Check It Out

All. Social Functions. All

I checked the catalog at both libraries and the book is available to be checked out. 

Dinner Games

"Why thank you, my dear Miss M. I do so appreciate your affection. I was just reading a bit about manners and the enjoyment of a fine meal. I know my behavior of late has been... shall I say, less than admirable. So sorry about that pork chop, by the way. I gave into temptation. It will never happen again. You have my word! Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to get back to reading what Emily has to say about the napkin."

Mr. Big Food proposed to me today! He proposed we begin enjoying our evening meals at the dining table. I accepted! All are invited to join us, but participation is strictly voluntary.

Now that the Still Summer Season is over and we're no longer dining on the patio, we've fallen into the habit of eating in the living room-- with the television on. Disgraceful. I know. So I welcomed Mr. Big Food's proposal.

Tonight I set the table. We enjoyed a fine meal of a delicious Tex-Mex pork loaf served with salsa made from tomatillos and green tomatoes (picked right before the freeze) and fresh cilantro,  cleared the table, and chatted. We had a raucous discussion about 'Pilgrims' vs. 'Puritans' 

and then the conversation turned to table manners.

And games. How can they turn dining etiquette and enjoyment of good food into a game? They kicked around a lot of good ideas about readings and quizzes and point scoring. And comprehensive exams. 

It will be a short game, played at Sunday Supper. Each of us will "host" one play. 

It's been agreed there will be no meal police. Shouts of, "A. Leland's elbows are on the table! He looses points!!" have no place in the enjoyment of a fine meal.

More details to come.

Charming

Beautiful clothes!

Girlhood's fresh beauty knows no glory like a a dashing dress that heightens the bloom on glowing cheeks and sets new stars in sparkling eyes. Nothing stirs a lover's heart like the one woman gowned with that artistry wherein every line and every tone bespeaks her own intimate and individual charm. And wise wives and mothers know the happy secret that fresh and pretty clothes hold back the years and inspire anew admiring, warm affections.

See? This is how a young woman should dress.

That is all I have to say about the vulgar young woman whose picture has been splashed all over the World Wide Web this week.

From Woman's Institute Library of Dressmaking: Harmony in Dress, Mary Brooks Picken, The Woman's Institute of Domestic Arts and Sciences, Scranton, Pa., 1928.

"The Etiquette of the Napkin": What Every Child Should Know

As you may have guessed from the tone of my previous post, that business about not allowing children in restaurants parents unable to control the behavior of their children in public really ticked me off. But as I am in a good mood today, and as I got that little rant out of my system, and as it is raining (!) I thought I'd share napkin etiquette with you, Dear Readers (and yes, you, too, Mr.-Low-Man-On-The-Totem-Pole-Who's-Tasked-With-Reading-My-Little-Blog). I'm certainly not implying that you are unaware of napkin etiquette! I merely thought you'd enjoy reading about it. From a crappy old book:

There is only one way of unfolding a napkin. Taking it from your plate by the corner, with your right hand, you should deftly unfold it with a single movement whose continuation brings it to rest across your knees with only the first folds shaken out: the middle fold is never disturbed.

From The Book of Good Manners: A Guide to Polite Usage for All Social Functions by Frederick H. Martens (Social Culture Publications, New York, 1923). This is a great book, by the way. It follows good manners, which the author takes to be "fundamental of a civilized life," from birth through death.

Addressing the older child (presumably 8 years of age and older), Martens says,

It is taken for granted that you have put away the dropping and spilling of food with other childish things. In fact, as soon as you have graduated to napkin use the idea of protection associated only with the bib has disappeared. This explains why the napkin is not tucked under the chin of spread across the knees like a blanket. Its proper use is limited: to wiping the lips after drinking or to remove the suspicion of grease; to drying the fingertips-- but not as a towel is used-- after using the finger-bowl; and as an excuse for one of those natural gestures which help bridge an awkward conversational moment.

 There you have it.

You should see what Mr. Big Food's finger-bowl looks like when we have BBQed chicken!

No dogs kids allowed.

Growing Number Of Restaurants Banning Children During Peak Hours

In response to the age-old headache of tiny temper tantrums La Fisheria, a Mexican restaurant in Houston, has instituted a “no customers under 8 after 7 p.m.” policy. Some parents told CBS 2 that they understand.

1. Why 8? What's the plan, Stan? Are you planning on carding kids who look younger than 8? What sort of ID will suffice? A report card?  Will you need to hire a bouncer?

“Sometimes you think they’re going to be good and they are. Sometimes they’re not and there’s nothing you can do about it, and it’s embarrassing,” Meredith Boysen said.

 B. Well, yeah. You should be embarrassed if you-- as the parent-- think "there's nothing you can do about it." Here's what you do when little Johnny misbehaves in a restaurant. You pick little Johnny up by the scruff of the neck, taking care that his flailing little legs don't kick another patron or knock something off a table, and you haul his butt outside where you proceed to whack it once. Good (based on Johnny's size). You then grip his little shoulders, look him straight in the eyes and say, "Johnny, that behavior is unacceptable and unbecoming. We are going back inside. You will sit quietly at the table and eat your meal in a manner which will make me proud. Do you understand?" If he says anything other than, "Yes, sir/ma'am" you put his collar on, hook up the leash, and tie him to the lamp post.

Others said that the policy punishes parents.
“It would definitely limit our options,” Erin Davidson said. “We need to get out of the house.”

iii. I can appreciate that sentiment. You've had years-- possibly as many as 7 & 364/365th years-- to teach your child(ren) how to behave properly in public when you need to get out of the house with your child(ren). What were you doing instead during all of those years?

Bobby Marisi, the owner of Vincent’s Clam Bar, said that he keeps kids happy with table games, and welcomes them into his restaurant.

“We need to nurture children and teach them how to eat out and be in an environment that’s outside the home with family,” he said.

4. That's nice. But who is this "we" of whom you speak, Bobby? It's not my responsibility to teach someone else's kids how to behave in a restaurant. It's not yours, either, Bobby. But I do appreciate the games and crayons. That's nice.

The owner of La Fisheria said that he instituted the policy following complaints from a number of patrons who were bothered by loud children.

 E. Here's an idea. Embarrass the parents of loud children by kicking them out! In front of the complaining patrons. "Excuse me. If you can't control your dog kid, I'm afraid I'll have to ask you to leave. Your dinner-- or what you've managed to eat of it-- is on the house. Good evening." How hard is that? 

And I'll go you one further because I bet there are still some parents out there who care about such things. Kick out the people who don't lower there voices so the children can't hear the cuss words! Ha. 
~~

Mr. Big Food and I are going out to dinner this evening. There will be children and I'll bet dollars to doughnuts they will be perfect little ladies and gentlemen.

Trust

Daughter C and Mr. Bow Tie went to the store this morning. (Yes. The cigarette store was open on Easter.) When they returned, Miss M said to Daughter C, "Where's my dollar?" And Daughter C handed Miss M one United States dollar.

Daughter C asked, "How did you know I had your dollar?"

"Because I knew the girl at the store would give you my dollar."

To which Daughter C replied, "That's why I love this county."

As it turns out, a couple of days ago the lady ahead of Miss M was short $1, so Miss M gave her $1 and the girl at the store told Miss M the lady was good for it and to just collect it next time she-- Miss M-- was in the store. And because Miss M and Daughter C are sisters, the girl at the store gave Miss M's $1 to Daughter C. 

They don't do this sort of thing in Starkvegas. And that's why we love our little county.

Chapter 70 of Amy Vanderbilt's

New Complete Book of Etiquette is titled, "The New Resident in Washington."  I am not making this up. 

Amy Vanderbilt's New Complete Book of Etiquette: The Guide to Gracious Living (1967)

If I were writing a book on etiquette-- which I am certainly not qualified to do-- it would not have occurred to me to include a chapter on what to do if one is a guest of the President of The United States of America at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

Just passing this along should any of you receive an invitation to the White House in the coming years-- come what may.

Because you can never have too many copies of the Declaration of Independence,

I bought two more yesterday.

$4.63 to the children; $0.32 to the state

I love The Palmer House Thrift Store where every penny I spend except those that go to the Sovereign State of Mississippi goes to The Palmer Home for Children in Columbus, Mississippi. I buy a lot of books there.

Palmer Home for Children is today an independent institution governed by an unpaid, volunteer Board of Directors. But we are proud of our Presbyterian heritage and maintain close ties with Presbyterian and other churches as well as interested friends concerned about family breakup and the plight of fatherless children.

[Incidentally, according to Off the Beaten Path Mississippi,  Mississippians give more per capital to charity than citizens of any other state. I tried to verify this independently but was not able to do so. It does make sense, though, given Mississippians' acquaintance with tornadoes and hurricanes, and our tendency to go to church. As my father would often say, "There but for the Grace of God go I."

Oh look. It's raining.]

The Palmer Thrift Store was having a 1/2 price sale on books! And yes, that is Ronald Regan who once said,

... On my way to the hall, a fellow recognized me and asked what I was doing in Las Vegas.... I told him what I was here for, and he said, "What are a bunch of farmers doing in Las Vegas?" I couldn't resist. I said, "Buster, they are in a business that makes a Las Vegas crap table look like a guaranteed annual income!" --Remarks to state officers of the Future Farmers of America, July 29, 1987

From The Quotable Ronald Regan compiled and edited by Peter Hannaford, copyright 1998 published by Regnery Publishing, Inc. It's for Mr. Big Food's bookshelf.

Lydia Pickham is Her Name (1949) is not a work of fiction! 

Made in Mississippi

SuperTalk Mississippi is a state-wide network of commercial talk-radio stations. There are very few nationally syndicated shows (Dave Ramsey being the notable exception). Some of the shows, for example SuperSwap, and the Friday evening broadcasts of high school football, have no political agenda. Those that do are right-leaning-- it is Mississippi-- but for the most part are open-minded and try to be fair.

This morning while listening to the Gallo Show, I learned that SuperTalk has a new sponsor, Liberalism101 Shirts located in Brookhaven, Mississippi. 

Support Mississippi. Buy this shirt. Or buy a different one. They are only $20.

Liberalism101 Shirts is just some folks who dreamed up a business while sitting around the kitchen table.

Miss Manners

Missy had-- continues to be having-- a tough night, even though she had a good day.

I think she misses Rocky. It's amazing how quickly he picked up on my suggestion that he set a good example. But since it's the weekend, and Daughter C has been home for some portion of it, we haven't seen much of Rocky lately. And Missy really is forgetting her manners.

Missy & "[o]ne further point"

Please excuse the state of the floor-- it's taken a beating these last few days.

Each of the parquet tiles is 6" square: elbow to paw tips = 1'; body length approx. = 2'. 

Daughter C advised me to break her of a bad habit or two, while I still can. Good advise! And so, after having done some less than abundantly fruitful basic research on the World Wide Web, I resorted to pulling a crappy old book off the shelf.

One further point before we go on to the details of training and housebreaking. Never, under any imaginable circumstances correct or discipline your dog when you have called him to you, or when he has come to you of his own accord. ... You have only to put yourself in his position (a very good idea when considering any aspect of training, incidentally)... . The Complete Dog Book (1961)

Also, do not use her name when correcting her. It's an associative learning thing, I think.
~~
More Misc. thoughts below.

Birch and Green Holly

That last post on the scuffle in Cincinnati basketball reminded me of this. 

I've been waiting for just the right time to post that.

"None of them guys on their team is like me. We got disrespected."

No doubt. We are all special, and deserve respect, don't you know?

Birch & green holly comes from

My habit is to put citation information in the caption. This one is tough. The book has no standard back page-- all it says is, "Printed in Great Britain."

Throughout, the photos are "Copyright 1897." So it's another crappy old book I'm thinking was first published 114 years ago. Some of the information about the publisher is on the right-hand page, above.

Of note, the inside cover has a stamp that says,

DUNKIRK

PUBLIC SCHOOLS

LIBRARY

Class No. ____ Accession No. [and in handwriting] 5245

So this book must have belonged to Dad. 

~~
Back to my point:

Birch and green holly, boys,

Birch and green holly.

If you get beaten boys, 

'Twill be your own folly.

Disobedience and Misbehavior

I am working on a post titled, "The Lesson of Obedience." The main inspiration comes from Book of Good Manners by Frederick H. Martens (1923). This will be another in a "series" of posts on manners and civility. Here are the previous posts:

The Lesson of Consideration

Mind your Manners

4-Way Civility vs. Roundabout Impoliteness

Meanwhile, I ran across two examples of human misbehavior in my morning travels around the world wide web. 

Tip of the hat to Kris at Shout First, Ask Questions Later-- whose subtitle is "Politics and one mother with a keyboard. Because in front of every informed voter is a frightened politician"-- for the first example. It is a video shot by the mother of two young boys who have thrown/are throwing a five pound bag of flour all around the living room. 

Some questions come to mind. Why is she video taping this instead of disciplining them? Did she already have the camera or did she allow them to continue while she went to fetch it? When is she going to start stopping them? And why-- why??-- would she put this video on-line? This is the equivalent of me catching Rocky doing something unacceptable in the living room, taping him, and then uploading it. "Look! I can't teach Rocky not to poop inside! Aren't I cute? Oh no! Poop. What am I going to do?"

The second story takes us into a future where the two boys, above, have grown up* to become staffers for Mississippi Congressman Steve Palazzo. (H/t Majority in Mississippi) The boys and their fellows throw

a two-night party in Annapolis and tried to impersonate the Congressman after getting a call from local police.

Occupy the Condominium. From the Roll Call (at The Hill) account:

Chain-sawing: UPDATED with more photos

Of all of the pictures I took of them, I liked this posed photo the best.

Mr. Big Food (L); Mr. Kant (R)

The only missing element was Rocky.

UPDATE: A few more photos below the fold 

The Lesson of Consideration

We enjoyed an especially Big evening yesterday. Mr. Big Food had something in the slow cooker so supper preparations were minimal. He loaded up some tunes from the Redneck Collection and sauteed some mushrooms for a little appetizer. I fixed us a cocktail and grabbed a crappy old book I'd been meaning to spend some time with. 

Occasionally, I'd interrupted the music by reading aloud a few sentences. I'd just finished reading The Lesson of Consideration

The Book of Good Manners by Frederick H. Martens, published in 1923 by Social Culture Publications, New York. "Manufactured in U.S.A."

and was getting ready to read this 

Any little girl whose parents' means place her in a position to boast to less fortunate playmates about the superior beauty of her dolls or the greater cost of her dresses, is guilty of a rudeness of an especially hateful and vulgar sort [my emphasis]

when Dolly started singing A Coat of Many Colors.

Back through the years
I go wonderin once again
Back to the seasons of my youth
I recall a box of rags that someone gave us
And how my momma put the rags to use
There were rags of many colors
Every piece was small
And I didn't have a coat
And it was way down in the fall
Momma sewed the rags together
Sewin every piece with love
She made my coat of many colors
That I was so proud of
As she sewed, she told a story
From the bible, she had read
About a coat of many colors
Joseph wore and then she said
Perhaps this coat will bring you
Good luck and happiness
And I just couldnt wait to wear it
And momma blessed it with a kiss
Chorus:

My coat of many colors
That my momma made for me
Made only from rags
But I wore it so proudly
Although we had no money
I was rich as I could be
In my coat of many colors
My momma made for me

So with patches on my britches
Holes in both my shoes
In my coat of many colors
I hurried off to school
Just to find the others laughing
And making fun of me
In my coat of many colors
My momma made for me

And oh I couldnt understand it
For I felt I was rich
And I told them of the love
My momma sewed in every stitch
And I told em all the story
Momma told me while she sewed
And how my coat of many colors
Was worth more than all their clothes

But they didn't understand it
And I tried to make them see
That one is only poor
Only if they choose to be
Now I know we had no money
But I was rich as I could be
In my coat of many colors
My momma made for me
Made just for me

[my emphasis]
~~

Instapundit has been talking about manners, too.