42 CEDAR LAKE. 



ing an ocean trip from Moville to New York. He was 

 making a fishing trip to the Pacific Coast, in company 

 with three other Englishmen. One of them was named 

 Fitzgerald, and the names of the others I cannot re- 

 member. It was their first visit to the United States, 

 and Fitzgerald, like most Englishmen on their first 

 visit, viewed the customs and manners of the country 

 in a somewhat supercilious and contemptuous light. 

 George stood a dinner in New York before we sepa- 

 rated, at some hotel, I think as near as I can remember 

 it was the Bryant House. I shall never forget the look 

 which the head waiter gave our party, when Fitzgerald, 

 after we were seated at the table,- putting on his mono- 

 cles and most killing, languid air, and after looking 

 at the bill of fare, remarked that a freshly boiled lob- 

 ster would be just the thing; adding in a contemptuous 

 manner he supposed it would be impossible to obtain 

 such a luxury in America. The waiter, with blood 

 in his eye, told him he guessed he could be accommo- 

 dated, so Fitzgerald added a lobster to the already 

 varied order. 



We started in with soup. It was vermicelli, and re- 

 markably good; but Fitzgerald founH fault with it. 



The wait between the soup and the fish was some- 

 what protracted, fully twenty minutes, and during this 

 interval Fitzgerald indulged in sarcastic remarks about 

 the country. 



However, presently the lobster made its appearance, 

 and such a lobster! Never before and never since hav<? 

 I seen such a remarkable crustacean. It appeared to 

 weigh fifty pounds, and I think the waiter, out of pure 

 patriotism, must have scoured the country for miles 

 around to obtain the largest lobster in existence. It 

 made its debut on an enormous platter, and ye gods! 

 what an avalanche of lobsterian matter descended in 

 our midst when it was placed on the table. First was 

 the body cut carefully in sections, each section pur- 

 posely placed in a position calculated to display its 

 mammoth proportions to the utmost; piled crosswise 



