ng the tablecloth.

Discussions and unpleasant topics of conversation should never be
introduced. One should regard not only one's own aversions but those
of the others present.

Never put your finger in your mouth at table, nor pick your teeth.

Tidiness of personal appearance is never at a higher premium than at
the dining table. Soiled hands, negligee dress, shirt sleeves, and
disheveled hair are disgusting there.

It is quite proper to take the last helping of any dish which may be
passed you. To refrain looks as if you doubted the supply.

Bread is not cut, but broken into fairly small pieces. One should
never nibble from a large piece.

It is permissible to eat crackers, olives, celery, radishes, salted
nuts, crystallized fruits, corn on the cob, bonbons, and most raw
fruits from the fingers. Apples, pears, and peaches are quartered,
peeled, and then cut into small pieces. Cherries, plums, and grapes
are eaten one by one, the stones being removed with the fingers and
laid upon the plate.

Cheese may be laid in small pieces on bread or crackers, and conveyed
to the mouth in that way.

Asparagus should be eaten with the fork, the part which is not readily
broken off by it being left.

At a formal meal a second helping of a dish is never offered, and
should never be asked for; but at an informal dinner party it is not
out of place to accept a second helping, if one is offered, but is
complimentary to the hostess, who is responsible for the cook.

In passing the plate for a second helping, the knife and fork should
be laid across it full length,--not held in the hand until the plate
returns.

One may ask the waiter for a second or third glass of water, as even
at a formal dinner that is always permissible.

Lettuce, cress, and chicory are never cut with a knife, but rolled up
on the fork and so conveyed to the mouth.

Never leave the spoon in any cup while drinking from it. Liquid
bouillon,--not jellied,--should be drunk from the bouillon cup.

Spoons are used for grape fruit and oranges, when cut in halves and
put upon a plate, for soft-boiled eggs, puddings, custards, and
gelatins.

With fruit, finger-bowls should always be passed. A bowl half-full of
water is placed upon a plate covered with a doily. Unless the fruit is
passed upon a second plate, the bowl and doily are removed from this
and set at one side, the fruit being eaten from this plate. The
fingers are then dipped, one hand at a time,