If you wish a second helping of anything, ask for it. A delicate appetite isn't fashionable, and a hostess is flattered when people like About Second Helpingsthe food she has provided. Of course, then, it is very bad manners to criticize the food or cooking. You need not eat anything you do not care for, or that you know is not good for you, but let it be served to you and say nothing about it. Children especially should be taught not to say that they do not like something that is on the table, to be surprised at an unfamiliar dish, or to ask for something that is not served. It is a mark of social experience to have a taste for a variety of foods and styles of cooking. People who do not like this and cannot eat that will find themselves left out of dinner parties and luncheons. And if they go abroad where every country has its national cookery, they are likely to go hungry in the midst of plenty, and miss one of the pleasures of travel.
POLITENESS TO THE WAITER AND OTHERS
Don't thank a waiter for serving you, any more than you would thank a clerk in a store. It is his business to serve. But if you ask some extra service it is gracious to say: "Will you please."
Don't read a newspaper nor private letters at the table, thus obliging others to sit in silence, for fear of troubling you. A family letter from a near relative may be read aloud, for it is full of news and cheer and makes a topic for conversation.
Never notice an accident. In Japan if anyone at a table overturns A Lesson from Japana dish or breaks a cup, no one sees it. They begin to talk about the chrysanthemum show, or someone tells a funny story. A laugh is a breeze that blows clouds away.
THE RIGHT KIND OF TABLE TALK
Table talk is a fine art. Because unpleasant thoughts interfere with the enjoyment and digestion of food, certain topics must not be mentioned at table. Among these subjects are death, disease, sanitation, special diets, calamities, crimes, family quarrels or faults, business or school or neighborhood troubles, or anything about which people differ widely and are likely to get excited and argue. Table-talk is light, bright and crisp, never very serious.
