288 CURLING 



honour, and generally a subsequent banquet of beef 

 and greens. That is the regular curler's fare, and it 

 has the advantage that it taxes unduly neither the purse 

 of the loser nor the talent of the country Soyer. The 

 cookery is simple, and if it is only careful must be 

 successful. The chef is encouraged by the knowledge 

 that the men he caters for are all connoisseurs in the 

 dishes he provides. He serves strictly au naturel, for 

 in the course of the day each guest has found his own 

 sauce on the ice. They intimate approval in practical 

 fashion, and the quantity consumed is stupendous. 

 One sees rare feats of strength and capacity at southern 

 harvest-homes. But appetites seem to wax as you go 

 to the northward, and we should say a Scotch curler in 

 good form occupies the mean between an English 

 labourer at his annual assignation with the roast beef 

 and plum -pudding and an Esquimaux feasting on 

 blubber at his visitor's expense. The drink is strong 

 and simple as the meat is plain. Inebriety is 

 strictly discouraged. Indeed, those seasoned brains 

 strengthened by air, exercise, and a heavy dinner, must 

 drink deep before they reach the limits of temptation. 

 As tumbler after tumbler of strong, sweet toddy goes 

 down, you would say those respectable Calvinists ought 

 to seek their appropriate future in the Northern 

 Valhalla. The best of them would come off not 

 discreditably had they followed Thor in his long pull 

 at the ^Esirs' horn. Then they have always what 

 goes a long way to make a pleasant evening a common 

 interest and subject. Peer or peasant, every one for the 



