Daily Kennebec journal., 1870-07-30
DEATH AND DINNERS.

We always supposed John Bull was meant
by the man in the fable who made god OF his
stomach At whatever crisis in life an Eng
lishman arrives, he mounts on it to acknowl-
edge the divine property OF digestion. Wheth-
er he is married, goes on journey or returns,
makes his fortune, or is blown up in steam
boat excursion, comes into the world new
born soul, or is offered to the service of his
Maker in baptism, the event is celebrated by
the swallowing of victuals. But it was left to
our French friends to give to this chewing
operation its ghastliest and most picturesque
significance.
Our English exchanges are filled with glow
ing accounts of the celebration of the battle
OF Solferino on its eleventh anniversary a
week or two ago. Official representatives
from France Austria, and Italy assembled at
San Martino, and consecrated huge brick
Ossuary vr Bone-house, nine thousand corp
ses being inferred together in it. ''The gath
ering" we are told, 'was characterized by
the most fraternal cordiality, and distribu-
ton of orders ''by each Power to its former
opponents" After this ceremony, magnifi-
cent banquet was spread on the battlefield,
and the representatives of the three great ma
tions devoted themselves to roast and fricas-
see for several hours with most exuberant
hilarity. ''The red wine," says an enthusias-
tic spectator ''howed on the ground which
yet bore a darker stain, and chicken bones
| took the place of ghastlier relies" If Mon
sieur lie Mort, as our friend Jean calls him,
can enjoy joke, we fancy he must have pre-
sided with zest over these funeral baked meats
and shaken his ribbed sides with laughter
We Yankees are taunted as practical, and
lacking in sentiment. We usually do demand
for our action reasonable cause. What con-
ncction there could be between the nine thou
sand slaughtered corpses and gluttony and
drunkenness, we profess ourselves unable to
discover. That these noble Austrians and
gentlemen of France should meet together in
the spirit of Christian charity where once they
had striven as deadly foes, to bury at once
their dead comrades and the enmity which
destroyed them, and to strike hands of fellow
ship over their graves, is great and beauti-
| full spectacle. Solemn mass, or the utterance
of a few noble words, would have been fit
ting celebration. But why should they sit
down in the blood-staincd grass to satisfy the
cravings of nature? Is there aught ennobling
in the munching of turbot? Is there any sacred
significance in pate de foie gras' Prince HUI
bert, we are told, proposed a toast, and Herr
Pollack, on behalf of Austria enthusiastically
responded. The newspapers in France and
England are full OF admiration for the ''grand
| idea, grandly executed" To our duller
Yankee fancy it was feast that savored of
cannibalism. Only Fan devouring his en-
emy hath an element of revenge in his BAN
Quet which removes it ont OF the sensual
commonplace; but what purpose was served
by these men feeding above graves, beyond
triumphantly showing to the shadowy batal-
ions of ghosts that hemmed them in the sole
point in which the living dog was more to be
envied than the dead mn Y. Tribune.