Eastern times. [volume] (Bath, Me.) 1846-1857, 1853-12-01
A Decided Hit.


IA good humored correspondent of the Alba
ny Register, writing from New York city,
describes the miSfortunes that sometimes be-
tall guests Of fashionable hotels, arising from
the silly custom Of printing bills Of fare in q
foreign language, instead Of plain English
The reader is imagined to be seated at the
dinner table: - i.ete1 r.fF
& A card is placed in your hand, all printed
over. 1t is called bill Of fare. Read it and
be wise. Cali for the good things it tells Of,
and be happy in the joys of gastronomyg--
Pshaw 1t is French, and we understand on
ly the mother tongue. Much ediication is
there to rs in this printed sheet Much wis
dom can ,ce draw from its admonitions. Were
it Latin, we could call up our ancient learn
ing, and spell out an inkling Of Its meaning
Even were it Greek, we might, by drawing
upon our schoolboy studies, make faint guess
as to what it refers. But French! Away
with it 1t is all Dutch to US. But, our dear
sir, we must eat. Aye, we must dine. Call
up the Irish waiter standing little way down
and point to the largest word on the bill, and
ask him what dish that is Pat scratches his
pate in bewilderment, and seizing the bill and
your plate, trots off to the cook-room, and re-
turns with whatl 8 Ponlne de te7re, an ndt1t-
rel, was what you called for, and here is
boiled potato with the skin on !! Wonderful
transformation in the name of a simple potato.
\ II
high-sounding, long WASTED name, and send
for it, What on earth is this "A beef steak
smothered in onions, steaming up under your
nose? Be calm, our friend The servant is
not to blame. He brought yen what you call
ed for. Throw away the bill. Discard
French names and French cookery. Go back
to the first principles, and cry out for roast
beef, pork and beans, or some other primitive
dish, whereon our supplemented ancestors
ted and grew fat. In this bill Of fare printed
in French, is not only bad faith but great folly.
What Frenchman, we should like to know, in
his own frog-eating country, ever saw a hotel
like the ST. Nicholas! Why, then, this mis-
cradle ahectation, this libel upon our country
and our language, by adopting aFrench jar
gon in our bills Of fare Is not plain, simple
English, the language Of our people, our in
stitutions, our Courts, oGr Presidents, our
Governors, Legislators, our Statutes, and our
history, good enough for our public houses =
Disgraceful, belittleing affectation is it all,
and if we had our way, we should leave those
hotels that adopt French as the language Of
their bills of fare to the patronage of French
men alone. We would make it losing game
to call potato either more or less than sim
ply potato. We would make the mother
tongue respected at table as well as every
where else, SO that gentleman who is learned
only in good English, could call understand
ingly for what was palatable to him. We
would save him from the hazards of having a
dish OF frogs set before him, when his heart
was set on spring chickens or the side-bone OF
a turkey. We are against the hard alterna-
tive Of studying French, or losing a good DIM
ner. 1t does not accord with the freedom OF
the citizen, or square with the national pride
of an independent American. "