Baton Rouge tri-weekly gazette & comet. [volume] (Baton Rouge, La.) 1865-18??, 1866-07-17

vocation, Hal as Falstaff has it But to
return, while enjoying our 0tiun sine dag
ssstats, our mind was inyoluntarily carried
back to the supposed time, when oysters
| were first aauested for the food of man.
s. Panza Esquire-good easy old fellow
| blessed the man who first aagented Sleep
but thrice blessed be the memory of that
man, who first invented "FfesA Oysters in
the Shell, Pat up in Ae," for the food of
man in summer, with heat at 90 FAIR.
Now, Mr.. Editor, are g0u, as Editors are
supposed to know everything) acquainted
with the history of the oysters Iconfess
that am not. Oft times when we have
been looking after the annals Of the races
of mankind, balancing and estimating the
thousand and one circumstances and causes
that have wrought kindred results to the
anthopological being, we have been sur
prised to find no mention made, either in
sacred or profane history, or the semi
truthful legends of country and continent,
of the oyster. Has this prince of bivalves
an ancient history? Was he known to
the old PhalistaiA to the Sidonians, and
the inhabitants of radiant Tyres Did he
inhabitant the terraqueous portions of Eux-
inc, and did the fisherman extract him
from the placid waters of the Egean (?
Was he exalted at the feasts of the Archi-
pelago, and contributed his gastronomic
charms to the festivities of the city of the
sea- Was his passage ever facilitated
down the Esophaguses of ancient bards
with draughts of Lesbian wines Did the
bicuspids of the stern Caesars ever close
triumphant on SO delectable an amphib
There is no mention oft. 1919
Howbeit in modern times the oyster
hath been duly venerated. 1t has become
an element in our social system-a frater-
nalizing link of brotherhood among men.
Its presence is like oil on the troubled wa.
tiers, and its inception as necessary to the
ties of friendship, as was the combustion
ofthe calumet in aboriginal forests. More
over, it is the great source of all cheap (?l
conviviality; Wand in any shape, unless
it be in that very questionable shape of a
steao, where it is secluded in an aqueous
hermitage, from which it can be extracted
only by the most assiduous exertions.
Honor to the man who was the first to eat
the oyster, and too much praise cannot
be spoken of his magnanimity in pro-
claiming its merits to the world.
After partaking of another glass of the
"sparkling Catawba," and lighting fresh
cigar, we were seized with one of the hard
est poetical spasms on record, far exceed
ing that experienced by the author of
Gertrude of WYOMING" and the follow
ing is the result -
I sing the oyster Virgin themeD
King of Moluscules Ancient of the streaml
Thy birth was Times-soon as tn affrighted world,
A quivering mass, in space immense was hurled
In darkness cradled-'mid chaos nursed
Tumultueusi ambiguous, till burst
Thy unctuous beauty on world where none
Could know thy merit there, alone
Thou pined'stforlorn, mid mud and food and slime
Ere man came on the stage, far in the time
ocsmogenetical
Nor yet alone-primor dial bivalve!
Say, in thy homage, didst thou not have
Some shell-hsh she. by tender tie endeared,
To share thy mud, and pull thy downy beard?
- L -
When Megalosaurus whispered in her ear;
Or when Galampus, monarch ofthe main,
Loud believing, shook TIE watery plainl
Or Celossochelys, grim giant of the shore,
dashed out his tail and gave his morning roar
Thundiferousl
How long, bemirsd, inglorious, didst thou sleep,
Thy charms secreted by the envious deep
Unknown-untossed and unsungl So lies
The fairest flowers meath Arabs desert skies:
So sleeps the gem within its rocky tombl
So blinks the planet in its distant gloom,
Till some rare sa0dnt brings it to the view
So half the world for ages, lay oerdae,
Till great Colombo CHANGED this way to steers
And walked our doing hemisphere,
One morning.
And here we were gently aroused by the
announcement of servant, with :-"IIe
Captain sends has compliments, and says he is
s0astang for gou." Gentle reader, we had
been doing and dreaming about "Oyster8
in tbs Shell, Put up in Ice I"
We fastened on board the steamer Or
Gre Great Greathouse-Capt. si-si-sim-
simes--confound that "sparkling Cataw-
ba," it won't do for temperance man, on |
business. ~
LAKE GAGE, 1866.
POLICE UNIFoRMs.-The balance |
of the police uniforms, manufactured |
in New York. haze arrived. and in