HOW TO BEHAVE AT THE TABLE.
BY AUNT MARJORIE PRECEPT.
"I wish my mother would never have company. A fellow can't get enough to eat when people are staring at him."
As I was visiting Frank's mother at the time, I thought this remark was rather personal. I suppose I blushed. At any rate, Frank at once added,
"Now, Aunt Marjorie, I did not mean you when I said that; I meant strangers, like ministers, and gentlemen from out West, and young ladies."
"Oh," said I, "I am very glad to be an exception, and to be assured that I do not embarrass you. Really, Frank, it is an unfortunate thing to be so diffident that you can not take a meal in comfort when guests are at the table. I suppose you do not enjoy going out to dine yourself?"
"No," he said; "I just hate it."
Perhaps one reason why boys and girls do not feel so comfortable and so at ease as they might on special occasions at the table is because they do not take pains to be perfectly polite when there is no one present but the ordinary home folks. In the first place, we owe it to ourselves always to look very neat and nice at our own tables. Nobody should presume to sit down to a meal without making a proper toilet beforehand. Boys ought to be careful that their hair is brushed, their hands and faces clean, their nails free from stain and soil, and their collars and ties in order before they approach the table. A very few moments spent in this preparation will freshen them up, and give them the outward appearance of little gentlemen. I hope girls do not need to be cautioned thus.
Then there are some things which good manners render necessary, but about which every one is not informed. Of course you know that you are not to eat with your knife. Fifty years ago people frequently ate with their knives, and it is quite possible that now and then you may see some old-fashioned person doing so; but it is not customary now, nor is it safe or convenient. When you send your plate for a second helping, or when it is about to be removed, you should leave your knife and fork side by side upon it.
It is not polite to help yourself too generously to butter. Salt should be placed on the edge of the plate, never on the table-cloth. Do not drink with a spoon in the cup, and never drain the very last drop. Bread should be buttered on the plate; and cut a bit at a time, and eaten in that way. Eating should go on quietly, and not hastily. Nothing is worse than to make a noise with the mouth while eating, and to swallow food with noticeable gulps.