In the talk on table etiquette, we have touched on many points, but not on certain things that seem too petty to be mentioned, as it is not supposed that persons of polite breeding need to be reminded of them. It is only when one looks in on the home-life of some so-called “nice” people that one feels that perhaps after all to call attention to these points would not be superfluous.
One of these is the use of the toothpick. To wield this in company is barbarous; to produce it at table is disgusting. The idea of having a glass full of toothpicks upon the family board is as disagreeably suggestive, and more disgusting, than would be the presence of a bowl of water, flanked on one side by a cake of soap, on the other by a wash-cloth. Cleansing of all parts of the body should take place in the privacy of one’s own apartment or in the bath-room.
Tipping back the chair at table or in company is bad form. One small child was broken of this habit when she lost her balance while swaying backward from the table on the two hind-legs of her chair, and gave her head a furious bump on the floor. Sobbing, she was lifted to her feet, and met the stern gaze of her father.
“I am very glad,” he said, “to see that you are badly enough hurt to be reminded never to tip your chair again. It is rude! If some grown persons I know had received a similar lesson in childhood, they might not offend the taste of others as they now do.”
TAKING SALT AND BUTTER
Taking butter from one’s butter-plate with the tip of a fork that has been already in one’s mouth is another disagreeable trick. The like may be said of the same way of helping one’s self to salt. If a small butter-knife and salt-spoon are not provided, the tip of the knife may be used in their stead.
Bolting food and pushing back one’s chair without the preliminary and apologetic “Excuse me!” is the custom of some otherwise estimable householders. It would be better to eat less, if one’s time be limited, and eat slowly, as food thus taken in a rush is of small use in the internal economy. A few mouthfuls, well masticated, will possibly do more good, and certainly produce less discomfort, than three times as much swallowed in indigestible chunks. And after the short repast has been partaken of, let the master of the house set the example of common decency by uttering the conventional “Excuse me!”