248 WILD SPORTS IN THE SOUTH. 



demands to know what there is to have. The answer is 

 given so rapidly, it sounds as follows : 



" Ap pi pi-p mi pi ca pi rat pi !" 



The guest gets confused, mildly inquires if they have 

 any fruit. 



" Yes, sah. Apple dumpling, sah." 



" Very well ; I will take an apple dumpling." 



" Hard or soft, sah ?" referring to the sauce. 



" Oh, soft, of course ;" referring to the dumpling. 



The dumpling is dashed down in front of him, as hard 

 as a cocoa-nut, and flooded in soft sauce, while the waiter 

 disappears down the table, gathering up the plates with a 

 clatter, and the room is deserted by all but the wonder- 

 ing observer, who has not yet acquired the local rapidity 

 of eating. 



Once more an American table looms up before me 

 through the mist of hungry years, as I have seen it a 

 thousand times. A low frame-house, with a porch half 

 covered with the trailing arms of morning-glories and 

 columbines, stands on a knoll of a western prairie. That 

 prairie is browsed by deer in thousands, and game birds 

 of the choicest kind feed on it in countless millions. The 

 river winds along the valley, teeming with fish, its banks 

 margined with water-cresses and dock, and shaded with 

 plum-trees and fruit-bearing vines, while from his cabin- 

 door the settler can see a hundred cattle cropping the 

 wild grass. 



Noon-time arrives, and the head of the house comes 

 in from the ploughing to his meal, and finds the same 



