New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1876-09-10
The Oyster Month.

one of the devoted band who secured to ~
our liberties.
The Oyster Month.
The first of September should be kept y
q feast and the thirtieth of April &c fat
in this country. On the latter day the
great American oyster becomes q contra
hand of diet. On the former he once MON
reappeare, the most succuient, the most
soothing, and the most savory OF all thoee
treasures hid in the sea" which cons0lel
our forefathers in their exile. Why il
should be decent and wholesome to eat n
oyster at midnight on the last day of April
and indecent and deadly to eat one at mon
on the first of May, 10 one of those things
which, ss Lord Dundreary has told I've
continents, mo fellow can find out" The
ancient superstition about the letter r.
first distinctly formulated, We believe, By
Butler, at the end of the sixteenth century,
has never been satisfactorily accounted tot.
Oyster breeders like those who %
the coast Of Brittany and Guiso,s
oyster production Of France, laugh at The
venerable tale, and it is NO: to De wondered
at that in an age which has seen the over
throw of so many beautiful and awful
beliefs, gluttonous souls should be found
ready to defy the heavens by openly taking
oysters with their chablie at MiCsummef.
l. may be that the my etical connection b.
tween the oyster and the letter Z dates
back to the days of imperial Rome, for a.
though the name Of the first hero who ever
opened and ate an oyster is lost in the night
OF time, it lie tOlersbly certain that tho
Romans were the fret people who ever duly
appreciated the merits OF this blessed b.
valve. Pliny calls the oyster the crack
dish of q rich mans table, and tells Us that
no oysters were to be found sweeter and
more tender than those OF Circeil, which
praise, by the way, Pope plagiarlzed
to bestow it upon the products Of
NO Colchester oyster
Could be sweeter or moster"
Close on the Circeian as the Massachusetts
bay on the East river oysters when real
East river oysters were!) came the Lucrine.
Sergius Orata, patrician who knew what
was what, planted his oyster.beds at Baia
with Lucrines, and Martial used to heighten
his noble natural thirst by eating inordinate
numbers of the same. Points of esemplance
have often been found between the Romans
and the Americana, both as to the good
and as to the evil qualities of both races.
In their common devotion to the
oyster We find truly ennobling bond
OF sympathy betw, en- the greatest
people OF antiq atty aud i've cav it without
fear OF CONTRADICTORY the greatest people of
modern times The Romans, Macrobius
tells US, ate oysters as we do, abundantly,
and in al styles" It does not appear
that iha "Boston stew" was known to them,
nor yet the fancy roast" But they passed
raw oysters around at their banauecs. to all
the guests, qtantum rellent. las many q
they liked" and they served ND oyster.
patins-s sort, no doubt, of scallopped
oysters, smoking hot. Pliny also states
that the Romans made q particular kind of
bread to eat with oysters, which exactly an
uclPates our American refinement Of tho
oyster cracker-a refinement to this dsv IN
known to the great body of European oys-
ter-eaters.
Whether the palm should be conceded to
Inc oyster OF Europe or to the oyster of
America. in modern times, connoisseurs
have disagreed and still disagree. Every-
oOdy remembers Thackeray's exclamation
upon making away with his fire. American
oyster, that he felt as if he had swallowed
baby; and few Europeans are able to re-
cSognlze at first the superiority of the de-
.cste ana peculiar saline flavor of the best
american oysters over the pronounced COP
perry twang of the finest Irish, Euglish.
Dutch or French oysters. The Armori,
Games brought to Paris of late
Years from .thoee plantations about
Mont St. Michel with the estab-
!snmenb OF which Rachel's sister, Sarah
feilx, had SO much to do. are perhaps the
oest OF the Parisians tO-day-and vet thew
are not really comparable with such Amer
lean oysters, for example, as those which
during the last year have been discovered
snugiy banked by thousands under tha
waters OF secluded bay on the Long
lsiand coast, mine of wealth undreamed
III ny tne ootuse natives in the vicinity.
iLnese' however, are not oysters to be swat
owed y every one who pleases The wise
A sn;a wnere they are to be found, but the
r WISE NAV. nave always been distinguished for
Luz .ellng al! they know. That the average
a an% oyster OF the New York oyster houses
"nu restaurants is NO longer what it was
d. o01 years ago no judlcious person will
u ue. who is to blame for this We do
RHI pretend to say. Perhaps Belknap, or
Morgan. But "tis true, it's pity. and n;tv '+;,
tbs true" If, however, Through Ias;ne s,s
and carelessness We do not quite hold '1 onr
owH, as we easily might, on the half shoii
th american oyster is beyond comnar;snn
Inc. si. cooking oyster of the world. Eranoh
,1lnary genius has invented certain n,ath-
W vvs o. deallng with the oyster of the GA
w ollo when might, with ADVANTAGE he IN
, 1no mere, a. for example, the t]isbe.
a1 ~ Ia rs oysters la pOulette and ovstars
80 ,ueros, neither Of them costlv I'D
I'm oi Them excellent. But within H. ~" ~
rha4 range OF the ordinary bill of fare
%nat variety we have of dainty rrtr;'
Jus Jus cecm1ortable and delightful dishes IN
.Su, rom TINS day forth, we NAV indnl-a
y y a.noat snaking the pillars of the nsst So
W W. 'Ig 1ne feelings Of the deyout'-Ns,,