280 OYSTERS, AND ALL ABOUT THEM. 



Kitchener did not know that the sweetest morsel of an 

 oyster is the adductor muscle. 



You cannot eat the oyster in greater perfection than 

 at a street-stall, because, as the capital of the owner is 

 small, so too is the stock ; and, to be sure of a rapid sale, 

 it must also be well and carefully selected, and therefore 

 does not need the announcement we read in many a by- 

 way one passes along, where " the tale of a tub" would 

 seem to contradict it : " Oysters fresh every day." The 

 poor man has no need to bid his cook, like his wealthy 

 neighbour, buy real sea-water, or salts for the preparation 

 of artificial sea-water, for the preservation of his oysters. 

 There are thousands of hands outstretched to receive his 

 nimble penny, and to give him in return oysters as fine as 

 any which can grace the table of the wealthiest in the 

 land. To me it is a treat to stand by and see how rapidly 

 oyster after oyster disappears down the capacious throat of 

 some stalwart son of toil, and to think that my favourite 

 health-giving mollusc, in every one that is swallowed, is 

 adding strength and muscle to those upon whom we so 

 greatly depend for the nation's wealth and prosperity. 



People generally, however, are somewhat indifferent 

 about the manner of opening oysters, and the time of 

 eating them after they are opened ; yet nothing deserves 

 more consideration at the hands of your true oyster-eater. 

 The oyster should be eaten the moment it is opened, if 

 eaten raw, with its own liquor in the undershell, as I have 

 already stated on very high gastronomical authority. It is 

 well worth a little practice to learn to open the oyster 

 oneself, for a bungling operator injures our little favourite, 

 and baulks the expectant appetite by his unsightly inci- 

 sions. 



