Excerpt from How to Set the Table: Being a Treatise Upon This Important Subject Do not place the cloth on the table's bare wooden top; lay first a blanket or padding made for the purpose. It deadens the sound and gives the linen a firmer and better appear ance. Do not starch either tablecloths or napkins. They must hang in soft, smooth folds from the edge of the table. Knives and forks to be handsome should be of medium size, and, if the purse permits, have sets for each course. It is also necessary to have two, better three, carving sets, two large and one small. The largest one will be used for roasts and turkey; the second size for fowls; the smallest for steaks and birds. We have, in these days, many special pieces of silver, dainty and convenient, as butter picks, cheese knives, asparagus tongs, c'ake knives, pie and ice cream servers, Saratoga chip servers. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.