Eat Peas with a dessert spoon

The application of a knife to fish is

likely to destroy the delicacy of its flavor; besides which, fish sauces are

often acidulated; acids corrode steel, and draw from it a disagreeable taste.

In the North, where lemon or vinegar is very generally used for salmon and many

other kinds of fish, the objection becomes more apparent.

Eat Peas with a dessert spoon; and curry also. Tarts and puddings are to be eaten with a spoon.              

It is not elegant to gnaw Indian corn. The

kernels should be scored with a knife, scraped

 By a

step in pseudo refinement, the etiquette of 1839 pronounces that the use of a

spoon for these purposes must be carefully avoided at dinner, it being only

admissible for soup and pieces off into the plate, and then eaten with a fork.

Ladies should be particularly careful how they manage so ticklish a dainty,

lest the exhibition rub off a little desirable romance.

As a general rule — in helping any one at

table, never use a knife where you can use a spoon.

Making a noise in chewing, or breathing

hard in eating, are both unseemly habits, and ought to be eschewed.  .

Many people make a disgusting noise with their lips, by inhaling their breath strongly whilst taking soup a habit which should be carefully avoided.

You cannot use your knife, or fork, or

teeth too quietly.

It is considered extremely piggish to have

an overloaded plate, piled up with an heterogeneous mass of edibles. Almost

every dish has its appropriate sauce, (not,-sarsen,) or vegetables, intended as

condiments or auxiliaries to that alone. Squash, corn, turnips, beets, and

tomato sauce, all on the same plate, remind one more of the contents of a

beggar’s wallet, or a mess for a dog, than of .a portion for a moderate

Christian gentleman.

Do not press people to eat more than they appear to like

Do not press people to eat

more than they appear to like, nor insist

upon their tasting of any particular dish: you may so far recommend one, as to

mention that it is considered “ excellent.” Remember that tastes differ, and

viands which please you, may be objects of dislike to others; and that in

consequence of your urgency, very young or very modest people may feel

themselves compelled to partake of what may be most disagreeable to them.

Do not pick your teeth much_ at table, as,

however satisfactory a practice to yourself, to witness it is not at all

pleasant.

Ladies should never dine with their gloves

on – unless their hands are not fit to be sent.