ys be kept closed in eating, and both eating and
drinking should be noiseless.

Bread is broken at dinner. Vegetables are eaten with a fork.

Asparagus can be taken up with the fingers, if preferred. Olives and
artichokes are always so eaten.

Fruit is eaten with silver knives and forks.

You are at liberty to refuse a dish that you do not wish to eat. If any
course is set down before you that you do not wish, do not touch it.
Never play with food, nor mince your bread, nor handle the glass and
silver near you unnecessarily.

Never reprove a waiter for negligence or improper conduct; that is the
business of the host.

When a dish is offered you, accept or refuse at once, and allow the
waiter to pass on. A gentleman will see that the lady whom he has
escorted to the table is helped to all she wishes, but it is
officiousness to offer to help other ladies who have escorts.

If the guests pass the dishes to one another, instead of being helped by
a servant, you should always help yourself from the dish, if you desire
it at all, before passing it on to the next.

A knife should never, on any account, be put into the mouth. Many
people, even well-bred in other respects, seem to regard this as an
unnecessary regulation; but when we consider that it is a rule of
etiquette, and that its violation causes surprise and disgust to many
people, it is wisest to observe it.

Be careful to remove the bones from fish before eating. If a bone
inadvertently should get into the mouth, the lips must be covered with
the napkin in removing it. Cherry stones and grape skins should be
removed from the mouth as unobtrusively as possible, and deposited on
the side of the plate.

Never use a napkin in place of a handkerchief for wiping the forehead,
face or nose.

Pastry should be eaten with a fork. Every thing that can be cut without
a knife should be eaten with the fork alone. Pudding may be eaten with a
fork or spoon.

Never lay your hand, or play with your fingers, upon the table. Do not
toy with your knife, fork or spoon, make crumbs of your bread, or draw
imaginary lines upon the table cloth.

Never bite fruit. An apple, peach or pear should be peeled with a knife,
and all fruit should be broken or cut.

WAITING ON OTHERS.

If a gentleman is seated by the side of a lady or elderly person,
politeness requires him to save them all trouble of procuring for
themselves anything to eat or drink, and of obtaining whatever they