knife;
butter each piece as needed. Butter should never be eaten in large
quantities.

Cake is broken in bits and eaten from the fingers. Very rich, crumbly,
or filled cake may be eaten with a fork; tarts also, unless they are
of a nature to permit the use of the fingers, and pastry of all kinds,
as well as puddings not too liquid in form.

Muffins can be eaten from the plate with a fork, or they can be torn
apart, buttered, and eaten while held in the fingers, like toasted
bread. Hot gems can be torn apart and partaken of in the same way.
Never take one piece of bread or cake and then reject it for another.

If any little accident should occur at table, do not apologize for it;
let it pass without note, and it will be apt to escape observation. If
there should be anything accidentally spilled upon the cloth, the
waiter should quickly remove the traces, and spread a fresh napkin
over the soiled spot.

Fruits.

Apples are pared with a silver knife at table, and eaten in small
sections from the fingers. There is often much time devoted to paring
fruit by holding it on a fork, not touching it with the fingers. This
is unnecessary, unless when a gentleman is preparing the fruit for a
lady, or where the peach or pear is too juicy to do otherwise.

Grapes are plucked from their stems and the pulp squeezed into the
mouth, while the fingers hold the skin which is then laid on one side
the plate. This is far daintier than to put the fruit in the mouth and
then eject the skin into the hand or upon the plate. Bananas are
peeled and eaten from the plate with a fork. Oranges are skinned,
divided into sections, and eaten from the fingers, rejecting the seeds
into the hand. Some prefer, however, to cut the end of the orange and
eat the pulp with a spoon. Pineapple is the only fruit that must be
eaten with a knife and fork.

Silver knives and forks must always be used with fruits, as steel
becomes colored by contact with the fruit juices and imparts a
disagreeable flavor.

Green corn, in ear, is a stumbling-block, and perhaps one's best plan
would be to conform to the custom of the table where you may be. In
eating it directly from the ear hold it in one hand only. Some
hostesses provide small doilies with which to hold the ear.

If a guest is pleased with any particular dish on the table, a
delicate compliment upon its unusual excellence is always pleasing to
the hostess.

EVENING PARTIES, RECEPTIONS AND SUPPERS