could not survive the MORT.
iication by telling his host by this
action that, as he may not get enough
in the following courses, he proposes
to dine off soup and bread. 1t is quite
evident that the American boarding
house is responsible for the bread and
soup barbarity aimed at by Censor"
since man must have something to
sustain life, even when eating on a
French course schedule at an American
table.
Many Of the rules given by Censor"
as to the drawing-room and the public
street will be serviceable, as they are
simply formal statement of what is
commonly practiced, but such points
as the lifting of the hat when man
passes woman's fare to the horse-car
conductor, are overdrawn. The hat is
simply not lifted under such circum-
stances to any extent in any of our
great cities. The man who sits nearest
the box in New York omnibus, for
example, usually has the occasion to
pass a nickel score of times, and the
tipping of the hat is as ridiculous as it
is uncalled for. Moreover, every city
man is familiar with certains kinds OF
faces, and, while it is proper to pass
money for such individuals, it is not
proper to add the extra agony of o
salute. 1t is due to Censor to say
that he has tabulated very concisely,
and with fewer lapses of Judgment than
we have been taught by experience to
look for in writers on manners, many
of the more common points in gentle
| man demeanOr. The man who on all
occasions would use all these rules
would be an unmitigated bore, but
ignorance of the smaller customs, even
though one does not care to observe
them in every particular, is course Of
awkwardness and Embarrassment. -
Springfield (MaSs.) Republican,