A FATAL TOOTHPICK

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, California · May 10, 1905

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 31, No. 19.

A FATAL TOOTHPICK.

A LARGE manufacturer, giving advice to young men in a recent issue of the Chicago Tribune, tells how he measured a young man once by his table manners. The latter, it appears, at the close of the meal reached for a toothpick, and began at once to remove the particles of food that remained in the crevices of a badly-cared-for set of molars. The manufacturer, who was a gentleman, became so disgusted with this exhibition of coarseness on the part of the young man, that he dismissed him from his mind as a probable candidate for a position he had thought him, perhaps, qualified to fill. His table manners were bad, very bad; no young man of the most ordinary refinement would do anything so boorish as pick his teeth in the presence of others, particularly at the table.

We should say this manufacturer was a trifle severe, certainly uncharitable and not a little prudish in condemning a young man for ignorance for which he, perhaps, was not responsible, and which might have so easily been cured, if only the manufacturer had had the good sense to have quietly told the young man of his fault, and of the importance of cultivating good manners at the table and elsewhere. But he condemned him on the spot. He had picked his teeth at the table in his very presence.

Polite society has very properly banished the toothpick from the table, nevertheless, in the preservation of the teeth, a toothpick is not a whit less important than the tooth brush in the morning after rising, or at night before retiring. A well-cared-for set of teeth indicates the gentleman, just as a dirty pair of shoes indicates the sloven. Of course the toothpick (a small-sized quill is the best kind) is necessary in the care of the teeth, but it should be used in private. After the toothpick, dental floss drawn between the teeth completes the work of removing particles that otherwise might decompose, and finally result in decay.

In this day of keen competition the young man whose manners are good, who is familiar with good books, who cultivates good company, who has acquired the jewel of self-control, who is gallant, yet natural, in the presence of ladies, who is respectful to those older than himself, who is free from the use of profanity, and so dignified, even in the presence of his nearest companions, that none of them would

think of telling him an obscene story—such a young man in this day is on the highway to success. On the other hand, the young man who is careless about his companionships, whose mouth is frequently befouled with profanity, whose ideas of books are the cheap, trashy novel, who is unfamiliar with the amenities that obtain among gentlemen, and who prefers the prize fight or dog fight to the helpful field sports of strong, clean young men—such an one is just as surely on the broad road to failure.

So, if our friend, the manufacturer, was a trifle severe in condemning the young man who picked his teeth in his presence, it was because he could find other young men quite as bright for his purposes, whose manners were more attractive.

Don't pick your teeth at the table.—San Jose Mercury.