TURKEY AND OYSTERS. 231 



mitigated, without losing the delicacy of their flavour 

 by a mixture with any condiment whatever, except their 

 native juice. Alas ! there are but few who know how 

 to appreciate and make use of these natural advantages. 

 Scarcely one man in a thousand knows how to open an 

 oyster, and less how to eat it. The ordinary system 

 which is employed at the oyster shops is radically false, 

 for all the juice is lost, and the oyster is left to become 

 dry and insipid upon the flat shell, which effectually 

 answers as a drain to convey off the liquid, which is to 

 the oyster what the ' milk ' is to the cocoa-nut. 



Those who wish to eat oysters as they should be 

 eaten should act as follows : — 



Hold the mollusc firmly in a cloth, insert the point 

 of the knife neatly just before the edge of the upper 

 shell, give a quick, decided pressure until the point is 

 felt to glide along the polished inner surface of the 

 under shell. Force it sharply to the hinge, give a 

 smart wrench rather towards the right hand, and off 

 comes the shell. Then pass the knife quickly under 

 the oyster, separate it from its attachment, let it fall 

 into the lower shell, floating in the juice, lift it quickly 

 to the lips, and eat it before the delicate aroma has 

 been dissipated into the atmosphere. There is as much 

 difference between an oyster thus opened and eaten, as 

 between champagne frothing and leaping out of the 

 silver-necked bottle, and the same wine after it has 

 been allowed to stand for six hours with the cork re- 

 moved. 



