Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1901-07-18
CURIOUS TABLE MANNERS.
Behavior at Meals That Exeites Much
Comment I'm Hotels and Board
ing Houses.

am sure you make a mistake, nam
ma" confides Elizabeth in her much
taIked-about Visits" in what you
told me, that well-bred people behave
nicely at dinner and sit up, because
they don't a bit; lots of them put their
elbows on the table, and nearly all sal
anyhow IN their chairs. Only two be-
ha-ed Ike you, but, then, they were
quite old-over 40"
The astonishing fact that al we'll
bred people do not behave nicely at the
table is also borne in upon the casual
observer who goesto a hotel for a meal.
who watches the actions of his neigh.
bors, or upon one who boards or takes
many meals from under his own roof
tree. The writer would not be believed
If she told all that she knew on this
subject. for it has been her lot in life
to be thrown in contact with many
charming persons of undeniable ar1s-
t~ocratic birth whose table
Mary Anne, eating with the footman
in the kitchen, would have scorned to
emulate. says the Baltimore News.
She remembers one such individual,
the self-confessed descendant of .
hundred earls, who always took the
hot cakes at breakfast off the plate
hat was proffered her with herfngers,
%scorning the fork hat went along as
an implement of no use on this occa-
sion. Sometimes when the top cake did
not suit her she has set this aside and
taken the next me-, to the great dis
tress of mind Of the persons who come
next in line.
The same person,AtiH going on the
principle that fingers were made be-
fore forks, or ven spoons. has also
been known to take potatoes out of a
vegetable dish-not potatoes with
their jackets on, but other sorts-also
with her fingers, If the one that she
fancied proved elusive or ran around
the dish in q provoking
\ certain other great lady. the rela-
tive of a noted American-she isn't a
lineal descendant simply because he
had no lineal observation-disclosures upon
9 sugar spoon as a useless toy, and tri-
umphantly forks a piece of breadfrom
the other side of the table, w~heneverit
SUITS her TO do so.
Still another one drinks her tea from
her saucer, the old-fashioned wav. no
matter where she is. and does not
scorn TO eat peas with her knife when
the occasion, according to her ideas.
demands.
These are all. of course, extreme
cases of bad manners. The notable
thing about them is that in every case
the ladies are well born and would
Indignantly repel any insinuation that
they were not also well bred. Less
fragrant cases are noticed every day.
where ~grown-ups, as Elizabeth saws,
"sit anyway in their chairs and dc 9TH
er things that they would surely rep
rimand their children for initiating.
One man. for instance, carefully pol
ishes the silver at his plate on his nap
kin at Inner parties before using it.
much 10 his hostess distress, and still
he is accounted a very desirable &C
quaintance, and this the merest lido
syncrasy incidental to a great and alb
sorbed mind.
The business Of eating is apparently
n 10 be over as expeditiousIy as pos
sible in America, and anything that
T to hasten matters is adopted by
certain persons, just as sewing ma
chine stitching is tolerated for its eco |
nomic value.