SUPPER. 24-7 



sons in the last stage of disease. In a moment after, the 

 soup dishes are snatched away, and the guest is informed 

 he can have his selection from any one of almost every 

 kind of beast that walks the earth, or fowl that flies tho 

 air, or fish that swims in the water. Being a temperate 

 man, he orders roast beef, and in a moment is supplied 

 with a large slice of overdone, brown roast beef, flooded 

 with a light-colored gravy, a small dish of potatoes is 

 slammed on the table beside him, and a plate of macca- 

 roni. He takes a spoonful of potatoes, but finds them 

 very watery, and filled with darker colored lumps of un- 

 mashed vegetable. He hesitates, and tries the beef; it 

 is tasteless ; he tries the maccaroni, and small streams of 

 water run out of the pendent pipes as from a disconnected 

 engine hose. The bread is dry and cut in small oblong 

 pieces. He wonders what there is better cooked, and 

 if he is a stranger, he probably looks at his neighbors 

 to see what they are eating. The upper end of the board 

 is occupied by ladies, that have effected their entrance 

 to the dining-room by some side-door, and they are ar- 

 rayed in all the colors of the rainbow, and the glitter of 

 ornaments, and seem to be busy talking loudly and look- 

 ing along the table. The long rows of gentlemen are 

 busy, without the interchange of a word, eating rapidly 

 of everything that is placed before them. While our 

 guest is remarking these things, his plate is taken away 

 by the waiter, and he notices the gentlemen are all eating 

 dessert, or leaving the table, having finished their dinner. 

 The waiter asks him what he will have for dessert. Ho 



