d plateful if desired.

Another generally neglected obligation is that of spreading butter on
one's bread as it lies in one's plate, or but slightly lifted at one
end of the plate; it is very frequently buttered in the air, bitten in
gouges, and still held in the face and eyes of the table with the
marks of the teeth on it; This is certainly not altogether pleasant,
and it is better to cut it, a bit at a time, after buttering it, and
put piece by piece in the mouth with one's finger and thumb. Never
help yourself to butter, or any other food with your own knife or
fork. It is not considered good taste to mix food on the same plate.
Salt must be left on the side of the plate and never on the
tablecloth.

Let us mention a few things concerning the eating of which there is
sometimes doubt. A cream-cake and anything of similar nature should be
eaten with knife and fork, never bitten. Asparagus--which should be
always served on bread or toast so as to absorb superfluous
moisture--may be taken from the finger and thumb; if it is fit to be
set before you the whole of it may be eaten. Pastry should be broken
and eaten with a fork, never cut with a knife. Raw oysters should be
eaten with a fork, also fish. Peas and beans, as we all know, require
the fork only; however food that cannot be held with a fork should be
eaten with a spoon. Potatoes, if mashed, should be mashed with the
fork. Green corn should be eaten from the cob; but it must be held
with a single hand.

Celery, cresses, olives, radishes, and relishes of that kind are, of
course, to be eaten with the fingers; the salt should be laid upon
one's plate, not upon the cloth. Fish is to be eaten with the fork,
without the assistance of the knife; a bit of bread in the left hand
sometimes helps one to master a refractory morsel. Fresh fruit should
be eaten with a silver-bladed knife, especially pears, apples, etc.

Berries, of course, are to be eaten with a spoon. In England they are
served with their hulls on, and three or four are considered an ample
quantity. But then in England they are many times the size of ours;
there they take the big berry by the stem, dip into powdered sugar,
and eat it as we do the turnip radish. It is not proper to drink with
a spoon in the cup; nor should one, by-the-way, ever quite drain a cup
or glass.

Don't, when you drink, elevate your glass as if you were going to
stand it inverted on your nose. Bring the glass perpendicularly to th