270 THE HOME, FARM AND BUSINESS CYCLOPEDIA. 



" Shall I send you some mutton ? " or " may I help you to canvas-back ? " 

 is better chosen and better bred. 



If you are asked to take wine, it is polite to select the same as that 

 -which your interlocutor is drinking. If you invite a lady to take wine, 

 you should ask her which she will prefer, and then take the same your- 

 self. Should you, however, for any reason prefer some other vintage, you 

 can take it by courteously requesting her permission. 



As soon as you are helped, begin to eat ; or, if the viands are too hot 

 for your palate, take up your knife and fork and appear to begin. To 

 wait for others is now not only old-fashioned, but ill-bred. 



Never offer to pass on the plate to which you have been helped. 



In helping soup, fish, or any other dish, remember that to overfill a 

 plate is as bad as to supply it too scantily. 



Silver fish-knives will now always be met with at the best tables ; but 

 where there are none, a piece of crust should be taken in the left hand, 

 and the fork in the right. There is no exception to this rule in eating 

 fish. 



We presume it is scarcely necessary to remind the reader that he is 

 never, under any circumstances, to convey his knife to his mouth. Peas 

 are eaten with the fork ; tarts, cutry, and puddings of all kinds with the 

 spoon. 



Always help fish with a fish-slice, and tart and puddings with a spoon, 

 or, if necessary, a spoon and fork. 



Asparagus must be helped with the asparagus- tongs. 



In eating asparagus, it is well to observe what others do, and act accord- 

 ingly. Some very well-bred people eat it with the fingers ; others cut off 

 the heads, and convey them to the mouth upon the fork. It would be 

 difficult to say which is the more correct. 



In eating stone fruit, such as cherries, damsons, etc., the same rule had 

 better be observed. Some put the stones out from the mouth into a spoon, 

 and so convey them to the plate. Others cover the lips with the hand, 

 drop them unseen into the palm, and so deposit them on the side of the 

 plate. In our own opinion, the latter is the better way, as it effectually 

 conceals the return of the stones, which is certainly the point of highest 

 importance. Of one thing we may be sure, and that is, that they must 

 never be dropped from the mouth to the plate. 



In helping sauce, always pour it on the side of the plate. 



IE the servants do not go round with the wine (which is by far the best 

 custom), the gentlemen at a dinner table should take upon themselves the 

 office of helping those ladies who sit near them. Ladies take more wine 



