The centre of the modern home was no longer the sitting room, the parlour or the study of the paterfamilias. It was the kitchen, and the heart of the kitchen was its table. This was where children learned basic manners, including the unspoken rules of conversation, and how to be in company and where they would absorb for a lifetime the vital rhythm and rituals of regular meals and begin to take for granted their first simple duties in helping to clear away. It was where the post was opened, where friends sat around talking and drinking, while their host prepared their supper. And it was where,
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