The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1903-07-23
CHARACTER EATING.
Woman's Nature Comes Out
Meals.

Meals
The subject of eating has so enlisted
+ a German scientists interest that he
/ has made fluctuations as to the actual
1 process. The size of the ordinary bite
or mouthful for the average person ne
/ finds is three-tenths of a cubic inch.
And it takes thirty seconds completely
/ to masuc3te a mouthful of solid food
! like beetsteak or cheese The size of the
/ largest bite recorded is half an inch in
diameter. The tongue guides to the
size of mouthfuls to be swallowed, the
tongues Judgment being helped by SEN
sations through the teeth and gums.
There is no knowing whether the pro-
/ fessor made his observations around a
camp fire when the eaters We're off
guard and etiquette in allegiance, or in
formal dining room circles. But it is
certain that into eating there goes con-
siderable individual expression, and the
deme3nOr and practice at meal time
/ become significant of the persons gen.
eral temper and qualifications. Here
are some that a woman has interpreted:
The woman who as she eats f1ushes
noticeably, swallows her food rapidly,
almost in Jerks, and keeps continually
/ turning over the morsels on her plate,
| is she to whom material things mean a
good deal She is selfish and capable
of being spiteful. However, fair and
1 shapely in youth she will be stout at 20.
The girl who looks pretty when she
eats is the Vivacious. dimpling sort of
girl who makes into new life when she
sings or talks or laughs She puts small,
nicely proportional mouthfuls between
her pretty red lips with a dainty pre-
cision that makes it seem a nice atten-
/ ton on her part really to eat the food
And she manages her knife and fork as
though she made pleasure of it, i'm
parting a certain grace and facility to
the operation. Her eating manner be-
tokens a sunny temper and a disposition
to make the best of things
The nervous girl can be told by the
manner in which she breaks her bread
and sips her soup. She eats in quick
vor3cious manner, even though eating
little, and with evidently very limited
! interest in the food for its own sake
Such a girl will never have the force
or courage to pursue her ambitions.
! She would be crushed by adversely
rather than rebound from it And
friend to confide in and rely on is
necessity to her.
The girl who eats steadily as though
it were a business to be got through.
not sparing much interest to the talk
going on around or to the relishable
qualities of the viands, is the systemat-
ic. practical girl who will make a good
wife and orderly housekeeper. She
would look naturally to the main
chance in household or business in
vestment, be thrifty and economical.
and not be apt to bother her husband
or friends with Eighty. erratic tenden-
c:es-
The girl of needless view is told b,
the spoon, left upright in the half
drained cup. the knife and fork left at
cross angles or balanced ticklishly on
the plate, and the chair pushed back
| just as she arose from it. She is of in
sensible. discriminating nature, with
little chance to develop an interest in
the finer things of life. When she be-
comes a housekeeper her servants with
be slatternly and the nicer points of
convenience and household comfort will
be missing
The girl who eats onion in every form.
not so much because she likes them as
because she believes them to be whole
| some; who eats cereals on principle and
abstains religiously from desserts and
Sugary CONNECTIONS that she deems per-
nicious, is the sort to develop strong
| mindednesS and independent proclivities
before she is out of the twenties. She
will make a good wife. but not COM
Portable one. She is the sort of woman
to get for herself a hobby and never
quit riding it.
The girl who eats very slowly, even
while not consuming much, munching
her mouthfuls deliberately and surely, is
of impractical turn, given to undervalu-
ing things that the majority of people
count as of most consequence She is
fastidious and aesthetic, destined never
to make much show in the world, and
to care little for that fact long as
she has leisure and a well ordered ex-
istence.
The sort of girl to make a good help
meet for a man is she whose organ of
taste is as alert as her other faculties
who eats in noticing, discriminating
way that implies her recognition of the
Importance of matters usually consider
ed humdrum. She does not hesitate to
interrupt the most interesting talk by
asking for another helping or for some
condiment she lacks. and shows plainly
her belief that the embroidery of life
should be subordinate to the main ma
terial.
The girl on the other hand. who is so
taken up with the topics under discus
sion that she forgets to eat and has her
plates in the various courses borne
away before she has more than tasted
them, is ill-fitted for the sterner duties
of life She will always be entertain
ing herself with whims and illusions
while real opportunities slide by She
will lack judgment and make mistakes,
but will be a warm-hearted, depend
able mate to the husband whose nature
is strong enough to guide her
The girl who. in the ordinary routine
Of boarding house or hotel life, hurries
through her meal, even though she has
leisure in plenty. and never falls to
gather her plates and dishes and pile
them for the walters benefit is one to
whom dispatch and system are Unborn,
and the subtler things of life meaning
less. She comes from a stock of stea dy
going housewives so engrossed with the
homely round of existence that they had
no time to cultivate the graces. If such
woman had millions and untold lux
ury within her grasp she could not rid
herself of these slaviSh housewifely pro-
pensities