, 1884-05-25
AT II TABLE.
Hints for Artists of the Spoon,
Knife and Fork.
Rules Governing the Conduct OF Re-
fined Diners-Out--what and
How to Ent--vuIgari-
ties TO Avoid


The best thing about a plate of good soup
is to know how to drink it. As this first
course is only intended to prepare the
stomach for the dinner that is to follow, it il
never permissible to call for it a second
time, nor is it necessary to consume more
than a third of the amount served to you.
To break bread in your soup is an insult to
your hostess, who would have spared you
that trouble had she not preferred a thin
soup. No nation under the sun
uses oyster crackers in a soup but
Americans of the most shoddy class.
In taking the soup do not ill the spoon more
than half full, and dip up the liquid by pass
ing the spoon from you. The manner in
which the spoon shall reach the mouth is an
open question, ladies insisting that the proper
thinS is TO drink from the aside of the bowl,
while gentlemen maintain that the correct
way is from the tip of the spoon. This GER
tainly appears plausible TO many, who hold
that, II a blunt side was preferable, modern
spoons would not be made pointed. Every
mnn with a heavy mustache knows from ex-
perience that 1t is much easier and much
neater for him to take soup from tho end Of
the spoon than it is from the side.
In this course bread is served. Lay the
cut on the table at tho left of the plate and
break of small pieces. without lifting it from
the cloth, using the fingers OF the left hand.
Right here it might be pertinent to mention
that no bread of any description should be
eaten in any other fashion. Even hot
biscuits, mullins, buns, and rolls are to be
torn or broken of in small pieces, and but
tered just before being eaten. Fish SHOULD
be eaten with n silver knife and fork pro-
yided for that purpose. In managing the
fillets and roasts there is no regulation
further than to carry small pieces to your
mouth with your fork, using the inward
cflf.yp Of the utaOeiI i'm Hoi,,v On aud H.
all things avoid making a inuss.
Albeit Americans do not like it, it Is the
proper thing TO leave the celery for tho
crackers aud cheese. Break the celery in
small pieces and strip it before eating. In
eating cheese, small morsels of the dairy pro-
duct should be placed on small morsels of
cracker or bread and the two morsels car
red to the mouth with the thumb and fore
finger. The cheese should not DO permitted
to touch the finger; neither is 1t permissible
to eat the cheese from the point Of the knife.
All made dishes, such as quenelles, rissoles.
p%atties, etc, should he eaten with a fork
only, and, as a knife is unneces-
sary, it would be a yulgarism
to use one. With outlets, pane.
poultry, and sweetbreads fried, n knife is re-
quired. Cucumbers are eaten from the din
ner-plate, and not from the side-dishes.
which are fast disappearing from the fash
ionable table. When peas are served they
should be conveyed to the mouth on n fork
and not taken from n spoon. 1t is needless
to say that to put the knife into the mouth at
any time during the meal would be an un-
p~ardonable ofense against good breeding
and IA mark of vulgarity. In eating asparagus
n knife and fork should be used, as the proper
way is to cut of the points and eat them as
sea-knle, eggplant or any other vegetable.
II is a solecisin to take asparagus in the
fingers.
1t is also Indicative of the gormnnd to
overload the fork with a bit OF meat, some
vegetable, and n piece Of p%ickle-all of which
should be eaten separately and not arranged
beforehand in a compact form. Gentlemen
are sometimes guilty of this unpleasant man.
ner, but ladies are less rapacious. The hand
aud mouth should be in sympathy-that is to
say, the mouth should not be kept open in
expectation of the well-laden forks arrival.
Open the mouth to receive the food at the
moment It has reached the lips, and let the
morsels he small rather than large, in order
that conversation may not be ignored. To
place the fork directly opposite the mouth is
a most ungraceful way of eating; nor should
the wrist ever be bent or curved to accom-
plish this feat In eating from the wing or
leg of poultry cut the meat, but never touch
1t with the fingers, nor be guilty of the
extreme vulgarity of picking the bones.
Pastry is always eaten with a fork, but in
case of Il fruit tart or cream puff a dessert
spoon is used. small stones, such as are
found in cherry, plum, damson, or date pud-
ding should be received from the mouth on
the fork or spoon and placed on the plate and
not on the table-cloth: when the fruit stones
are large they should be separated from the
fruit with the fork and left on the plate.
Whenever it is possible to separate the stones
from the fruit it is best to do so. Jellles.
blanc manages, iced buildings, etc, are eaten
with a fork and not with a spoon, US are all
sweets sufficiently firm to admit of being
carried in what the Irishman calls the split
spoon.
The cloth is never removed for dessert, but
the table is cleared of all that appertains to
the dinner. A dessert plate is then placed be
fore each guest with or without an ice-plate
The ice-plnte would be placed on the dessert
plate, the fnger-bowl on the latter with a
d'oyley beneath. The nnger-bowl should
contain peppermint water, lemon being no
longer used in having the finger-tips. The
guest will place the finger-bowl on the left of
the plate, with the napkin under it, the des-
sert-plate remaining beneath the ~ice-plate
until the ice has been eaten, when the servant
will remove it. 1t is considered elegant to
eat the ices from the sides and not dig into
the slice or loaf.
When grapes are passed around use the
fruit scissors rather than break Off the
lunches. When eating that fruit the half
closed hand should be placed to the lips and
the stones and skin adroitly allowed to fall
into the fingers, and quickly placed on one
side of the dessertplate. Apples and pears
should be pared, cut in halves, quarters, and
eighths, with n fruit-knife. Oranges are to
be divided into thirty-seconds, when they can
be SO reduced. Use the fingers in this work
and tear the sections, always beginning at
the top. Melons are eaten with Il fork, unless
served with cream, when a spoon is used.
The guests should never help themselves to
the dessert on the table, as It is there for