but
not attempting to get any- " Why don't you help yourself to some cake,
or a sandwich ? " he asked. " Because I have not a fork," she replied.
He smilingly said, " Yes, my dear! but, don't you know, fingers were
made before forks ! " When, much to his amusement, and surprise, she
sagely replied, " Not my fingers."
Charles Dickens (always exercising a wonderful power of observing small details of his surroundings) when telling (in David Copperfield) of
the solemn interview between Mr. Spenlow, Miss Murdstone, and David, in
a coffee-house adjoining Doctors' Commons, says, they " found Miss
Murdstone there, supported by a background of sideboard, on which were
several inverted tumblers, sustaining lemons ; and two of those
extraordinary boxes, all corners, and flutings, for sticking Silver
knives, and forks in, which—happily for mankind —are now obsolete."
On
the sloping tops of these old-fashioned bits of " marqueterie"
sideboard (Sheraton) furniture were painted central inlaid pictures of
convoluted shells, in neutral tints of (time-worn) colouring. Such
articles now take rank as antiques in the brokers' shops. It is a
curious fact that the Conch shell in its occult relation to ancient
Indian religious rites, merits enquiry. Thus, a Conch shell which has
its spirals twisting to the right (instead of to the left, as usual),
is thought to be worth its weight in gold. Some years ago a Conch of
this description was offered for sale in Calcutta, with a reserve price
of a lakh of rupees put upon it, which Conch was eventually bought in
for the sum of four thousand pounds.
When simple-hearted, painstaking Traddles had
