is cut as required; it is
never buried in potato or any vegetable and then conveyed to the mouth.
Vegetables are no longer served in "birds' bath-tubs," as some wit once
called the individual vegetable dishes, but are cooked sufficiently dry to
be served on the plate with the meat. All vegetables are eaten with the
fork, so also jellies, chutney, etc., served with the meat course.

Using the Fork.--The fork laid farthest from the plate is to be used for
the first course requiring such a utensil; the others are used in their
order. The knife is held in the right hand; by the handle, not the blade.
The fork should not be held like a spoon, or a shovel, but more as one
would hold a pencil or pen; it is raised laterally to the mouth. The elbow
is not to be projected, or crooked outward, in using either knife or fork;
that is a very awkward performance. The fork should never be
over-burdened. The knife is never lifted to the mouth; it is said that
"only members of the legislature eat pie with a knife nowadays." The
handle of neither knife or fork may rest on the table nor the former be
laid across the edge of the plate.

Tender meat, like the breast of chickens, may be cut with the fork. A bone
is never taken in the fingers, the historic anecdote about Queen Victoria
to the contrary notwithstanding. The table manners of the twentieth
century are not Early Victorian. Olives and celery are correctly laid on
the bread-and-butter plate. The former is never dipped in one's salt
cellar; a small portion of salt is put on the edge of the plate; both are
eaten from the fingers.

[706 MOTHERS' REMEDIES]

Vegetables, Fruits, etc.--Green corn is seldom served on the cob at
ceremonious dinners. If it is served, it is to be broken in medium-sized
pieces and eaten from the cob, a rather messy process, and one not pretty
to observe. The fastidious avoid it. If eaten, the piece is held between
the fingers of one hand. To take an unbroken ear in both hands and gnaw
the length of it suggests the manners of an animal never named in polite
society.

It is correct to take up asparagus by the stalk, and eat it from the
fingers, but the newer and more desirable custom is to cut off the edible
portion with knife and fork. Lettuce is never cut with a knife; a fork is
used, the piece rolled up and conveyed to the mouth.

Hard cheese may be eaten from the fingers; soft cheeses, like Neufchatel,
Brie, and the like, are eaten with the fork, or a b