Dodge City times., 1883-03-01
The Midday Dinner.

The Midday Dinner.
To consume hearty midday meal
and to take full hour for it's consump-
ton would be tantamount to return to
the manners of pre-Independence days,
and, indeed, to the manners of Old En-
gland. Nilsson, a French traveller in
England, quoted by Mr.. John Ashton in
his ''Social Life in the Reign of Queen
Anne,'' remarks: 1.-The English eat a
great deal at dinner; they rest awhile,
and to it again, till they have quite
stuffed their paunch. Their suppers
are neutrality-suspicious. at noon. and
abstinent atsnight.r K always heard that
they were great tiesh-eaters, and found
it true. have known many people in
England that never eat any bread, and
universally they eat very little; they
nibble a few crumbs, while they chew
the meat by whole mouthfuls. When
New England was an English colony
the universal dinner-hour was noon,
and traditions of the staple of the old
fashioned fare yet linger in the favorite
New England dishes, pork and beans
and Indian pEdding-the last compost
of corn meal and molasses. In the
old Knickerbocker days of New York,
people dined early and substantially,
but we may rest tolerably we'll assured
that the comfortable and sphlegmatie
Dutch burghers of Manhattan took the
fullest of hours for their meal and it's
digestion. After the dinner came a
pipe many pipes, probably. The mod
ern Americans are not pipe smoking
people. and, to Judge from the "sand-
wich and piece of-pie allegation" they
are slightly amenable to the charge
bro ght by Brillat Savarin against Ma
poleon the Great of "eating quickly
and eating badly" Yet the author of
the "Physiologie du Gout' belonged to
a nation who have never swerved from
their custom of eating good midday
meal. g.4.sg a.
= The Frenchman's breakfast is ''cafe
au lait'' and ''bread and butter" just
as the Spaniard' ''desayuno' is a cup
of chocolate, a morsel of dry bread.
and glass of cold water; but the Gaul
must have his second and substantial
breakfast at noon; and ''de euner a
Ia fourchette'' may be defined, without
exaggeration, as dinner minus only
the soup. The Germans have unit
tagessen," or midday meal. at which
they eat soup; but the evening meal
W th the old-fashioned Teuton is supper.
and not late dinner. Most Of the hotels
hold two tables d hote dav, one at the
old-fashioned and one at the new-fan-
gled hour. Noontide is, from the point
of v'ew Of health, perhaps the time at
Vrh inI, a SsS,,11ara'1 r,no1 cho,,1l ,<
propriately be eaten; but. unfortunate
ly, if we wish to keep our digestion un-
impaired, we must rest awhile after an
cary dinner Our Freuch neighbors,
breakfasting copiously at noon, seldom
think OF returning to business until
half-past one; frequently they remain
over their cigars and coffee until two d.
m. But, with the Anglo-Saxon races,
''time is money!" and they grudge
every minute during the hours OF bust
ness which is not devoted to the pur-
suit of Mammon. In the south of
France the MONDAY meal is followed by
the ''siesta, and from twelve to half
past two in the afternoon mercantile
and financial business is almost entire
ly suspended. 1t is quite as hot at
New York as it is at Marseilles or Tou-
lon. but what business New Yorker
would think of taking the solace of a
''siesta'' after lunch? If Americans
and Englishmen would rise little
earlier. and get through the ma or part
OF the days business-as foreigners do
in the forenoon the substantial mid
day meal might become possibility, /
promising much benefit to their general
health and spirits; but such change in
Anglo-SaXon manners could not be ef-f
fected, perhaps, without bringing about