should be marked by the most kindly interchange of thought and feeling. The minor etiquette of the table must always be remembered and observed. Overhaste in eating is as rude and vulgar as it is unhealthful. 2. No family is too poor to have the table covered with a clean white cloth, ornamented with flowers in their season, and made inviting with refined manners and cheerful intercourse. 3. As soon as you are seated, place your table napkin across your knees and put your roll or bread on the left side of your plate. As soon as you are helped, begin to eat; or, if the viands are too hot, take up your knife and fork and prepare to begin. Never wait for others, and never offer to pass on the plate to which you have been helped—at least, unless there should be no servant in attendance. The lady of the house who sends your plate to you is the best judge of precedence at her own table. Soup and fish should never be partaken of a second time. Whenever there is a servant to help you, never help yourself or others, unless requested to do so; when the servant is near, catch his eye and ask for what you want. 4. To make a noise with the mouth or lips while eating or drinking, to breathe hard, to cough or sneeze without covering the face with the napkin, to drink a whole glassful at once, or to drain a glass to the last drop, is inexpressibly vulgar. The knife must never be carried to the mouth; nor should the spoon be, unless the nature of the food absolutely requires it. 5. The bread by your plate is to be broken, never cut. Mustard, salt, etc., are put at the side of the plate, and one vegetable should never be heaped on the top of the other. The wineglass, if used, is held by the stem, and never by the bowl; and the plate must never be tilted on any occasion. In eating, one must not bend the head voraciously over the plate, extend the elbows, rattle the knife and fork, or soil the tablecloth; but he must be quiet and gentle in all his movements. 6. Anything like greediness, haste, or indecision is ill-bred. Never take the choicest piece, nor take up one piece and lay it down in favor of another, nor hesitate as to which piece you will take, or whether you will take one at all. To be particular about such trifles shows a degree of selfishness which is inconsistent with good manners. 7. There are different ways of disposing of the stones and seeds of fruit, such as cherries, plums, raisins, etc. They should be conveyed from the mouth and deposited upon the side of the plate in the least offensive manner. Very dainty feeders press out the stones with the fork in the first instance, and thus get rid of the difficulty. This is the safest way for ladies. 8. In the best regulated households meals will be served at regular hours, and every member of the family should be prompt in attendance, remaining in his seat, if possible, until the repast is finished. It is considered a mark of grossness to discuss the quality of the food upon the table, whether good or bad, or to handle or touch with the fingers the food that others are to eat. 9. To remain long in the dining room after the ladies have left is a poor compliment to both the hostess and her fair visitors. Still worse is it to rejoin them with a flushed face and impaired powers of thought. A refinedgentleman is always temperate. 10. If you should unfortunately be so awkward as to overturn or break anything, never apologize for it; for there is simply no possible excuse for such a blunder. 11. If you send your plate to be helped a second time, it is well to hold your knife and fork in the left hand. 12. The lady of the house should never send away her plate, nor appear to have done eating, till all her guests have finished. Nor should she reprove her servants before guests, nor make excuses for anything that may go wrong. 13. All well-ordered dinners begin with soup, whether in summer or winter. The lady of the house should help to it, and send it round without asking each individual in turn. It is as much an understood thing as the bread beside each plate; and those who do not choose it are always at liberty to leave it untasted. 14. A finger glass containing water slightly warmed and perfumed is placed before each person at dessert. In this you dip your fingers, wiping them afterward on your table napkin. If the finger glass and doily are placed on your dessert plate, you should immediately remove the doily to the left hand, and place the finger glass upon it. 15. It need hardly be said that the proper place for eating is at the table, and that fruit or other food should not be eaten in the streets, or at public assemblies where it is not provided for all. Well-bred persons will always observe the proprieties of time and place. 16. Never play with any of the things upon the table, .or handle them idly; nor make a grating noise with your chair on taking or leaving your place. 17. Avoid hasty movements, and be sure that the food never falls from your plate upon the tablecloth. 18. However poor or scanty the fare, let it be partaken of with a cheerful disposition and a proper observance of forms. FOR PREPARATION.-I. General John W. Phelps, feeling the importance of teaching the general precepts of good behavior in our schools, published a small manual (Cheney & Clapp, Brattleboro', Vt.), from which the above chapter is taken by permission. In America, wealth, rank, and condition in life depend so much on the talent and energy of the individual, that any child of good ability and industry, who starts from the humblest position in life, may one day rise to stations of influence, or at least come into contact with what is called "polite society." He will sometimes find himself in circumstances where it will be a matter of extreme mortification to himself or to his friends if he exhibits ignorance of the usual customs. This may happen on a visit to his relatives in the city, or at a hotel, or at a private or public dinner party, or at his own home when receiving a visit of friendship or business, etc. If one rises to official rank from a low station in life, he will be subject to this embarrassment constantly until he has learned the proprieties by bitter experience. In the foregoing article, of course, not all of the habits and customs of refined society are mentioned, nor is it true that all that is there prescribed is always followed in polite circles of this country or of Europe. Enough is given to make the boy or girl who studies it thoughtful and observant of the manners of the company in which he happens to be. Good breeding requires that we conform to the habits-if not immoral-of those with whom we are placed. It is mentioned of an English countess, as an exquisite act of courtesy, that on seeing a young, inexperienced girl, whom she had invited to dine with her, drink from the finger bowl placed at the side of her plate, she, the countess, at once did the same, to save the poor girl from embarrassment. II. Pleas'-ant, pre-çêd'-ençe, în-de-ci'-sion (-sizh'un), doi'-ly (from D'Oyley, its first maker), Chris'-ten-dòm (kris'n-dum), săe'-ra-ment. III. Explain re in reunions;-est in choicest;—in in inexpressibly;—en in eaten. Correct "should not be ate." IV. Define rendered, occasion, amenities, etiquette, vulgar, refined, voraciously, inconsistent, compliment, apologize, sacrament, viands. V. Classify the maxims above given under a few heads, as, for example, (a) the position while eating; (b) care of finger glasses and napkins; (c) disposition of parts that can not be eaten; (d) soup and fish; (e) hasty movements, etc. Make from the above a list of ten maxims which you consider specially of importance. Compare these maxime with those collected by Washington (VIII.). CXXVIII.-NEW YEAR'S EVE. 1. Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky, 2. Ring out the old, ring in the new; 4. Ring out a slowly dying cause, And ancient forms of party strife; 5. Ring out false pride in place and blood, Ring in the love of truth and right; 6. Ring out old shapes of foul disease; Ring out the narrowing lust of gold; The larger heart, the kindlier hand; Alfred Tennyson. |