Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1882-09-17
THE OYSTER eLUTToN.
Eecsntricitiss and Idiosyncrasies
of the BiyaIye SwaII0wsr.
How the Oyster Opener Arrives at an Esti-
mate of His Customers Characters
Oysters in Beer and a Mouse's [
Bier in an Oyster.
HOW THEY DO IN ENGLAND.
PHILADELPHIA Press.

"Shell, and give me Cape Mays. How IS
the season openingg' continued she Gus
toner as he squeezed lemon ever the
| juicy biyalve.
aPretty well, sir. The weather is . tride
| warm for the very particular people at
present. The regulars won't be coming
round for for another week or two. often
wouder to myself what would happen if
the supply of oysters were suddenly 10 give
oat. l know some gentlemen who cat
next TO nothing else during the season."
"And have all sorts OF ways OF eating
them, / suppose"
They do indeed, and get in the way OF
Judging of my customers oy the manner
they eat their oysters. Ii see man take
plenty OF vinegar and black pepper, gen
orally have bad opinion Of him; his taste
must be queer anyhow. If he takes lemon
and red pepper, | know pretty well he's III
the habit living high, and knows good
thing when he sees it. II he calls for half
q dozen on plate, know he is about TO
take a cheap meal and will probably eat
three crackers with each oyster. Then
there are men who must have their oysters
opened on the deep shell; such men are not
good for anything, only they love to give
extra trouble.
what is tie usual number of raw oysters
ordered at one time
Half a dozen and dozen, but more
halves than dozens. OF course there are
plenty of men who take two or three
dozen. and SEINE will swallow four and even
six dozen, but that is not very frequent. l
have one customer who comes in twice
day from the first OF September to the emit
of April, excepting Sundays. He has been
here regularly now for two years, and l. We
Unknown him to miss twice. His first visit
is at eleven o'clock. He then takes one
dozen without any trimmings followed by
a second dozen with borse-radish sauce.
At 4 O'Clock in the afternoon he comes III
again and has another two dozen with
squeeze of lemon and red pepper OIL the top
of each one. He never eats salt oysters aud
is very particular to have item all about
one size. Another customer only cares Tor
large oysters. Hc comes in pretty regular
also, and can eat more Saddle Rocks at one
time than anyone I've seen. Now, three
dozen Saddles is pretty good lot TO swal.
low; half dozen is enough for most per-
sons. but this man thinks nothing OF swal-
lowing three dozen, though for the lie ot
me | can't make out where he puts them.
Last season a man was IN here and he made
a bet with the boss that he COuld eat three
dozen Saddles. You ought to have seen
how he looked after putting twenty two
away. He threw down his FORK, and s%orG
he wouldn't swallow another for hundred
dollar dill, and he didn't touch oysters
again for more than two months.
81 have customers who always tell ne 10 re-
move the boards Of the oysters and who pay
me ten cents extra for the trouble. Now
think half the flavor is contained IN the
boards. There are few who come here who
like to have the smallest oysters In the
store placed in glass Of water or beer and
then they swallow them down Ike drink.
Every man to his taste / say, OF course,
L,,, lpaS "a q 10 ger al q
flavor"
"Have you ever found any pearls in oys-
ters?"
"A few little ones, of no value. 1t does
barnen, however, to openers. | know a
man in Camden who found a valuable pearl
in a Chincutaque oyster two years ago. He
sold it to iewcler for Sl3, and being rell-
gious sort Of chap he gave the money to
bis church. l once found mouse In an
oyster"
"a mouse"
Eyes. A pile OF Absecons were lying in
| the cellar, and some of them opened their
shells. mouse, suppose, was in search
! of a meal, and nibbled at the oyster, which
: promptly closed its shell on the mouse's
neck. l came across the oyster and dead
mouse the next day. The little animals
head was nearly severed from its body"
Did YOU ever taste the English oyster"
eyes, sir. | was born in England, and was
| in the oyster business there lOr seVordi years
: before | came here
"OysterS were not always rs scarce IN
/ London as they are now. In 1860 they
were eight pence dozen; now you cant
buy them under three and six pence or
four shillings | mean the native oysters,
of course They are mostly grown IN Whit
/ stable, a small seaport on the southeastern
coast where the whole population do moth
ing else except cultivate oysters, L never
could understand how they became so
scarce; though | guess it was by over
( dredging American oysters are shipped
! very largely to England, but they are not
/ improved by the voyage. They sell at one
! and six pence and two shillings q
dozen. The natives have very fine
flavor, but are little too coppery for the
American taste. They are very small, and
few Englishmen eat the boards. Being so
very dimnutive in size, those who can
afford it think nothing OF eating four or SIX
dozen at time. Gentlemen used TO come
e. into SCOTS. the swell oyster shop ia the
Newmarket, London, where worked, and
| order two dozen to be opened, the boards
removed and dropped into glass OF
Cbablis wine, and drink off the lot. l sup
pose oysters are the most expensive luKu-
ries YOU can get in London, and man is
supposed TO be doing big thing when he
stands an oyster supper. Fried oysters,
stcgs, roasts aud similar ways OF cooking
them are almost unknown. Did you ever
hear OF the London oyster 'beatg"
No"
"There was man living in London in
1868 who had a very great liking for oysters,
but he could not afford to pay for them.
He was a man of respectable connections
and dressed all right, and he used TO go
into different oyster saloons about London,
order two or three dozen, and then coolly
inform the shopmen that he bad no money.
The shopmen had no redress according 10
the law of England. \ civil debt had been
contracted which could only be recovered
IN a civil court, and 50, after some hard
swearing, the beat would be ordered to
yacate the premises. Had he been kicked
out he could have brought an
action for assault and battery and
gained his case The oyster beat finally
turned I'D at SCOTS. Nobody knew him.
SO he ordered six dozen with brown bread
and butter and glass OF stout, and soon
got inside them. Then he called upon the
waiter and said he had no money. Mr.. scott
took him by the collar and kicked him in
to the street The heat returned with
policeman aud gave Scott in charge, and the
boss was fined FIVE shilliugs the next morn
ing, at Bow street ior unlawful assault.
Six weeks afIerward, waiter from
one of the upper rooms came down
and told Mr.. Scott there was man up stairs
who had eaten six dozen Whitstable natives,
and, on being presented with the bill 81
4s, had declined to pay. Scott went up T.
see who he was. and found II was the same
man who had played the trick before. This
time the boss gave the beat into custody.
but the police magistrate declined To SEN
tence HIM, and discharged him with eau
ton. Blamed If the beat did not return
month OF Two afterwsrd and succeed in get
ting another six dozen oysters from q
waiter who had only been short time in
the restaurant. SOFT determined to be
even With the man this time SD he walks
up TO him and instead Of BLACKBURN t1ug
him pretends TO believe that the beat IS
playing practical joke and invited MIN into
an adjoining room to take drink. Ihe
beat was not suspicious and followed Scott
into the next room. where he was seized oy
two or three of the men and stripped OF his
clothes Then a quantity of tar and fetrh'
ers was procured, and the beat was quick
ly turned into bird. In that condition
he was put into the streets. OF course, he