For those of you who have been tagging along, bravo! Today we will wrap up our journey through George Washington’s Rules of Civility and Behaviour in Conversation.
I have to admit, I absolutely love this last grouping. Even on the first one, I actually knew someone who used to polish their teeth with their napkin regardless of where they were or who they were with, after every meal!
You know what to do! Pick one, work on it this week, and report back how it went. Let us know. Would love to hear!
Here goes:
| 100t | Cleanse not your teeth with the table cloth napkin, fork, or knife; but if others do it, let it be done without a peep to them. | ||
| 101st | Rinse not your mouth in the presence of others. | ||
| 102nd | It is out of use to call upon the company often to eat; nor need you drink to others every time you drink. | ||
| 103rd | In the company of your betters, be not longer in eating than they are; lay not your arm but only your hand upon the table. | ||
| 104th | It belongs to the chiefest in company to unfold his napkin and fall to meat first, but he ought then to begin in time & to dispatch with dexterity that the slowest may have time allowed him. | ||
| 105th | Be not angry at the table whatever happens & if you have reason to be so, show it not; put on a cheerful countenance especially if there be strangers, for good humor makes one dish of meat a feast. | ||
| 106th | Set not yourself at the upper of the table; but if it be your due or that the master of the house will have it so, contend not, least you should trouble the company. | ||
| Show interest in others conversation, but don’t talk with your mouth full. | 107th | If others talk at the table, be attentive but talk not with meat in your mouth. | |
| 108th | When you speak of God or his attributes, let it be seriously & with reverence. Honor & obey your natural parents although they be poor. | ||
| 109th | Let your recreations be manful not sinful. | ||
| Don’t allow yourself to become jaded, cynical or calloused. | 110th | Labor to keep alive in your breast that little spark of celestial fire called conscience. |
And there you have it.
Enjoy,
S.