Etiquette for Boarding House Tables

Women do not require napkins as frequently as men, particularly where the men have moustaches. But in any event the napkins should be examined with care and none should be permitted to be brought to the table that is in any way soiled, even if it be used but once.

Cleanliness, of course, should be the first consideration in regard to the table. If you are charging your boarder — and we are assuming that the establishment is for the average wage-worker — from $6 to $8 a week, you cannot give them such choice of food as they would have at a first-class hotel. There may or may not be soup for dinner. There is sure to be some kind of meat, and a few vegetables, as a mainstay, and dessert, with tea and coffee on which to finish. No matter how well these things are cooked, if they are not well served, they will not be enjoyed by the ordinary man and woman of refinement. 

The table cloth should always be clean, as should the napkins which are served to each guest. Of course, it is not required that each guest should have a clean napkin for every meal as at a hotel; here each should have an individual napkin ring, and this article may serve for one or two days, depending altogether upon the person. Women do not require napkins as frequently as men, particularly where the men have moustaches. But in any event the napkins should be examined with care and none should be permitted to be brought to the table that is in any way soiled, even if it be used but once.

One of the most successful boarding-house keepers, in a small way, that we have met, is very careful about her table linen, In addition to this, she has always in the center of the main table, and on some of the smaller ones, a bouquet of flowers. These flowers are not artificial, nor are they the best that can be purchased at the florist's. As a rule, they are good, homely garden flowers, bright and pleasant to the eye. They not only decorate the table, but they also have an influence upon the boarders, a refining influence that tends to give the table a homelike appearance, and to recall the past when a mother presided at the board. — From Helpful Talks with Girls, 1910

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