New-York tribune., 1874-11-28
AFTER DTVkER.

.
AFTER DINNER.
Davs devoted to deglutition should also be
davs of that felicitous digestion which, with
health, ought to wait on appetite. 1t Is un-
necessary for us to say that on Thursday last
the National stomach was quite as severely
taxed rs the National gratitude. Wo wonder
how many times at tho groaning board by the
groaning guest allusion was made to that
hackneyed boy who "thought he could eat a
"littlo moro if no stood up" or how often
the repetc wag, pressed to be helped again,
observed that " his legs were not hollow" and
that lie wanted to live another day." How
many dyspepsias will date from the Goth inst!
We refer to the subject not for tho purpose
of recommending Smiths Imperial Pigweed
Bitters, but to inquire whether, after all,
over-eating isn't q little moro discussed and
deprecated than Is necessary. Mr.. Fegetarlus
Grits, Lecturer on the Science of Human Life,
mournfully demonstrates death in the pot
and destruction In the grldlrOn; Dut
lust think how an Oyer-eatinS human
race manages to get along and to worry
down a little more! We arc not speak
ing of savagcs-of that Esquimau brave
for instance, mentioned by Parry, who dis
posed of twenty-four pounds Of blubbcr at q
singlAsitting-but of civilized wielders OF the
fork and The spOOn-nice napkin ana hnSer-
glass diners-masticator upon system, with
the blessing of a good appetite and
good cook. Grts tells us that all
mankind eats moro than it should; and If
Grits means that most OF US eat more than IS
necessary to sustain life, he is right. But
with Thanksgiving just gone and Christmas
lust coming, arc we to be put upon allow
ance 7-reduced to minimum 9-toddered by
rule and sustained by stipulated ounces Why
did our Creator give us incisOrs then was
it only that the dentist might pull them or
plug them 2 Why was man made with n
capacty for finding out sauces How did
breakfast or dinner or supper become each
permanent institution, suspended perhaps III
cases of famine, but not to be abolished by
any revolution whatever2 We have no
Datience with Grits when he comes
in grOaning at our third plate-iul.
We once were acquainted with man who
had large hot legs of roasted mutton every
morning for his breakfast; and what gigantic
pieces of resistance he had for his dinner, only
his cook and butcher knew. When he bought
turkeys lie bought two-one for himself and
one for his family. No Emperor in the days
Of the Roman decadencc ever ate more than
Ibis honest Ncw-England citizen and he lived
10 be Sd in spite OF hot sau5lgcs every night
lust before going to bed. How Grits hated
him and for years forctold his carly demise!
We thought of our multivorous friend at o
o'clock y. IN. on the day of thc National Feast,
and a tender memory of his achievements
wonderfully strengthened Us in Our receptive
duties.
The world, which has mighty censoIiOuS
way with it, bcstOw5 number OF bad names
upon the man who eats all he desircs-Dig,
gormandizer, glutlon, for instances! Yet tie
appetite of even the last named animal has
been cruelly ovcrstatcd-" ridculously exag-
"gcratcd,r says Cuyier. For, in the first place,
tho world cOnfound5 nice eaters with great
eaters while those who are fond OF their forks
have a way Of talking too much upon the sub
iect. which obtains for them n vOraciOus rcpu-
tation which they do not exactly deserve.
And now at last we come 80 the point at
which we have been aiming through all this
light skrmishing. We take il for granted that
the reader, gentle or ungentle, felt on Thurs
day how good it was to have enough. Can
he not deduce, by sort of rctrOgrlde ratio
ciuation, from his own plcthOric joys, how sad
it must be to have too littlef Think OF the
thousands who diJ not taste turkey at all,
while others were fastiliOusy hcstatinG be-
tween white meat and black meat, between
s;de-bone and drnm-stici! Tae Individual
man may over-eat, but the mournful fact re-
mains that man in the aggregate never gets
all he wants. We doubt if even the nOblest
Thanksgiving Dinner would be pleasant if
the plain dinner of next week were uncertain, :,
The sparrows, we Observed kept the day IN
very jolly style; but, good reader, please re-
member that Pauperrimus and the little Pau
Derrimusses do not wear feathers!