The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1884-01-03
What You are Not to Do if you Wish
To ha in Gnnd Form

/
A Censor" has written and published
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 band-boX 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" in
belt?] "Always carry food to the mouth
with an inward curve of the fork or
spoon" To tell a 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 your head
to get each mouthful. Keep an upright
attitude as near as you can without be-
ing stiff. " This revelation simply
makes the eating of soup most seduc-
tive pastime. Any kind of soup would
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, q dozen at
the table, the spectacle will be all the
more instructive. Ii 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 wilhbe CLEANED. We
quite understand the injunction:
''Don't ask for second service of
SOUP" The natural inclination would
be to continue the operation indefinite
ly, and the whole party would go 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 nap
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 it is
practically out OF the line onward
curve" The most glittering generally
in the list of table rules is to ''eat
LCHGly anu lulStly slIo Cs"Sli Ill
cutting meat ''keep your elbows close
or beard with your napkin" and
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"
| 4 A
sitive man could not survive the morti-
fication 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 81
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 seryiceable, 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 borse-car
conductor, dT6 ON6EtIdWH tic Hi 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 10
pass nickel score of times, and the
tipping of the hat is as ridiculous as il
is uncalled for. Moreover, every city
man is familiar. with ccrtains kinds OF
faces, and, while it is proper to pass
money for such individuals, it is not
proper 10 add the extra ag'n of a
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 &c
look for in writers on manners, many
of the more coiLmon points III gentle
mans 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 a course OF
awkwardness and embarrassment.-
Gp9Iagfe'd (MaSS. J Repubhcdn.