Tales of Table Manners of Old

“I saw a fellow eating with his knife. A few years ago any man might have eaten with his knife and no one would have cared. But manners are better than they used to be... He was an elderly man and evidently had learned his manners in the old days.”

“In a restaurant of the lower middle class” said an epicure, “I saw a fellow eating with his knife. A few years ago any man might have eaten with his knife and no one would have cared. But manners are better than they used to be, and this man's proceedings attracted attention all over the room. He was an elderly man and evidently had learned his manners in the old days.

“By the way, are children still taught to leave the last piece of bread or cake for ‘Manners?’ In Charles Leland's child's book, ‘Johnnykin and the Goblins,’ Mr. Manners appears—a thin, cadaverous gentleman in evening clothes, who is supported by what the children leave for him in the dish. 

“Do you still cut off the tip of the boiled tongue before you begin to serve the tongue?” I don't know why that used to be done. Perhaps as a sacrifice to the gods? I think that most of the tongues nowadays come in cans, so that perhaps the tips cannot he cut off as of old. – San Diego Union and Daily Bee, 1895

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