DOING THE RIGHT THING AT THE TABLE.

Lake County Press, Issue 2136, 20 September 1906, Page 2

DOING THE RIGHT THING AT THE TABLE.

Utile .Miss Society grows up nowadays with no awkward and embarrassing transition between childhood and womanhood, for while she is not robbed of the sacred right to the full term of babyhood she is guided into the right, way ol doing things from the first.

Thus it, often seems to outsiders, Society's pretty manners are instinctive rather than acquired—an entirely wrong idea. She is taught as children always have to be taught, but her training is by a new and fixed method.

For instance the old -adage. '•Children should be seen and not. heard " has been allowed to die out, and young folks arc encouraged to speak. and guided, not forced, to speak pro-

[pcrly. Therefore their ideas are developed and the powers of expression cultivated. This is the first great step in making her a responsive and responsible entity. Fndcr this regimen company maimers are unknown. From earliest babyhood children are taught to speak as nearly as possible correctly. Their table manners are watched closely, and everything that would make their elders criticized is carefully explained, and the right way held always before them.

First comes the question of eating soup; and these are the rides by which she is guided : The point of the spoon must not be put in mouth, the soup being taken silently from one side. If must be tasted very gingerly to see if it is hot, as it must never be returned to the plate after it is tasted ; nor is much "blowing-" permissible. Tt is better not to tip the plate at all, as it is like a suggestion that yon have not been favoured with enough. Jn the drinking of tea there is many a snare. It is easy to forget, to take the spoon from the cup, and one's fondness for sugar is apt to make one throw the head unpleasantly far back. One must, of course, never pour the tea spilled in the saucer back again into the cup.

There was never a child yet that was not tempted to lick the spoon. Hhy is it that last dregs taste so delicious when licked off the howl of the spoon ? Sometimes a piece of bread lodges between the teeth and becomes so painful that one is justified in breaking the otherwise inexorable rule, ‘Do not nso a toothpick at the table.' If such a calamity happens, or if a particle of food so distasteful that it is impossible to swallow lias to be removed, a serviette should bo raised in front of the month and the offending thing removed as quietly as possible. The carrying of the hands to the face is not, to he encouraged during mealtime. There is something always offensive about it. and if such an action becomes imperative, the serviette can usually ho made to compromise the difficultly. A clever little maiden was once the heroine of a youthful dinner party. She refused all things to drink in a manner that suggested there was a mystery. At last it was discovered that she had a wasp imprisoned under her tumbler. The explanation she gave was that it was not nice to have it crawling about the table, and she did not like to squash it. The inclination of most children would have been to cry out or set the glass down on the insect so as to squash it ; but this coolheaded individual displayed delie,ao of feeling which did her trainers Ihe utmost credit.

I'or oat mg- dessert a child makes a much hotter appearance if she uses both fork and spoon. The fork assists tlto placing of food on 1 iio spoon, and Dio fork should always ho used on the inside of fhe spoonthat, is to say, the spoon should ho between (he body and the fork. At the table, as at other places, it is considered rude to point. Sometimes the dillicnltios arc great in this direction, for she knows not the name of the, dish, and site can only exclaim “I want some of that." This is bad manners, and some other solution of the ditliculty must he found. And so the little lady, as well as the little gentleman is trained in the way she should act. until, when she enters the great world of fashion and social festivities, she is as much at home as when in the nursery.