The Bloomfield times. [volume] (New Bloomfield, Pa.) 1867-187?, 1874-01-27


and placed himself in rather an awkward
position, with his left elbow on the table,
and his head near the place to eat accord
ing to his custom, which was very fast al
though he was not very great eater and
as some Of the gentlemen near the Judge
followed his example as to partaking of the
pudding before the meat, of course large
deep vessel containing that article was
nearly emptied,, when Mary approached
with two additional tureens Of gravy, ac-
cording to the commands of her mistress !;
and as she set down the last near the Judge
he said to her in an austere manner, "Girl,
bring me clean plate to eat some salad
on.'
The abrupt manner in which he addressed
her, and her disgust at seeing him there in
that position, so disconnected the poor girl
that she did not observe that any one but
the Judge had partaken of the pudding,
nor did she know what he meant by salad !;
but she observed that the large pudding
pan was nearly empty, and then hastened
back with the utmost speed to her mistress
and addressed her with, "Dear madam,
that old fellows there yet, and he is Ger
tainly crazy or drunk, for he is down at
the table, and he has eaten more than a
skipple of the rice pudding already, and
has his nose right down into a plateful
now, shoveling it like hog and told me,
as if he was the lord of the manor, to bring
him clean plate to eat salad on. Bless
me where can we get salad at this time of
the yearP And the gentlemen have not
done carving yet, and not one has begun to
eat meat, much less tub full of pudding"
"Aye, he'll get a clean plate," says Mar
tha, before the gentlemen want clean
plates" "I'll clean him out" says the
mistress, and she started for the dining
room burning with indignation,
The Judge was remarkable for not giving
unnecessary trouble to anybody where he
put up, and generally ate what was put
before him, without any remarks and sell
dom made use of more than one plate at a
meal. But at this time he observed near
him dish of beautiful white cabbage, cut
up in vinegar, which the Low Dutch at
Poughkeepsie called "cold slaw," and
which he called "salad," and be wished
for separate plate to prepare some of it
for his own fancy. The carving and serv-
ing were not yet finished, when the land
lady arrived at the door of the dining-room
determined to drive him out. She advanced
wi Hrr,, ctaY 20 H. n
keen eyes sternly on the Judge, when he
turned his eye that way, and observing
her, mildly said, Landlady, can have a
clean plate to eat some salad on ?" ga
clean plate and salad ~ retorted the land
lady Indignantly. "I wish you would
come into the kitchen until the gentlemen
have dined. reserved that seat for Judge
Crane.
After the tumult had subsidized a little,
the Judge mildly said, "Didn'tI chop
wood for my breakfastP" "Indeed you
did," said she, "and said you had no
money" 81 told you the whole TRUTH"
replied the Judge, "but have beautiful
shawl, worth more than ten dollars, which
just now bought, and will leave it now
with you in pawn, if you will only let me
eat dinner with these gentlemen. Here
the gentlemen were biting their lips to
keep from laughter
How did you buy tho shawl worth
more than ten dollars without money 20
81 bought it on credit,' said he. "And
where did you find credit to that amount?''
said she. 81 brought it from home"
said he. "That's likely story, and some
thing like your abuse of Judge Crane this
said she.
How could l abuse the Judge if he was
not presentP" asked he.
"You called him rusty, fusty, fudge
and an old codger,' and said you did not
care rye-straw more for him than you
lid for yourself"
Here the company burst into roar of
augbter again. AS soon as it had subsidized
| little, one of the gentlemen asked the
andlady how she knew the gentleman she
vas addressing was not Judge Crane. "He
ooks more like snipe than crane /" she
Here the loud laughter burst forth third
ime, and after a little pause the Judge
aid :" must confess that 1 am not
bird of very fine feathers, but I assure you
am crane, and crane is often very
Useful instrument. l saw very good one
n your kitchen this morning, and some
lines an instrument called crane is of
invaluable use, madam"