St. Landry democrat., 1890-11-01
Finpers and Forks.

Did you know that Queen Elizabeth ate
with her fingers? You may have known
that she loved show and style, that she
was SO fond of fine clothes that when she
died she left three thousand dresses ana
any quantity of jewels but did you ever
imagine that such great lady could be so
inelegant as to eat with her tingersf But
she did, and so did Shakespeare, ana
Chaucer. and William the Conqueror, ana
King Alfred, and everybody else VINO llVeu
hafore her time. These last were more
excusable than she-they had no forks;
Int even she was not without excuse, for
thonoh she had several, they had been
GIVEN to her as curiosites, which | sup
bose, nobody expected her to use: 1hers
was one of crystal garnished with goo
and sparks of garnet, another OF goiu
with two little rubies and two pendant
nearls. and still another of coral.
WHY didn't she use them? you ASK
Wall because she had never seen or
known anybody that had used one, and
thew were something new; and besides
there was prejudice against this invent
ion lust from Italy. But you must not
think because there were no forks, that
the old fashioned dinner made no pre-
tentions to elegance and refinement ,
The guests had knives and they hao
fingers. and with the two implements tn y
managed nicely. From their old books OF
etiquette we learn how they did it. In
the grst place. the fingers must be pup
licly washed before beginning the meal
even if this had Just been done privately,
it must be repeated at the table, that no
one might feel uneasy in eating after his
neighbors' fingers had been in the dlsh
To aid furthaf, the meat was prepared as
fsr as possible before it was brought TO
the table, If in stew as was usually the
case. it was in bits if roasted, it was Cut
| by carver, and passed in large plates with
knife.
AS to the way of helping himself, each
| guest must choose and keep particular
| part of the dish for his own. DE mus
| help himself daintily from this place
using only three irgers; afterwards, In
carving the food to the mouth, which Of
! course was done with the hand, these
same three fingers must be used, taxing
csre however not to touch the nose with
them. to do which was extremely lnele'
CANT, and showed lack of good breeding
OF course all this soiled the hands, ant
in refined households at various intervals
bowls of perfumed water and different nap
kins were passed, and no one must refus
to wash, This old fashion OF handing
round silver bowl or dish of rose waite
is still sometimes seen in Europe.
After awhile man found out that b
needed forks, or rather, woman did, for
was she who first used them. Great dame
kept them in their rooms to eat COMMIT
with and to toast bread and in course o
time, they brought them to the table:
As have said, there was preludlc
against them ; and the first few person
who were brave enough to use them wer
laughed at and called effenlnate;
preacher even went so far as to say thu
for any one to refuse to touch his mes
with his fingers was an insult to prov
dence.
Nevertheless they spread in Englan
slowly, even after Italy, the home OF the
birth. was full of them. Those who kne
their value, however, found them so cor
venient that up to $50 years ag"-s!n'
which time it hal been no longer nece
sa,y-gentlemen travelling from place
place, and knowing how poorly suppllle
were the inns, carried one with them In
case with knife. Since that TIN
the old two-pronged fork. or fouchet
Nlt,le pitchfork), as the French cal IT.
. and really they were only tiny pi'chforI
g has given way to the more convene
three and four prong.d forks in use In OF
own homes HGrper's Young Peopfe.