Chatted Food

Aa an illustration of tbe value ofconversution in its more familiar forms and ts dailjr requirements, consider its service at moal times. General usage has dotermined that three times a day we shall assemble with uur families for tha common purposo of appea.sing tha demands of hunger and uatisfying the fanoies or whims of the palate. Moreover, to many meu these aro the only times of the day when they can have the opportiinity to meet all the members of their family iu free aud uurostrained intercourse. Now, to rnake this occasion something more tlian mere "feeding," and to elévate it to the dignity of rátional intcrcourse, convorsation is indispensable. We must open our moutha for something more than the roception of food. As a mere hygionio rulo, I wish that excellent old proverb could be oiroulatod among our countrymen- "Chatted food is half digested." I would almost pledge myself by this single rule to cure or prevent nearly half the cases of dyspepsia. Bat for higher reiisons chiefly I speak of it now. Wo ought to insist that overvthing shall be favorable at meal-tirnes to the truest sociability. No elou-led brows, no abseut or pre-occupied demeanor, should be pennitted at cur tables. Whoever is not rendy to do his part io making it a cheerful hour, ehould be made to feel that he does not' beiotig there. Better the merest nonsonse, better anythiug that is not soaudal and detraction, thaa absolute and freezing silence there. I a_m_ sure that the usages of all the most civilizad and refined people will bear me out in this- that the only way to dignify our meals, and inake theni something better than the indulgeuoe of mere animal appetites, is to intersperse them largely with social talk. There, if not elsewhere, we look for the soluta linqua. There all reserve and embarrassment of speech, we trust, will have vanished, and each will feel free to impart to the rest his most joyful moods. Shall weever rèalizB this ideal, as long as "bolting" usurps the place of eating ? Washington urged cheerfulne.-s at 'the table.