the first course is finished, and to sit with
nothing before you would be awkward. But you may eat as little of it
as you choose. The host serves his left-hand neighbor first, then his
right hand, and so on till all are served. Take whatever is given you,
and do _not_ offer it to your neighbor; and begin at once to eat. You
must not suck soup into your month, blow it, or send for a second
plate. The second course is fish, which is to be eaten with a fork,
and without vegetables. The last part of this injunction does not, of
course, apply to informal dinners, where fish is the principal dish.
Fish, like soup, is served but once. When you have eaten what you
wish, you lay your fork on your plate, and the waiter removes it. The
third course brings the principal dishes--roast and boiled meats,
fowl, etc., which are followed by game. There are also side dishes of
various kinds. At dessert, help the ladies near you to whatever they
may require. Serve strawberries with a spoon, but pass cherries,
grapes, or peaches for each to help himself with his fingers. You need
not volunteer to pare an apple or a peach for a lady, but should do
so, of course, at her request, using her fork or some other than your
own to hold it.

We have said in our remarks on table manners in general, in a previous
chapter, that in sending your plate for anything, you should leave
your knife and fork upon it. For this injunction we have the authority
of most of the books on etiquette, as well as of general usage. There
seems also to be a reason for the custom in the fact, that to hold
them in your hand would be awkward, and to lay them on the table-cloth
might soil it; but the author of the "American Gentleman's Guide,"
whose acquaintance with the best usage is not to be questioned, says
that they should be retained, and either kept together in the hand, or
rested upon your bread, to avoid soiling the cloth.

Eat deliberately and decorously (there can be no harm in repeating
this precept), masticate your food thoroughly, and _beware of drinking
too much ice-water_.

If your host is not a "temperance man," that is, one pledged to total
abstinence, wine will probably be drunk. You can of course decline,
but you must do so courteously, and without any reflection upon those
who drink. You are not invited to deliver a temperance lecture.

Where finger-glasses are used, dip the tips of your fingers in the
water and wipe them on your napkin; and wet a corne