Etiquette Wednesday -- We Dine On Linen Damask

Today’s Etiquette Wednesday features a small booklet whose introduction is almost as long as the remaining book. The book, published in 1926 by the Irish & Scottish Linen Damask Guild, has a forward was written by none other than Emily Post. Yes, another "Emily" Post. Clearly, if you are interested in the subject of etiquette, you will find yourself with a vast collection of advice, big and small from Mrs. Post.

I will concede that as she became more and more a, or should I say, “the” voice of 20th century etiquette, she took many opportunities to lend her name to commercial endeavors. However, these projects never came with a scintilla of compromise from Mrs. Post.

Mrs. Post’s essay for the Irish & Scottish Linen Damask Guild provides the title to this small booklet – We Dine On Linen Damask. When one reads the essay it is clear that the title is not just a title but an admonition; a “take no prisoners” call to arms for dining etiquette. Here is just the beginning:

We Dine On Linen Damask
by
Emily Post

We dine on linen damask. This is merely a statement of fact – if the house in which we are dining be a perfectly appointed one. Furthermore, if our own house be one of dignity, we breakfast on linen damask. The dignity of dinner demands a linen tablecloth, and, if meticulous, it demands is not for the lace encrusted with needlework but for damask without embellishment other than its quality. No other table covering, no matter how fine or elaborate, satisfies our inherent sense of faultless suitability. In proof of which we need but to find ourselves at a table upon which is spread an unbroken expanse of smooth white tablecloth and to unfold across our knees the enveloping width of a real dinner napkin that is wide enough to tuck in easily at either side, to waken suddenly as though from a dream to the fact that we are not just eating another evening meal, but that in truth we are “dining.”

There are another 13 pages of marching orders on ones linens. The tone remains the same: eat bread and water if that is all you can afford but for the love of propriety, eat it on a damask tablecloth.

You will never grab a paper towel again without the profound shame at your lack of “faultless suitability.”

Etiquette Wednesday

Emily Post

Need I say more? This week I am immersed in Laura Claridge's biography, Emily Post: Daughter of the Gilded Age, Mistress of American Manners.




So far, the Civil War ends, Chicago burns to the ground, Emily's parents marry an go on the Grand Tour, Emily is born, weighing in at over 9 pounds! That's just the first 15 pages!


I am just finishing Part Three. Let's see, marriage, kids, novels (Purple and Fine Linen is a fave) scandal, divorce, etiquette books...



I'd tell you more, but I really need to get to my reading.

Here's you etiquette tip!

My handwriting sucks. But do drop me a line and do not, under any circumstances, piss off the Post Office, or the Emily Post....

Wednesday Etiquette

It seems that Emily Post offered her "silverware" etiquette to a silverplate company. If you bought their set of silver, you got detailed instruction from Mrs. Post in the form a booklet with a circle guide for setting the table.

We just love table setting info.

Etiquette Wednesday

While much of the etiquette espoused at the turn of the 20th century was a bit fussy, everyone knows the moment one codifies something like etiquette, there will be detractors. In 1906 a satirical etiquette book was published. Entitled Foolish Etiquette and carrying the byline O. B. Hayve, this book provided instruction on some of life's predicaments that have often fallen through the cracks of say an Emily Post.

The book addresses many unusual an oft under-discussed social situations...

Theatre conduct... at a Bernard Shaw Play

When the lines fairly sizzle don't attempt a shocked expression--the fact that you are there is sufficient for the world to know you're over seven.

One can only imagine the etiquette for a production of Hair.

How about this wedding tip...

Mormon tips for Weddings

To avoid jealousy it is well to marry your wives in alphabetical order.

Something Bill Henderson, on Big Love, might have tried. There was Barb, then Nicolette. Then Margene, who was clearly a troublemaker and then there was an attempt to marry Ana which caused untold problems... so clearly this alphabetical thing shows promise.

My favorite piece of advice is how to behave at a...

Cannibal Reception on a South Sea Island

If the daughter of the chief falls in love with the missionary he should remember that it is better to be a husband than a fricassee.

I can't tell you the times I have uttered those exact words.

Paint as Poetry

Sherwin Williams
Farrow Ball
Benjamin Moore

Name three great poets? No you say. Well, just maybe, yes.

While perusing the paint isle in my local big box hardware behemoth, I found poems. Reading the names of tiny paint swatches gave way to some great found poetry. Give it a try.

Jules,
Neutrally nice
Ashes of roses in an ember glow
Forget me not.

Marina,
temptress by candle light,
kimono, California wine, bubble bath.
A sweet sachet of orchid bloom.

Cloudburst on a melancholy country road,
Weathered post and rusty rail.
The March wind in canyon echo through the dry riverbed.

I may not be Emily Dickinson but I just may give Farrow Ball a run for his money.