TheHallowian-2021Vol2 - Flipbook - Page 12
How To Masticate the Morsel
Zita Denholm (White), Class of 1950
From 1947, when we arrived in Sub-Junior until the end of 1949, Sub-Senior year, Sister Mary Cordula was
responsible for the boarders’ refectory, and saw to it that we developed a range of social skills.
“
We were all taught to wait
on tables, talk quietly in a
crowded room, [...], address
the clergy, greet visitors –
everything that a well-brought
up young Catholic woman
should know. It was an
apparently endless list.
There were sixteen square tables which seated two girls on
each of the four sides – so, 128 girls having breakfast or dining.
Each table was in the charge of the Head of Table, usually a
Senior or a Sub-Senior. Next to her sat the Assistant, who might
be a reliable Junior. The most lowly places were on the side
opposite the Head. That was where the Sub-Juniors sat.
The Head of Table was responsible for the behaviour of the
girls in her care. She had the responsibility of correcting firmly
any deviations from the rules. So she could, and did, tell her
charges to take their elbows off the table, chew with their
mouths closed, take the piece of fruit which was nearest to
them in the bowl, wipe the gravy off her tie – whatever.
We were all taught to wait on tables, talk quietly in a crowded
room, never to gasp when an accident such as a dropped plate
occurred, fold serviettes, place cutlery correctly, eat fruit with a
knife and fork, write and reply to formal invitations, address the
clergy, greet visitors – everything that a well-brought up young
Catholic woman should know. It was an apparently endless list.
“
Most of this education took place in the refectory, but on Sunday nights after Tea – we had our hot meal, Dinner,
at midday – we gathered in the main study (ground floor at the end of The Walk) for a lecture on the finer points
of table etiquette.
Sister was good at euphemism. She never, in my memory, said ‘chew’ she always said ‘masticate’. We were
instructed, for instance, to cut meat into small pieces, use the fork in our right hand (and with the prongs turned
downwards) to transfer the food to our mouths, close our lips and ‘masticate the morsel’.
There is a lovely rhythm as well as alliteration in that phrase, and it loaned itself to irreverent parody. I wish I
could remember the lyrics of the song that Lorraine Stevens created about Cordula’s Sunday night lectures. The
fragments are floating in my head ……how to masticate the morsel of every separate dish…
….and don’t forget how to fold our napkins too
and eat up every separate bit of stew…
Remember – do not turn your fork upside down to eat peas, spear
them on the prongs – but if you can manage to quietly bog them
in potato, that’s convenient and acceptable.
The only foods that should be eaten with the fingers are grapes
and asparagus. Of course it was an era before readily available
deep fryers, and therefore before chips (or fries) were served
on domestic occasions – so there was never need for a decision
about them!
Students c 1940s, Zita pictured far left
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The Hallowian | 2021