SUPPER. 163 



with brown hair and blue eyes, just opening into womanhood, 

 brings his pie. The brass candlesticks on the mantel-piece are 

 filled with asparagus boughs, the oaken floor is polished with 

 scrubbing, and the tall clock in the passage-way strikes one as the 

 meal is ended. 



There is another dinner scene that may be as often remarked in 

 America, and equally characteristic of another class of eaters. A 

 bell rings, or a jangling gong shocks the ear, while five-and-forty 

 men rush past the waiter that is beating his brazen drum, and sit 

 down at a long hotel table. On it are spread various small articles 

 of food or ornament, such as celery, oranges, and figs, which are 

 immediately seized, and appropriated. Waiters hand every person 

 a dish of soup, of that consistency that is supposed to be proper to 

 nourish persons in the last stage of disease. In a moment after 

 the soup dishes are snatched away, and the guest is informed he 

 can have his selection from any one of almost every kind of beast 

 that walks the earth, or fowl that flies the air. Being a temperate 

 man, he orders roast beef, and in a moment is supplied with a large 

 slice of overdone, brown roast beef, flooded with a light-coloured 

 gravy, a small dish of potatoes is slammed on the table beside him, 

 and a plate of maccaroni. He tries the potatoes, but finds them 

 watery, and filled with lumps ; the beef — it is tasteless ; the macca- 

 roni, and streams of water run out of the pendent pipes as from a 

 disconnected engine hose. The bread is dry and cut in small 

 oblong pieces. He wonders, and, if he is a strarger, looks at his 

 neighbours to see what they are eating. The upper end of the 

 board is occupied by ladies that have effected their entrance by 

 some side-door, and they are arrayed in the colours of the rainbow, 

 and seem to be busy talking loudly and looking along the table. 

 The long rows of gentlemen are busy, without the interchange of a 

 word, eating rapidly of everything placed before them. While our 

 guest is remarking these things, his plate is taken away by the 

 waiter, and he notices the gentlemen are all eating dessert, or leav- 

 ing the table, having finished their dinner. The waiter asks him 

 what he will have for dessert. He 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 ! " 



