Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1859-07-01


'Ihey are coffee berries uttered the per
picked captain.
'Please, gentlefolks, when Harriet was a 90
ing TO put in the vermisilli, she laid hold OF
the wrong paper, and the coffee berries slipped
in atore she found out her mistake" ex
planned Mrs. Brown. There was no tim,
to fish 'em out again.
Apart from the cofee-berries the soup wal
uneatable, and the spoons were laid down.
Take 1t away said the captain.
30 Mrs. Brown carried away the pe-dish,
and upon returning to remove the respective
plates, she asked first individually, please.
had they done with it ?"
''Neyer mind, Mrs. Courtenav." " said Ma
lor Ord, good humoredly; "misfortunes Will
happen, You know, in the best regulated
family. am an old traveller; think moth
ing of them"
Let US hope what's coming viii be better,
observed the captain. And We'll try the
wine meanwhile. major
What was coming was tolerably long in
coming, and Mrs. Courtenay got hotter, but
, whom II did come it came IN triumph Har-
. rlct On clean hands and Il gown all grease)
bearing one dish and Mrs Brown another.
/ and th % both returned for the vegetables.
+ J he major gently ruhh.d lis bands. and a..
/ covers were removed
Lamb chops and ducks, major" said
/ Mrs. C0urtenay s'\Nc have made no stran-
/ ger of You
Which were the chops and which were
/ the ducks? The dish before Mr. C0urteuav
/ appeared to contain a mas, of something as
/ black as pitch. 1t was the chops burnt to a
coal That was objectionable of Harriet
for she could cook chops well. II fear
cannot recommend the chops, said the mis-
erable hostess, 'but think I can the
Mrs. Courtenay came to dead staud-stil.
For upon looking towards the ducks she was
struck by the extraordinary appearance they
presented. The captain was also gazing up
on them with open mouth, and Aunt elem
was putting on her spectacles for better
view
"Wbat dye call them asked Aunt
Glen. They must be some i0reign-shaped
creatures from abroad 80
Harriet, are those the ducks?" uttered
Mrs. Courtenqy.
They were the ducks, but
"lt | don believe they have been cooked
with their heads on go interrupted Aunt
Glen. And these things. sticking up in
the air. are the beaks. and these four things
are their eyes. My gracious, girl ,'' turning
sharply round to Harriet, ''dii You ever see
ducks cooked with their heads on. be!ore?'
The heads had been elevated in an lagen-
IOus way. a quarter o. a ward high, by means
OF upright skewers, with, as Aunt Glenn ex-
pressed it, the beak sticking up the feet
were sticking up also, and spread out like
fans. Harriet made her escape from the
room.
They won t eat the worse for it. said
Major Ord, good naturedly; and the captain
proceeded to carve them in the best manner
he could, considering the array Of the skew
erS.
"Stuthng. MAORI"
"If you please. 1t is called vulgar taste
[ believe, but plead guilty to liking it.
80 do |, sir, said Aunt Clem, fixing her
spectacles on the majors face, land hope
| never shall shrink from ayowing it, though
the world does seem to be turning itself top
sy-turyy, aping after what it calls refinement.
4 duck, without the sage and onions, would
not be "a duck TO me.
"Nor to me either, ma am sand the
major.
..What very extraordinary stuhng ut-
tered Aunt Glenn. who was the frst helped.
Whats it made OFF continued she. shifting
and tasting.
made Off, hcsia,ed rhe unhappy Mrs
Courtenay
" Please, genuelolks, it, chiefly made Of
suet, with thyme and pa '-ley and crumbl-j
bread and pepper and salt" spoke up Mrs
Brown.
Fortune be good to U.S. uttered Aunt
Glenn, &c why that's a veal stulhug. Ducks
are stuffed with sage and onions
'' Please, gautle-f5lks, / tcilei Harriet j
seen EN- done with sage and ini0ns, and she
asked If ! thought I kuowed better than
her"
VIII you baycany Of it Major" inquir-
ed the captain, very quietly, in his mortihca-
ton
" Well, don't know How viii ittaste.'
The vegetables would have been very good
had they been done, bat the peas were as
hard as the coffee berries. and the grass, as
Aunt Glen called it, had never been united
from the bundle in which it was bought. The
young potatoes were in a mash. They were
trying to make a dinner, when a dIvertlse-
ment occurred /; the children returning home
from their walk, burst into the room, and
undisciplined and wilful as they were, could
only be got rid OF by force, the captain being
obliged to rise from the table and assist In
the election, whilst their screams frightened
the visitor and deafened Aunt Glenn. Poor
Capt. Courtenay almost swore mental oath
that he would run away TO Africa with
morning light.
"Oh, Aunt Glen, did ever any thing 90
so unfortunate? burst forth Mrs. Courte-
nay, in a shower of agonizing tears, the
moment she escaped from the dining-room.
" What is to be done2 What will Major
Ord think Of me, as the mistress Of such a
household-such housekeeping
- He viii think you are an idiot, was
the complimentary reply Of Aunt Glen, ''and
so do l. lam gong to see Mrs. Lance, now
it IS late.
I'm go with you," feyerishly uttered
Augusta. - cannot stay here and face my
husband and the major at coffee"
"Caution the kitchen first, then, that they
DON t make the coffee of yermicelli, - retorted
Aunt Glen.
The peaceful home of her sister Annis,
everything so quiet and orderly, was like
haven of rest, after her own, to Mrs. COur-
tenav Dr. and Mrs. Lance, were there, but
Mr.. Lance had not returned from town, to
the extreme surprise, if not alarm ofhis wife,
for he was always punctual. He soon came
in, and Captain Courtenay with him, Major
Ord having pleaded an evening engagement.
"We cannot go on like this" cried the
Captain. suppressing his temper, as he looked
at his sobbing wife, who had been detailing
her grievances. Where lies the fault and
what is to be done ?''
Il think the fault lies in Augusta S in
capacity for management, said DR.. Marsh,
'and-
"Oh, papa 80 she sobbed, you don't
know how have tried to learn"
And in your being unable, both OF you,
to accommodate yourselves to your reduced in
come" he added. Augusta child, you in
terrupted me- 1t is now three hundred a
year: but, with all your discomfort, you must
be exceeding it.
"FOur hundred won't cover our expenses
this year, answered the captain gloomily
''And what viii they be next, choked
Augusta, ''when there's going to be-I'm
afraid-another-bab %
An ominous pause ensued; all present felt
that such prospects were not bright ones.
Aunt Glenn broke out with groan: