l) position. The
knife must never be used to scoop baked potato out of the skin, or to
butter potato. A fork must be used for all manipulations of vegetables;
butter for baked potatoes taken on the tip of the fork shovel fashion,
laid on the potato, and then pressed down and mixed with the prongs
held points curved up.

When no knife is being used, the fork is held in the right hand, whether
used "prongs down" to impale the meat or "prongs up" to lift vegetables.

To pile mashed potato and other vegetables on the convex side of the fork
on top of the meat for two or more inches of its length, is a disgusting
habit dear to school boys, and one that is more easily prevented than
corrected. In fact, taking a big mouthful (next to smearing his face and
chewing with mouth open) is the worst offense at table.

When he has finished eating, he should lay his knife and fork close
together, side by side, with handles toward the right side of his plate,
the handles projecting an inch or two beyond the rim of the plate. They
must be placed far enough on the plate so that there is no danger of their
over-balancing on to the table or floor when removed at the end of the
course.

=OTHER TABLE MATTERS=

The distance from the table at which it is best to sit, is a matter of
personal comfort. A child should not be allowed to be so close that his
elbows are bent like a grasshopper's, nor so far back that food is apt to
be spilled in transit from plate to mouth. Children like to drink very
long and rapidly, all in one breath, until they are pink around the eyes,
and are literally gasping. They also love to put their whole hands in
their finger-bowls and wiggle their fingers.

A baby of two, or at least by the time he is three, should be taught to
dip the tips of his fingers in the finger-bowl, without playing, draw the
fingers of the right hand across his mouth, and then wipe his lips and
fingers on the apron of his bib.

No small child can be expected to use a napkin instead of a bib. No matter
how nicely behaved he may be, there is always danger of his spilling
something, some time. Soft boiled egg is hideously difficult to eat
without ever getting a drop of it down the front, and it is much easier
to supply him with a clean bib for the next meal than to change his dress
for the next moment.

Very little children usually have "hot water plates" that are specially
made like a double plate with hot water space between, on which