Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1905-03-30
The Observer.

Dean Freemantle in his book,
''Christian Ordinance and Social Pro
gress," quotes Charles Dickens as say.
ing that our meals should be social
sacraments 1t seems to be certain
that the ancients attached a higher
sacredness to the ordinary meal than
do modern people. Few persons see
anything sacred or sacramental in it..
The prevalent assumption seems to be
that food is placed upon the table for
the sole purpose of supplying the phys
ical man with nourishment. AS a
matter of fact the ordinary meal is
something more than this, and it may
help us to realize it's possibilities if we
shall understand better what are some
of its higher aspects.
The meal is the highest and most
intimate form in which social inter-
course finds expression. 1t is the
strongest bond and symbol of family
fellowship. At meal time the mem
bers of the family are all assembled
about the board, realizing the idea of a
family circle. The father and mother
at their respective ends of the table
symbolic the principle of headship
and authority. The queen of the
home is the mother, and it is when she
presides at the family board that her
queenly quality and position are most
Enthusiastically manifest. The Oh.
server is of the opinion that if more
women realized what a high and inn
portant place the meal should hold in
the family life. and how absolutely the
making or the unmalling Of a happy
gathering about the family boards de
pcnds upon the wife and mother; and
~ 10
would set herself intclligeutiy and en-
Enthusiastically to bring out Of the meal
time gathering all its latent DossiIiIi
ties Of family of social life, there would
be fewer cases before the divorce
courts, and fewer men driven to drink
Like all sovereigna, the first duty of
the queen of the fami Y board is to re-
pect her realms and her own position
and authority, and her second duty is to
enforce respect for these from her sub
jects. If she fails to take her position
and responsibility seriously, if she be.
! trays want of respect for the table
whose particular guardian she should
be, if she is always herself the last
/ lOiterer to come to her place when the
meal is served, ifshe is ready to absent
| herself from the table for trifing
causes, or if she sits in her place read
ing the fashion journals when she
ought to be pouring tea or helping the
dessert well, she is warning example
of all that the sovereign of the dining
room should not be. Let it be repeat
ed that if every wife and mother would
but set herself enthusiastically and self
givingly and intelligently to bring
out of the family meal-time gathering
all latent possibilities of good, the
problem of domestic harmony and
happiness would be solved.
The meal is the greatest institute in
the world for the cultivation of grace
and refinement. If the only function
of the meal were to satisfy physical
hunger this end might very well be
served by giving each member of the
household key to the larder and let
ing him go thither for ''snack" when
ever hungry. Some family boards are
little better than a disorderly buffet
where each one comes and helps him
self In many other households the
only reason why this condition does
not prevail is that the housekeeper is
unwilling to have meals ready at all
hours. Why should we not all recog-
nize frankly and fully that the meal
stands for something more and higher
than thc mere satisfaction of physical
hunger that it is the highest symbol
and realization of family social life and
the great institute of social grace and
refinement? If we recognize these as
poets of the meal, let us also strive to
realize our heightened ideal. Our
limitations of means and other things
may keep us far from the goal of ideal
perfection; but, after all, the value of
an ideal is not in that it makes ua per-
feet, but in thai it lifts US higher than
we were before.
An Offer to the School Children.
On Saturdays | will make to the
school children one dozen of my $500
Aphotonrorbs for 60 M nor dpzan / onlv