20 EDIBLE MUSHROOMS 



" What !" he exclaims, in pale alarm. " Ye aint 

 goin' t' eat them too ?" 



" Oh yes I am, this very evening," I respond. " I 

 think I'll try them firsts 



" Why, man, yure crazy ! You don't know nothin' 

 about 'em. I'd as soon think o' eatin' pizen outright. 

 Them's what we call black -slime tud- 

 A rustic stools. They come up out o' manure. 

 authority I've seen my muck-heap in my barn- 

 yard covered with the nasty things time 

 'n' ag'in. They look nice 'n' white naow, but they 

 rot into the onsiteliest black mess ye ever see. I 

 know wut I'm sayin'. Ye can't tell me nothin' 'baout 

 them tudstools ! They keep comin' up along my 

 barn-fence all thro' the fall — bushels of 'em." 



" Well, my good friend, it's a great pity, then, that 

 you have not learned something about toadstools as 

 well as mushrooms, for you might have saved many 

 a butcher's bill, and may in the future if you will 

 only take my word that this much-abused specimen 

 is as truly a mushroom as your pink-gilled peeler, 

 and, to my mind far more delicious." 



" What ! Do you mean to tell me thet you have 

 reely eaten ^em ?" 



"Yes, indeed; often. Why, just look at its clean, 

 shaggy cap, its creamy white or pink gills under- 

 neath ; take a sniff of its pleasant aroma ; and here ! 

 just taste a little piece — it's as sweet as a nut!" I 

 conclude, offering him the white morsel. 



" Not much ! I'll make my will first, thank'ee ! 

 You let me see ye eat a mess of 'em, and if the coro- 

 ner don't get ye, p'r'aps I'll try on't." 



