East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1910-08-31
EATING, A FINE ART.

Gastronomic Grace. the Ethics of
Knife, Fork and Spoon, and Com
plete system of Practical Philosophy
for Polite Feeders. are the pleasant
promises of the latest educational in
stitution. Frau Hoiker. of Budapest,
has started it. Eating as Fine Art
is to be taught in all is branches. and
at the end of each ter mthe finished
diners will receive diplomas.
Obviously. this new academy tends
to fill an aching vacancy. These
graces of the table, taught to some
extent in kindergartens, preparatory
schools, boarding schools, etc, are
difficult of acquisition for adults who
have not attended such institutions
Even if grown folks could bring them
selves to what they sensitively feel
would be the almost foolish expedient
of joining kindergartens, there is a
feeling among kindergartners that the
kindergarten would be no place for
them. Preparatory and boarding
schools require other students which,
as all parents know, are beyond the
powers of adults; and none of these
institutions deal with the more ex-
tended and serious aspects of refined
eating They give no banquets-and
| it is fairly evident that one may be
able to eat bread and milk from a blue
bowl. or even devour a sandwich at a
picnic, with all the graceful compos-
ure of lifelong familiarity, and yet be
altogether in blushing confusion when
confronted with a dish of ice-cream
and a tool that looks like corpulent
! olive-fork that has been run over by a
road roller.
Even the Sunday newspaper is of lit
tie real value. 1t can name and il
lustrate the tools of a banquet; de-
scribe their purposes; and even warn
us, whenever we lay out this splendid
array of silver in our own dining
room, to be sure to have a clean table,
cloth. But custom forbids the reader
to clip these details from the news
paper and carry the clipping in his
pocket to consult on occasion. Such
a proceeding would interrupt CONVEX
sation and attract too much attention,
while if attempted stealthily under
the table there would be a decided
danger of upsetting the glassware.
AS Frau Hoiker justly observes, the
matter is serious. Especially serious
one might add, for parents whose
children have had the advantages OF
such instructions as is already OBJ
tainable. We can compel the obedi-
ence of our children, within certain
limits, but not their respect; and the
spectacle of strong man or stout
woman attacking roast beef with 6
salad fork is one to disturb that fun.
damental admiration quite apar
from love) in which we all natural!
, wish our children to hold us. Ye
this danger is inseparable from 4;
democracy. The spontaneous rise o
the parent, followed by the extrane
Gus cultivation of the child, was bounc
eventually to produce Frau Hoiker'
, emOllient academy in which tn
most thoroughly self-made man cal
somewhat improve himself.
: More than that, the institution of
} fers practical excuse for male Am
r Aricans in Europe to dodge pictur
galleries. Let the rest of the famil
do the galleries; Father will go t
: Budapest and devour breakfast, lun
cheons, picnic spreads, after-theatr
5 suppers, plain and ornamental din
, ners, and formal banquets, all unde
the watchful eye Of Frau Hoiker. TIL
beauty of the thing is that the studen
will learn by doing Mothers ad
aptability will enable her to take ful
advantage of the course, as reflecte
by Father, without neglecting her pic
torial culture; and the European pill
grimage will thus add a patriotic NIT
e to the sound foundations of American
= civilization-both in mind and man
>, ners.-Ralph Bergengren in Septem
Der Lppincott's