FIFTY YEARS OF A SHOWMAN'S LIFE 



functions, and were not so remarkable for the 

 number of courses as for the solidity of the fare. 

 Everything to be eaten was put on the table and 

 carved by the diners themselves, and a pretty 

 uproar there would have been if the eatables, as 

 now, had been carved behind a screen, without 

 anybody who was to partake seeing that they 

 were real bond fide joints, at which you could cut 

 and come again. Besides, how could Farmer Jones 

 indicate the particular cut he had a liking for 

 when he couldn't see the joint ? When in more 

 select circles diner d la russe was introduced, I 

 remember the scorn and contempt with which 

 the news was received at one of these old-fashioned 

 sort of dinner functions to which I am referring. 

 Some one had " heard tell " of this extraordinary 

 new procedure, which was considered to be " just 

 what you might expect from Russia," but which 

 "would never go down with Englishmen, who 

 wanted everything fair and above-board." But, 

 other times, other manners ! 



I have known occasions in those days, although 

 not in connection with agricultural dinners, when 

 diner a la russe would have resulted in a fairer 

 apportionment of edibles than could be ensured 

 under the old system. A friend of mine once gave 

 me an illustration from his own experience of 

 what could happen when the diners were their 

 own carvers. If simplicity and celerity were alone 

 aimed at, the method of food distribution he 

 described would be hard to beat. It occurred at 

 a dinner annually held at Oxford by a friendly 

 society on New Year's Day. Considering the 

 quality and quantity of the fare it was a very 



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