further side of the dish, or cup, there is time for any drop adhering
to the outside to fall in the dish before carrying to the lips.

Only to gentlemen possessed of a luxuriant mustache is it permitted to
take soup from the point of the spoon, always providing they can do so
skilfully and without an awkward use of the arm. The gold or silver
spoons for after-dinner coffee are very small, as befits the dainty
cups of egg-shell china.

The Knife.

Properly, the knife may be said to have no use at the table save to
assist the fork in separating food into morsels fit for mastication.
Never, no, _never_, permit it to be introduced into the mouth upon any
occasion whatever. To do so is the height of ill-breeding.

Adam's Knives and Forks.

There are a number of things that the most fashionable and well-bred
people now eat at the dinner table with their fingers. They are:
Olives, to which a fork should never be applied; asparagus, whether
hot or cold, when served whole, as it should be; lettuce, which, when
served in whole leaves, should be dipped in the dressing or in a
little salt; celery, which may be properly placed upon the tablecloth
beside the plate.

To these may be added strawberries, when served with the stems on, as
they are in most elegant houses. Dip them in cream and then in sugar
(sometimes sugar only is served), holding by the stem end and eating
in one or more bites, according to size.

Bread, toast, and all tarts and small cakes; fruit of all kinds,
except melons and preserves, which are eaten with a spoon; cheese,
except the softer varieties; all these are eaten with the fingers,
even by the most fastidious people. Even the leg, or other small piece
of a bird is taken up daintily in the fingers of one hand at
fashionable dinners.

Water cress is taken in the fingers. It is usually served upon a
shallow dish or a basket, a fringed napkin covering bottom and sides.
Artichokes, also, are eaten with the fingers. Lump sugar may be taken
with the fingers, if no tongs are provided. If a plate of hot,
unbroken biscuit is passed, one may be broken off with the fingers.

Napkin and Finger-Bowl.

Napkins vary in size, from the diminutive, fancy doily, for ornament
rather than use, through all gradations, up to the largest sized
dinner napkin. In using these do not spread over the entire lap, nor
fasten under the chin bib-fashion, nor in the buttonhole, and, if a
man, do not tuck in the vest pockets