Indiana American. [volume] (Brookville, Ind.) 1833-1861, 1853-11-25
Extract from Miss Brcmers Jour-
nnl.

Extract from Miss Brcmers Jour-
nal.
/ like better our usages at table than
in this country. With us, people can
enjoy the pleasures of conversation, aud
theJ need not think about the dishes +,
except in so far as enjoying them goes.
Everything, with US, is done silently and
in due order by the attendants. At a
glance from the hostess you are offered
second supply, but this also silently;
the dishes come round to the guests, each
in his turn, and after that people are not
troubled with them. Here IL is not so.
Here there Is an incessant asking and
inviting, and selecting and answering,
there II really no time for the enjoyment
of the meal, much less Of coov ersatlon.
Neither Is one able to help ones self; but
the host or hostess, or aunt or uncle, or
some other polite person, or II muy be
the servants, which here In the South
are always negroes, help you, aud you
saiies, oe' inst what rou wish Tor. nr az
much or as little as you want, and not
on that part ofthe plate where you wish
TO have IL. You urc asked, for example,
"Will you have butterl'
eyes, thank YOU"
And with that comes piece Of butter
on the edge oftho plate, on which, the
annoying thought always suggests itself,
that Il is certainly exactly where the
servant put his thumb. Then Il goes
on:
"will you take fish or meat' chicken
or turkcyw
"Chicken, if you please"
"liave you any choicel The breast,
or wlngl"
Then comes. "will you have pick
loslp
mo, | thank you"
A pause and calm onsuos for two min
u,os, But then somebody on your left
discovers that you have no pickles, and
pickles como TO you from tho left. -
"May help you To pcklosi"
mo, | thank you"
After a few minutes more, somebody
on the right sees that you have no pick
los, and hastens TO offer you the bottle.
"Will you not take picklcsw
"No, thank YOU"
You then begin an interesting convor-
sation with your next nclghbor; and,
just as you are about TO ask some qucs-
ton of Importance, a person opposite
you observes that you are not eating
pickles, aud the picklc-bottle comes TO
you across the table, and you are call
cd upon 10 say once more, In solC.juSt.
fication,
"No, | thank you, not any," and con-
tinuo your conversation.
But again, at the moment you arc
waiting for some reply interesting TO you,
comes tho servant, perhaps the very
best daddy In the whole black world,
and shoots tho pickle-bottlo In between
you aud your conyorsable nolghbor, aud
with horror you again behold pickles
ready to bo put upon your plate, 80 that
In the end you find yourself quite over.
come by tho pickle persecution.
Thus goes on the moalj ono incessant
hustle VI serving, which takes from you
all enjoyment OF tho food. have at
last a regular palpltation Of tho heart
from dlpquet and lmpatIencel but that
ID IN great measure my own iault--tho
fault OF my weakness, though something
must be allowed 70 tho faul, OF tho Gus.
tom here, which Ii not quite In harmony
with tho higher pleasures of social inter-
course. This custom, however, did not
originate In this country. II belongs
TO England. and must beput down to the
account OF England.
AseENR AT CARR May.
was sitting one morning beneath my
leafy aleoye, on the sea.shore, with my
book In my hand, but my eyes on the
sea and the porpolses, when fat lady
with a eountenanee like one Of our jol-
liest Stockholm huekster-w omen, came
and seated herself on tho same bench at
a little distance from me, had a pro-
sentiment Of evil, and | fixed my eyes
on Wordsworth's Excursion. My neigh
Dor crept toward me, and at length she
said,
"Do you know where Miss Bremen
llves"
II believe" said |, "that she lives In
Columbia House."
"Hum should be glad to ee her."
A silence, am silent, and look in
my book. MY neighbor begins again.
"l sent. her, the other day, packet
some verses, with the signature The
American Harp and volume-and
have not heard a word from her."
"Ah!" said |, now pushed very close-
ly, "you are perhaps The American
Harp and is you have to thank for
the PRESENT." For here be il known, |
had wished not to meet the authoress OF
a book written in the style of 'The Sor-
rowful Certainties;' because the author
ess had mentioned in her epistle that il
had been much praised in the Cape May