You Glance At An E-mail. You Give

Generosity And Gratitude Are Inseparably Linked.

Miss Manners Herself, While Never Rude, Is Given To Pulling A Fast Pinch In The Way Of A Handshake On Those Who Believe In Kissing On, Not Even The First Date, But The First Sighting.

Do You Have A Kinder, More Adaptable Friend In The Food World Than Soup? Who Soothes You When You Are Ill? Who Refuses To Leave You When You Are Impoverished And Stretches Its Resources To Give A Hearty Sustenance And Cheer? Who Warms You In The Winter And Cools You In The Summer? Yet Who Also Is Capable Of Doing Honor To Your Richest Table And Impressing Your Most Demanding Guests? Soup Does Its Loyal Best, No Matter What Undignified Conditions Are Imposed Upon It. You Don't Catch Steak Hanging Around When You're Poor And Sick, Do You?

The Dinner Table Is The Center For The Teaching And Practicing Not Just Of Table Manners But Of Conversation, Consideration, Tolerance, Family Feeling, And Just About All The Other Accomplishments Of Polite Society Except The Minuet.

To Sacrifice The Principles Of Manners, Which Require Compassion And Respect, And Bat People Over The Head With Their Ignorance Of Etiquette Rules They Cannot Be Expected To Know Is Both Bad Manners And Poor Etiquette. That Social Climbers And Twits Have Misused Etiquette Throughout History Should Not Be Used As An Argument For Doing Away With It.