Wrap them in a
handkerchief and it's no messier than tucking an unfinished few things from your plate into a napkin in your purse when you're leaving a restaurant. (I should note that taking home food you've paid for as part of a meal is quite unobjectionable, and not parallel to the situation in the quotation.
And in fact, most modern restaurants will give you a special bag or container to take leftover food home in if you ask. I have had elderly relatives who did this routinely. Not for economic reasons but because it was physically very difficult to cook for themselves at home, and the value was in not having to prepare a home meal. I've never seen anyone tuck restaurant food into their handbag or pocket.
Because ladies were supposed to be dainty eaters in public, the writer may also have been lambasting a woman for eating more than he thought women should.
Fran Lavolta Press Books on historic clothing www.lavoltapress.com _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list h-costume@mail.indra.com http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
