Accidents At Table

Mishaps happen even to the most careful person. When, however, anything flies from the plate or lap to the floor, one should allow the servant to pick it up. Should grease or jelly drop from the fork to one's person, then to remove it with the napkin corner is the only remedy.

Very often, however, the apparently well-conducted gentleman or lady, when such an accident befalls, gravely wipes his or her knife on a bit of bread or the plate's edge and headfully scrapes away the offending morsel. This is decidedly the wrong way to do it, just as it is a bad error thoughtfully to scrape up a bit of butter or fragment of fowl from the tablecloth where it has fallen beside the plate. At the family board this is well enough, but at a restaurant or a friend's table it is bad manners.

If an unfortunate individual overturns a full water glass at a dinner table, profuse apologies are out of place. To give the hostess an appealing glance and say, "Please forgive me; I am very awkward," or "I must apologize for my stupidity; this is quite unforgiveable," is enough.

Should a cup, glass or dish be broken through carelessness, then a quick, quiet apology can be made and within a few days sincere repentance indicated by forwarding to the hostess, if possible, a duplicate of the broken article and a contrite little note.

A serious and unpleasant accident is that of taking into the mouth half-done, burning hot or tainted foods. The one course to pursue, if it cannot be swallowed, is quickly and quietly to eject the morsel on the fork or spoon, whence it can quietly be laid on the plate. This can be so deftly accomplished that none need suspect the state of affairs.

At The Conclusion Of A Meal

When a meal is concluded it is most reprehensible to push away the last plate used and brush the crumbs on the cloth into little heaps. Leave the last plate in its place, lift the napkin from the lap and lay it on the table's edge, rise slowly and quietly, taking no precaution to push the chair back into place, unless dining at home or informally at a friend's house, where such is the rule. The ladies at a dinner or at the family table make the first motion to leave the table. A gentleman always stands aside to let a lady precede him, and it is only courteous to wait until everyone at a table has finished eating before hurrying away. This rule is, of course, not observed at a boarding house or small foreign hotel, where all the members of a promiscuous household gather at one long board, but it should be scrupulously observed in a private household. In the latter circumstances, when anyone is obliged to leave the table before others have finished, it is but polite to turn to the mother, or whoever occupies the head of the table, and say "Please excuse me," before rising, and "Thank you," when the permission is granted. None but the hopeless provincial and vulgarian uses a toothpick after his or her meal.

Anchored Enthusiasm Is Advised For All

Enthusiasm is fine. So is idealism. So is optimism. So is faith. So is vision. So are a whole lot of other things. But always keep one foot on the ground. Too many of us are given to flying to extremes. We lack ballast. We often let our dreams run away with us. We lose all sense of perspective and proportion. When things are going well with us we conclude that they will always continue to do so, and we accordingly neglect to provide safeguards against a reversal of fortune. The business concerns which are in direct straits today are those that overshot the mark most during the boom. They failed to look ahead. They reckoned upon prosperity lasting forever. A good many of us do the same thing.

After all, plain, ordinary gumption is the greatest asset in the world. Gumption embraces level-headedness, judgment, stability, power to hold on, rational but not blind optimism, reasonable but not unreasonable self-reliance, alertness to the value of looking before you leap and of counting the cost before you run up a bill. Let us philsophize; yes. But let us not forget that before we can philosophize fruitfully we must first buckle down to the workaday task of earning a living. - Forbes Magazine, New York.