The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1897-01-23
Table Knives.

4Brutes feed barbarians eat; men dine."-old Say
ing.
In the familiar phraseology of the table,
we speak of ''knives, forks and spoons,
KNIVES and forks or forks and knives, =
but never knives, spoons and forks.
Thus we ever relegate the spoon to the odd
or third place as not being in such close
accord with the other the implements Of
eating. Yet there is neither right nor
reason in our so doing; the knife and
spoon have descended together from print
tive times, and compared with either the
fork is mere tyro, an interloper, com
paratiye infant in years, not yet two cen
turtles old in popular esteem.
KNIVES ANCIENT AND MEDIEVAL.
1t would be mere waste of time and
space to enter in detail into the history
and antiquity of the knife-a necessity of
life to primitive man, whose very existence
depended upon it as weapon of offence
and defence OF more possible interest to
us may be the story of the evolution Of
the table knife as useful article of do
mestic economics, and the literary illusions
to the same during the intervening cen
turtles of descent.
We know that Egyptian knives Of sabre
form, with straight copper blades, have
been found in the catacombs of Saecarah.
Homer alludes to the knife of his hero
AgamemnOn, as well as to razors of brass.
The Romans had knives for pruning and
hunting, and wooden ones for the practice
of carving, and the mincing knife Of the
Roman cook was the most treasured imple-
ment of his skill.
But our own Anglo-Saxon forefathers
had the met-saex, or eating knife, and the
negel-sex for cutting nails, the ancestor Of
our pocket knife. Later still in Saxon
annals we meet with the emf, bearing the
Danish origin of its new name on its face.
BECKET's KNIFE.
The knife, with its box wood handle
used by Thomas Beckett in cutting the
eulogie, or holy bread. may still be seen
at st. Andrews, Vercelli
THE wHITTLE.
Sheffield cutlery has become world
wide phrase, and deservedly SO, for it is no
mere modern one In the "Reeve $
Tale Chaucer tells of the miller,
"a Soheffeld thwitel bar be in his
hose, and the thwitel of five centuries
ago still has its descendants in use amongst
peasantry, who say, "Lend me your whit
tie, whilst the whiting of stick is per-
fectly familiar to ALL
LADIES KNIVES.
But the carrying of knives was by no
means confined to men. In SHAKESPEARE 8
quarto of 1897 Juliet wears knife in the
friar' cell and when she is about to take
the potion. In Ross Church, in Here
fordshire, is a monument of lady wear
ing purse and knife at her girdle.
In the reign of james [ of England a
lottery was held at the Lord Chief JUS
tees house and there a Mrs. Hide won
IA paire of knives, on which were en-
graved these lines:
''Fortune doth give these pair of knives to
you,
To cut the the thread of love if t be not
true.
Nowadays We never associate knives as
one of the necessities of brides trous-
seaus but rather regard them as an un-
lucky gift. Yet in 1868 in play, the
Witch of Edmonton, we read: But
see, the bridegroom and the bride come;
the new pair of Sheffield knives fitted both
to one sheath. " Again in Decker 5
Match Me in London, published in
1851, the bride says to her jealous hus-
band
''See at my girdle hang my wedding knives!
With those despatch me. -
AN UNLUCKY GIFT.
How strange and seemingly cratic are
many of our superstitions. To give a