The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1882-10-06
Good Dinners.

Henry Wdtterson in the Louisville Courier
Journal.
Ny friend Lucullus, who has the choicest
wine cellar in this country, and gives the
best dinners on our side of the Atlsntic,--
where am disposed to think the best din
ners are given, once asked me to take pot
luck with him. 1t was ruse. The dinner
was something superb. The company some
thing distinguished. The purpose, on q
wager, to show me my provinclalism. There
were Moorish wines in leather pouches, long,
crooked necks, and no end Of oil and wax;
port fifty years out of the docks of London;
Madeira old enough to have grandchildren.
When the ladies went and the "discussion"
was called, and my host came over and took
the vacant chair Of the hostess, I modestly
asked for glass Of champagne, which was
instantly supplied, which occasioned great
merriment round the table, and was told
that the "arsument" in hand q. e. What
Constitutes Provincialism9) was over; since
my going by the rare wines of Lucullus and
preferring champagne proved mo TO be .
rustic. "Not so, not so," quoth /, when I
was able to get q hearing. "It proves just
the contrary. 1t proves me cosmopolitan.
III were provincial should only be too
glad to keep my mouth open to those rare
wines Of Lucullus. should twist my feet
beneath his mahogony in aws-struck silence.
l do not do this, because am used to them.
/ ask him for what l want-for what know
to be as abundant and as accessible in this
house as water. This Is q liberty which
pays compliment to his hospitality. Now,
II 1 had asked him for q glass of buttermilk,
which might, and doubtless would have EN-.
barrassed him, should be q provincial.
You, dear friends, are provincial In taking
note Of anything that happens at q gentle
mans table," This merely as an interluds,
illustration, to show that those who con-
slider themselves men of the world do not
know what is good dinner nor how to serve
or enjoy one.
Thackeray, who, upon victusls, is . very
prose Horace, has an essay entitled "Memo-
rials Of Gormandizing." 1t 10 . notable
pean to food; not so tender as "The Ballad
OF Bouillabaise," but very witty and ELUSIVE.
In this delightful prose poem the most hu-
name Of English satirists tells how one
murky afternoon in Paris, he met an old
friend, between whom and himself . COOL
ness had existed; they met face to face; they
were alone and lonely; they had been wan
dering for hours in quest Of somebody; they
entered an adjacent restaurant and had
beefsteak and bottle of red wine; they
beamed, they glowed, they sopped their
bread in the rssiduum Of. gravy left in the
bottom Of the dish, aud they loved one an
other. That---that was good dinner!
The best dnnerI can recall was in the
woods of Georgia with James Eustis, staff
officer of General Joe Johnston, who after
ward became United States Senator, and
Harry Yeatman, General Folks aide-de-
camp. II consisted Of Il single leg of NUT
ton, some hot wheat bread, . little pure but
ter, and half . phial of Scotch whisky,
which We had purloined from the Generals
camp-chest.
A good dinner is perfect food perfectly
cooked; not great array Of dishes. The
art Of cooking is the first Of the fine arts.
The first woman in America Is not she who
bears most children, . brutal Napoleonism,
but she who prepares the best dish; because,
BY this one act, this superior accomplish
ment, she contributes to the health of her
children and the fidelity Of her husband. In |
my poor way have tried to disseminate In
the idea Of good and wholesome
food.