The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1900-05-23
NURSERY COOKERY,
THE HALF-GROWN CHILD AT
-ABLD-HIS MANNERS.
By Christine Terhune Herrick.
CONTINUED from last week.)


haps. Yet who can mentally run over
the HIST of the small children she knows
and single out from among them even
half dozen whose table manners do
not leave much to be desired? This Is a
serious matter and we'll worth consid-
GRAFTON when one Is treating Of the half
grown child at table. While he was but
a baby, and even In the days Of his kits
and first trousers, people were willing
to make allowances for him. When he
had unpleasant tricks of eating and
drinking they assured themselves and
each other that he would soon outgrow
| them. IAN children are naturally little
pigs" they said.
Unfortunately, the unframed trend Of
animal nature is not towards perfection.
The small child who Is allowed. I'M
checked. to follow the manners-or the
lack of manners-of the sty, does not,
as rule, improve of his own motion.
When he is grown, he may, perhaps, be
slammed into reform, by contrasting his
own conduct with that of others, al
though the chances are that by this time
he will be so confirmed In his habits that
he will take them as matter of course,
and not notice that they differ from
those Of others. This lack of perception
Is more likely to be found with boys than
with girls. The latter are more prompt
to mark novelties, whether in iress or
in bearing, and possess a sensltiveness
that leads them to adapt themselves to
| their surroundings. A woman rarely
needs to have fault of behavior point
| ed out to her a second time, while man,
under ordinary circumstances, can have
| this or that carlesSness OF manner In"
| dicated a score of times and yet fail to
recognize It when he repeats 1t.
The time for training in table manners
should as surely be done In the first Il
years of child's life as his instruction
in morals. In religion or in any branch
| OF decency. II he does not learn these
then It Is unlikely that they will ever
become second nature to him.
The most perfect gentleman ever had
the honol of knowing lost his mother
when be was but Ii years of age, and
from that time on. for II years, never
knew what 1t was to have home. Dur
ing that period he was first lad on a
farm, then a student at a preparatory
school, then in college boarding house;
after that he lived in restaurants and
hotels. Not until he married did he, ex-
cept as an occasional guest. know what
| It was to be a member of q family, or to
| take his meals at a home table
But his mother had trained him well.
| During those first years he had been
| drilled In manners. checked in careless
less, encouraged in courtesy, taught to
| observe the small conventlonalitles of
we'll bred people. The effect Of the
|
table Manners after his long course of
| association with the eaters at college
restaurants and boarding house tables,
We're those of man who had never been
out of the current Of social amenities.
He was eminently good form" And all
| Of 1t he laid to the account of the mother
who had instructed him in the principles
| of good breeding.
AS a matter of course. there are few
| families In which certain measure Of
| correct behavior is not practLsed. The
child Is no more allowed to eat with his
knife than he would be permitted to pick
his teeth In public after the NEAL
| though have known many homes in
| which 1t was taken for granted that
either Of these, or the use by the small
| child Of his fingers as substitutes for a
| fork or spoon was quite permissible.
Noisy eating is sometimes checked. but
infrequently. Rapid and greedy feed
ing Is overlooked. The proper fashion
of holding the fork, knife or spoon, Is
rarely insisted upon and the child Is al
lowed to gnaw from a large slice OF
bread and butter instead of breaking 1t
In pieces of correct size. Hot biscuit and
mullins are devoured In the same man
ner and bones are picked with an aban-
| don that Is almost overwhelming to the
adult guest.
Something has already been said In
; these chapters about the inadvisability
of giving children hot bread, but II may
| not be amiss to speak another word or
two concerning 1t. The caution applies
| especially to yeast raised breads of va
! rious sorts. Mullins of cornmeal, hom-
my of rice are less harmful than the
| breads raised with yeasts. and whole
wheat biscuit and mullins may be eaten
J freely, If thoroughly cooked and well
| masticated. Unless the salivary dia-
| stase IL given chance to do it's share In
| digesting the starch on its way through
the mouth. an undue proportion of work
is imposed upon the intestines-
RICE MUFFINS.
Work a tablespoonful of butter and
two tablespoonfuls of white sugar into
one cupful of cold boiled rice. To this
add one cupful of milk, two cupfuls of
flour, sifted, two EGGS the whites and
yolks beaten separate and very light,
and, last of all, two teaspoonfuls of
baking powder. Beat hard for a mo-
| ment before turning into well creased
muffin tins. Bake In rather quick
| oven.
HOMINY GEMS.
Into cupful of cold boiled hominy
work a tablespoonful of melted butter.
Stir in u teaspoonful of salt and beat
in hard two we'll whipped eggs and a
cupful of milk that has been slightly
warmed. To this add a rounded cupful
Of -four and two teaspoonfuls Of baking
powder, and after a vigorous stirring
pour into gem pans that have been heat
ed and creased. Bake In hot oven and