boarding-house reach (1909)

[Barnhart]

Found today (I should say refound, as I had lost it):

The subject was not mentioned at breakfast; nor was anything else, in
particular, mentioned.  Duncan was extremely polite, and passed here the
toast when ordinarily he would have permitted her to help herself (true,
it was a small table, for two, and easily spanned, but she objected to a
"boarding-house reach"), as was wholly affable.  Edwin L. Sabin, "What Did
Duncan Do?" Lippincott's Monthly Magazine (APS Online), Dec. 1909, p 724

Any examples from further back would be much appreciated.

Regards,
David

barnhart at highlands.com