Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1907-05-05
GOOD TABLE MANNERS
Art In Which the English Claim
to Be Supreme.
SHEER AT OTHER NATIONS.

VNHLn S5g ~ 3y5 ~ iltL.Il }tNAatOtaOs
Germany, France ard America, Say the
Britons, Cannot Compare With Them:
In Good Form at Meals se Of the
Knife, Fork, Spoon and Napkin.
Let 1t be admitted that our army Is
failure, has never won victory and
never will; admitted that our navy.
would have difficulty In sweeping six
combined great powers off the sea; adj
mitted that we cannot act up to the;
French standard or trade up to the.
German or hustle up to the American.
or cheat up to the Greek. But we cher
ish our little pride and prejudice. The
Englishman regards himself and is
generally regarded as the best dressed
man in the world. He also plumes5
himself on having the best table man
ners To the Frenchman may be con-
ceded the supremacy in the prepara-
tion Of food, while the production Of
1t owing to the decay of our agricul
ture may be left to such outlying
places as Siberia and Chicago.
But when it comes to the eating Of
food the Englishman asserts his suprem-
acy, for If the highest art be to con
ceal art the highest etiquette Of eating
should be the triumphant pretAnse that
one is not eating at all. And here the
Englishman wins. He can eat his
way through a seven course meal
quite unobtrusiyely. It was not al.
ways so. cs= ss3.
Lord Chesterfield, ash have been re-
minded by Mr.. Philip Wellby's edition
Of the Advice to His Son. sketches
the awkward man who t'holds his
knife, fork and spoon differently from
other people, eats with his knife to the
great danger Of his mouth, picks his
teeth with his fork and puts his spoon,
which has been in his throat twenty
times, into the dishes again. If he is to
carve, he never hits the Joint, but IN
his vain efforts to cut through the bone
scatters the sauce In every body's face.
He generally daubs himself with soup
and grease, though his napkin Is COM
monty stuck through buttonhole. z
That napkin Is test Of table man
ners, and the nice conduct Of the nap
kin caught the attention recently of the
German emperor, who saw one Of his
guests tucking the napkin under a
chin. 4'Do you want to be shaved 2"
was the imperial question England's
supremacy in the matter Of soup lies
in the spoon. sAn Englishman Is taught
to take soup from the side Of the spoon.
And he Is the only man ON earth who
emerges from soup with the white shirt
front Of a b'ameless dinner and with
out the aid Of q tucked napkin. He
lays the napkin across his knees and
uses it when necessary without Osten-'
tation. IL
That discreet conduct. 0f the knife is
the Englishman's pride and prejudice
at table. There is no nation, which I'm
It's upper middle classeD reaches the
English standard Of the nice conduct
OF the knife, though we are assured
that In the highest circles -among
ameers, shahs, sultans, dukes and mil
Honaires there is a beautiful uniform
fly of department. Our insulari instinct
is to make the knife as inconspicuouss
as possible, for there is some suggeg-
ton Of brutality In the slicing OF bits
Of corpses that are doomed to keepaouE
vile bodies alive.
No such feeling restraints the. Ger
man eater, and the French diner lis:
scarcely less sensitive. The German:
who feeds In the average restaurant
will shovel his food into his mouth.
with the blade Of his knife and when.
In difficulty will cram 1t down with!
the handle, nor has he the least scru.
pie about depositing the rejected resi-.
due upon the floor. Moreover, with,
the continental eater the knife enters,
into conversation. 1t Is retained Id the
gesticulating hand, It is raised implor:
fngfy to the ceiling, and heaven its
brought into strange circles of argus
ment. It Is used to point the concIn-
sion Mt the very breast Of the fellow
diner 81 s
When you see man waving, his
knife at table. you may be sure he Is
an alien. I'VE wear no swords here, .
as Sir Lucius O'Trigger says, nor DID
NE argue with knives at table.
The English knife, with all Its blood
thirsty suggestions, is reduced tor the
lowest and least obtrusiye Office. Tt ID
not even dug into the saltceilar; for
England has reached the deiicacy. OF
salt spoons, and only In Soho res
taurant will she give you the reaiisavoF
of the continent by providing, saitce4-
lars without spoons. You shove. your
knife into the salt and dream Of Paris,
Bohemia, the gypsy life In. which Ayon
dip your fingers In the pot. ~
England has suppressed the knife at
table. The Englishman does not use II
for argument or menace or persuasion
or even for the taking Of salt. His table
manners enJoin~ that the knife shall
never he raised The rrrt,Yperly cnn.