"what shall I EAT?" 189 



" Any cheese ? any pickles ? " 



"Not enough sale for them, to pay to keep them." 



"Then, in the name of all that is mysterious, what do 

 you keep ? " 



"Coffee, Florida sugar, molasses, meat — " 



" Ah ! " How we brightened up. Meat ! yes, we wanted 

 meat ; only too glad to get it. 



Proudly the salesman brought out the meat ; there was 

 one thing at least they did have. He brought it forth 

 and laid it on the counter — and our heart went down, down 

 to China Meat ! why it was pork — bacon ; an immense 

 thick slab of fat and lean, all crusted over with crystals 

 of salt ! and he looked so proud, and we felt so disgusted ! 

 He looked at us, and we looked at the meat. 



" Why, that is bacon ! " we gasped. 



" Yes, miss ; it's very fine too, first-class meat ; how many 

 pounds ? " he said complacently. 



" But we wanted meat ! " 



The salesman gazed at us meditatively ; then a gleam of 

 compassion stole over his features, a smile of pity for our 

 ignorance or — insanity. 



' ' Bacon is meat, and meat is bacon." 



" Oh !" We felt subdued, reproved, sat upon, and meekly 

 explained that, with us of the North, meat meant beef, 

 mutton, any fresh meat from the butcher. 



"Oh," he said, "you mean fresh! No, we don't keep 

 fresh at all, except sometimes some one brings in venison 

 to trade. Did n't know you meant fresh." 



We bowed our head, and crept out of that store, wiser 

 and meeker than we had entered it ; to think we had been 

 guilty of such benighted ignorance as to call "fresh," 

 meat, and meat, bacon ! 



Then we picked up our courage, and wandered up to the 

 counter once more, we had forgotten a part of our quest. 



