The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-06-28
MEN, WOMEN
 AND THINGS

The way one eats! It's the real hall mark of good breeding.
 But this isn't. going to be an article on table etiquette.
 l had a friend, a philosopher, who used to amuse me during my student days in Paris by his quaint and startling ideas.
 One day as we were strol1ing along the banks of the Seine he stopped me and said: I'm going to write an article on the gross immortality underlying the improper use of the knife in conveying food to the mouth"
 Now, I think he was drawing it bit too fine, for while 1t is an offense against good taste, it surely Is not an infringe ment of any of the ten commandments.
 l confess I was startled when he told me that he was seriously thinking of writing a pamphlet to show the meta physics governing the use of the fork As metaphysics was always an unknown science to me, I never argued the ques- ton with him, but told him to go as far as he liked.
 The small boy who was reproved by his careful mother because he was en- deavoring to lower his mouth to the food instead of lifting the food to his mouth, has my sympathy, who, when told that was the way a pig did, said by way of deefnse: Well, then, my papa is pig. for that's the way he does"
 
 This little talk is not to try and teach men and women table manners or to try and instruct children in culinary etiquette, but to have a little heart talk with par ents to try and get them to encourage their little ones to eat what is put be- fore them and to discourage any signs of their dislikes for certain foods.
 have never been able to eat butter. Since I have been grown I've tried to overcome my aversion to it, but it Is ab- solutely distasteful, and the odor is off, fensive. I dare say some of you who read this have dislike for some article of food.
 Ii a boy pushes back his plate because he does not like fat meat it may be he is merely initiating the action of his father.
 Occasionally child is found to whom eggs are definitely poisonous. Some persons cannot eat strawberries. Cases are known in which milk itself is not tolerated, but these idiosyncrasies are unusual.
 A wel-to-do English family would as soon think of having groom and gar dener come to the table with them, as their own children. A proper English child eats in the nursery, and eats what is good for him. He is not permitted any compromise between what he ought to have and what he wants. The result is, naturally, the sturdiest set of young sters on earth.
 I'm glad I'm not a well-to-do English man. l want my boys at the table. like to see them eat It's joy to see how much they can get away with, even though the cost of living is going up Children are now being taught food val ues in the school, and they are learning to eat fat for fats sake sugar because it is concentrated food. meat because it is full of energy, coarse fruits and vege- tables to furnish bulk
 But grown-ups as well as little ones use what is generally known as '.the shotgun method. That Is to say, we have to. eat nearly every day enough fresh fruit or fresh vegetables enough butter or milk or cheese, enough meat or fish or eggs or beans, enough sugar and spice and all that's nice. to make sure that somehow or other we cover the other twentieth part of our food that does not get burned as sugar or fat, and that gives us enough satisfaction in the eating to persuade us to eat at all.
 *S<
 The food sharps here agree that appe- tite and judgment are really the best test. SO lOHS as we enjoy our food hold our weight, if we want to- and re- main in good health we can rest con- tent
 If we haven't hunger sause," which few who lead sedentary life ever have (the garden faddists claim it), we have to resort to innutritous appetizers such as spices, sauces, etc. Then there is the butter that helps along the bread, the cream for the cereal, the jelly or the whipped cream that makes palatable the one-egg cake, all sorts of frosting, fill- ings and the rest that more or less make festive and special the old staple nutriments.
 The Brewsters put in this class also the small quantity of meat or cheese used in sauces, sandwiches, canapes and the like; olive oil, nuts, bacon, the ex- pensive cheeses-one might go on at great length. These do add nutriment but their chief purpose is to flavor larger quantities of cheaper foods.
 1 <n<<S DH. 1 ~