Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1883-08-23
DIFFICULTY DINING.
Experience of an American with a
Waiter in Paris.


Paris Letter.
/ had trouble the other day at one of
the Establishments Duval, on the Tuile-
ries garden, where we went to see what It
was like (and found it very good). One
OF the ladies of the party wanted some
frogs legs, not on the menu, and Won
dered if the dish was out of season
'GrenOuille'' was frOg-I was sure of
that, and "jumbes'' was legs. Calling
the white-capped and white-aprOned
Marie, who was assigned to our
particular table, | said in my
most eloquent French . Marie,
ayyy VOC lay iham"-and hesitated.
I'VE mussoo-h,'' with felicitous
drawl.
''No, Marie" said l, ''voo navy pas
compree. Avvy VOC lay jham-lay zham
| day geeenwy?"
She blushed, as if had said something
improper, and to hide her confusion turned
her rather neat face upon one of the mir
| rOrs that face you everywhere from every
point in Paris.
She had not caught my idea. l repeated
! it to myself. "Have you legs" ''Avyy
VOC lay Zham!" She glanced shyly at her
white apron, brushed it down and said,
! family: "NO, mus-sO-h.' "Dav granOe,'
| added. She moved little farther away
and looked at me as if she was very much
scared indeed. ''Marie," | repeated with
authority. ''venny Zeecy! AMY VOC,
hayvy VOC pay lay zham-lay zham this
is awful language Marie, day grainwee -
She timIdly held up plate in front of
/ her, and was evidently more terrified
/ than ever.
"Mariew l said; ''regarday mwa!"
/ She looked at me while l put my fore
/ paws together, bumped myself gracefully.
] and made movement as if to plunge off
/ a rotten log into a green pond. | thought
| it was very neatly done. And | was re-
lieyed to see that she thought so too, for
| her Mortified expression relaxed, she
smiled and said:
"Oh, we, we, mussO, Zhullah kOnnayr'
''You dO?" l answered. "Well, it's
nigh time; Pm hungry"
"Oh, we, weW she added; ''ume klom-
be! pigeon!"
Before she could bring the bird l stop
| ped her and called in a loud voice, fear,
1 for the boss. He came forward smiling,
! and | told him what | wanted, but the
idiot couldn't grasp the force of my re-
marks.
1--WE have legs, musso,'' he gently said :;
''what legs does musso want: Whose
4 legs?"
/ In utter desperation took out pencil,
| turned over my bill of fare, and on the
back Of it drew the picture of a frog. 1t
was lite-like and agile frog, well filled in,
/ with the protuberant eye and Web-hOOf Of
the familiar frog Of commerce. | was
never vain Of my artistic accomplish
ments, but this was a happy inspiration,
/ for it got us something to eat. Marie and
the boss both came and glanced over, and
even before it was finished showed signs
that they recognized the beast. go, we,
we, we, We" they said, ''certainmongr
Then they took my sketch and passed it
around among the other walters. One adj
mired it very much, while Marie went off
to execute the order. In five minutes she
came triumphant with plate of pied de
mOuton-sheep's feet.
All my native humility came back to
me and bore down hard. The ladies
agreed with me that the Frenchman
probably never ate a frogs leg in his life;
that this was not the time of year for
frogs; that frOg-legs We're not good for
much anyhow, and that sleeps feet were
something new and filling, and we would
try them. We did. They were good.