A Pointed Question

The great question whether the use of forks is understood in Chicago having been happily settled in Paris, it may be asked in eeriöusness whether forks are not too much nsed in Chicago and everywhere else. Not that anybody wants to use the knife for conveying food to the mouth, but might not the teaspoon as a part of the dinner eq-ipment be a little more prominent? People of breeding train their children to eat peas, for instance, with a fork, tabooing the spoon for uo apparent reaaon other than that its use would simplify and facilitate the operation. On the same principie they ought to eat their peas with chopaticks, as a Chinaman could easily do. So with certain kinds of pie and pastry. The relish is marred by the loss of juices too thin for the fork to csrry. Yet tho man who values nis social reputation must uot ask for a sooon. The proper use of tho silver fork might be better understood if it were regarded as a modified shovel with limitations imposed by its slits. For solids it is an excellent shovel. For liquids it is naturally a failure. Tho couutryman who on his first visit to a city hotel asked the water for a spoon with ao slits in it was no legitímate subject of ridicule. He was an impartial critic, beins without the prejudice of habit or