(Blackboard.)
Use Pocket-handkerchief Without Being Told,
Making as Little Noise as Possible.
LXXII. HOW TO BEHAVE AT TABLE.
(On Sitting Still at Table.)
124. Phil's Disaster.
Phil was a little boy, and sat on a high chair at the table. He was very fond of tilting his chair backwards and forwards, which was not well-mannered, you will say. One dinner time, just as all the dishes had been placed on the table, and Phil was tilting back as far as ever he could, it happened that the chair lost its balance, and fell over backwards, taking Phil with it; and as he grasped the tablecloth in falling, he drew it with all the dishes on the top of him. Many of the dishes were broken, and the dinner was all scattered and spoilt. Surely Phil would never tilt his chair again.
Have you ever sat at table with a child who was never still? Such a child was Katie! Instead of waiting quietly until every one was served, she would fidget about on her chair, put her little fat arms on the table (which you know is a very rude thing to do), and move from side to side all the time. When at last she was served, her dinner would be quickly eaten, and then she was impatient to be gone, and kept asking mother if she might not leave the table, and go to her book or her play.
Now if Katie had thought a little of others, she would not have made everybody uncomfortable by being so restless. When she was waiting to be served, and when she had finished, she should have sat quietly with her hands in her lap. These two stories teach us that
(Blackboard)
We must Sit Still at Table.