Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1883-05-12

dozen forks and spoons at every
guests plate. Snobbery and fun
keyism did not prevail at that early
day. The old Roman
ATE WITH HIS FINGERS,
and when the meal was completed
he wisely sucked his thumb, thus
avoiding the sOiling of his napkin
and economizing in his wash bills.
The cooks of those days were scien-
fists. 1t is related of one of the en-
perOrs that he was very fond of a
certain kind of fish. Not being
able to procure it he became melan-
choly, and fears were entertained
he might resort to feLo de SO. This
melancholy was only relieved by
the sdUOir of one of his cooks, who
dressed parsnip with fish oil and
seasoned it with such skill, StreW-
ing few leaves of parsley over it,
that the Emperor imagined he had
eaten of the Vertible fish.
But the luxurious and epicurean
Romans, who fingered reclining at
their meals and spared no expense
to make them perfect in all their ac-
cessories, who reversed the saying
so much admired by Molieres Har-
pagan, that they did not "eat 10
live" but "lived to eat" did not en-
joy more their deje,taer than do the
common people OF American to-day.
The KentucKian with
HIS HOG AND HoMINY
the New Engtander with his
''sass" and Goldfish, or his much
abused dish of baked beans; the
Virginian with his black-eyed peas
and Potomac shad; the Western
hunter with his slice of buffalo rOas-
ted in its own skin or the tail of the
beaver or marrow-bone of the elk
cooked on the Goals the Floridian
with his pompano or red snapper
roasted whole in the ashes, or the
Tennessee negro with his "pOssum
and taters," are as epicurean in
their tastes as were the Romans Of
old. But the average American
gentleman knows not how to eat.
In his haste to become rich he
spends at his meals only twenty
Misunderstanding merely from neces-
ity, and looking upon it as an irk-
some piece of business. He takes the
dish-water soup of his hotel because
it is fashionable to take soup. His
meat, but poorly prepared, is swal-
lowed without being properly mas
ticated. Heavy bread, creased
over with
HORRID OLEOMARGARINF
or rancid butter-vegetables tasting
as if they were all cooked in the
same vessel, poured into his plate
in one conglomerated mass, is
munched and crammed down his es-
Ophagus as if all that is required of
him in eating to live is the knowl-
edge that his stomach is well filled.
Hence we find the prevailing dis
ease of the present century is dys-
pepsia or indigestion, and the wat
ering places of the country reaping
rich harvests of ducats from that
class of Americans who, although
claSsed among the Intellectual, are
noted among cOnnOlsSeurS as not
having sufficient intelligence to
learn how to eat properly. Hun
dreds of thousands of dollars are ex-
pended annually at summer resorts
by wealthy Americans in their eff
fort to patch up or repair Il worn
out and exhausted stomach, made
so from a lack of the simplest
knowledge Ofgastronomy. No Won
der then that the French, who are
better versed in the art Of cooking
than any nation on the globe, should
in speaking of Americans say:
"The good Lord has sent you the
best of food in plenty, but the devil
has, in most cases, sent cooks to
dress it and fools to eat it,"