The lurking tragedy: The chances are that an accident will some day happen to you at a friend's dinner table ... As long as water and coffee and jelly exist, a certain percentage of each will necessarily be overturned upon a like number of snowy white tablecloths. Usually the tragedy is really no one's fault.
Mary Elizabeth Clark, Margery Closey Quigley (1939). “Etiquette Every Child Should Know”
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