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Show ATMOSPHERE OF THE TABLE. <br><br> It is impossible to estimate properly the immense influence which is exerted [line missing] the family table. If it is true that one does not come out of a room the same person who went in, the mind ever after retaining the impress of what affected it there, what great results must be achieved from the meeting three times a day in the dining room, from the conversation indulged in, and the sentiments habitually expressed there. A neat, well ordered table is in itself a lesson to the children.<br><br> I have noticed that a sensitive child almost invariably has better manners when dressed in his best, and have seen with surprise the effect produced upon a certain small boy of my acquaintance by handsomely dressed ladies who are polite to him. To the inviting table, where there should always be something attractive, however simple the meal may be, most children will come prepared to behave properly.<br><br> It is really worth while, and when philosophically considered, is a matter of great importance, to lay aside as far as possible all thoughts of hard work done before and to be done after the meal, and to allow no vexations question to be discussed at this time. The habit of brooding over our work and exhausting ourselves by going all over it in our mind, is one to be studiously avoided. There is nothing takes from one's energy more than this, and it is a frequent cause of insanity.<br><br> Everybody knows that food digests better when eaten in agreeable company. It was something more than a pleasantry which made a friend remark that he could not have his wife and child pass the summer vacation away from him as it gave him dyspepsia. The poor child who comes to grief at the table and is sent away from it with his dinner half eaten, and who suffers the whole afternoon with an indigested [undigested] lump of food in his stomach, is to be pities, and it is a wise plan to explain to children that in this way they will be punished for bad conduct at the table.<br><br> It follows, then, that pleasant surprises in the way of preparing favorite dishes, that good taste and much painstaking in arranging all the appointments of table and dining-room, arise above a mere ministering to the animal existence, and affect the fine issues of life. Good behavior and cheerfulness ought to accompany each meal as naturally and unvaryingly as bread and butter. The happy laughter which distributes nervous force, and calls the blood from the brain, allowing the stomach to get its share, should be heard more frequently at our tables. No one should feel at liberty to say one word that is not kind and thoughtful, any more than he would withhold a sufficient quantity of food. These facts need more careful consideration than they have usually received.-Ex. |
