The Democrat. (Scotland Neck, Halifax Co., N.C.) 1884-1896, 1890-10-02
TABLE TALK.
ABOUT SOME THINGS
GENERALLY KNOWN
AS Spoons AMI
DIS HE'S.

reason that people never cease to
wonder how the world got along,
through by far the greater part OF its
history, without this simple and con
venlent implement. But the history
OF the spoon Is not so often related.
It really seems as if people who ate
at tables must have had spoons al
ways, bot this is by no means the
case.
The FIRST spoon was not q spoon at
all, but cup with q rather long
handle. 1t vas used for the purposes
Of a cup rather than for those Of
spoon and was often, as was the
case with cups, made Of metal.
Gradually the form changed and at
last spoon was developed from the
long-handled cup.
1t is an interesting fact that in
Anglo~Saxon the word spoon or
spon, as it is there spelled, means q
chip, thus suggesting that the fist
spoons used by the Anglo.Saxon
race were made Of humber materi~
al than either gold or silver.
The salt cellar had an even more
humble beginning, but reached, after
long course of development, a moe
magnificent state, probably, than
any spoon has yet attained. The
first salt cellars were merely pieces
Of bread, packed and followed out
by the hostess's thumbs and fingers
50 as to hold salt.
These simple contrlvances were
long found to be sufficient; but, to
save others t'ouble and bring items
selves money ingenious silversmths
presently began making sal>-1olders
of silver in imitation Of the form of
the dish of bread made by the house.
! wife's fingers,
From this beginh.ng they became
larger and more elaborate, until one
which was constructed by BenvcnutC
CeIlini IN the sixteenth century WIS
an architectural monument rather
than 8 salt-cellar, Happily there
was q reaction from this craze and
people have returned to the use O.
comparatively small and simple re"
cep taclcs, If the change had not
taken place, persons on opposite
sides of dinner-table would have
been by this time completely hidden
from one another by the salt-cellaT
The plate is probably by far tn,
oldest table implement. The &
clients, in very sncient times indeed
possessed plates, or pieces Of meta
hammered out fat. The VOID "platc'
is almost the me in the Greek anC
Latin languages as ia Eo9llsh.
Perhaps the most curious tbinc
, about the Introduction Of pOrCelal:
plates into use-a form which thest
dishes did not take until late perloC
was the belief which was iOn!
; entertained that porcelain had th'
property Of counteracting poisOns
A few centuries ago the unpleasant
habit Of mixing deadly olsors witt
other peoples eatahles was vastl,
more common than it is IN this age
: And its frequency led people tt
suspect poison in almost everything
When, therefore, it was reported
that q substance had been found, 0
. which dishes might be made, tina
r was an antidote to poisons placc,
a upon theD, great nun 5ers Of peopl
T FASTENED to provide themselves wit
plates of this material. THIS VS.
greatly to the profit Of the makers 0
: porcelain, who had probably adroitl,
e obtained the circulation OF the story
D Advertising seems to have bee
; almost as much an art in those day
as it is now.
Not only were plates made Of thi
material but immense tankards an