Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1884-11-15
4 WATERS RECoLLECTIoNS.
From the Baltimore Herald.

From the Baltimore Herald.
Il want to tell YOU" continued the su-
| peranuatsd rcstaurateur, "of Henry Clay.
Perhaps you never heard Of what an eater
he was Well, / can say that [ knew Mr.
| Clay 4 great many years, because l waited
on him, both 2t the National Hotel and at
Hancock's restaurant, az well as at great
many other places. Mr.. Clay was great
love. Of bcoiled oysters and baked pump
| kins. He Was the most singular man | ever
saw about his eating. You don't know that
Mr. Clay used to eat butter on his water
melons? We'll, sir, ne did. / recollect
very well that OF . certain day, when there
was i sreat many famous men at the table,
including Mr. Corwin, Mr. Calhoun, Gen.
TAYLOR and Gen. Carey of Michigan, Mr..
Cia, ha,i bis watermelon set out before him.
After having the melon sliced. he said:
Nov. gentlemen, you have before you the
most magnificent product Of the vegetable
! kingdom now, here is the most magnih-
! cent product Of the animal kingdom-but
ter Then he proceeded 10 butter slice
If melon. and he put the butter Oh thick.
and I can tell YOU that he did not stop at
one slice. In fact, may say that he never
| die! stop at four or five slices OF buttered
watermelon every time they put watermel-
| cn on the table. But | can say that none
| Of the other gentlemen ever followed his
| advice One Of Alr. Clay's friends, Ken
| lucky colonel, tried ii once, but you ought
TO SEQ rim lay the watermelon down real
| quick. No, sir, never sec nobody 'cept
! Mr.. Clay take to buttered watermelon.
somehow or other all these great men
! I 1t,,, Hnt how
wanted 10 eat. There was Mr.. Calhoun,
| who always had his 'possum and sweet pc.
| latoes when he could get them. He used
| 20 say TO me- Now, Steve, you get me a
nice fat possum, cook it the day after it IS
killed, parboil it, then put it il q hot oven
with boiled yam potatoes laid around it in
the oven, and then let il slowly brown. If
YOU can get coon: Steve, you make plenty
of coon gravy, very brown, and pour it over
| the 'pcssunl. AMI don't you fail TO have
| the 'possum we'll favored with pepper, salt,
aud sage We'll, sir, you just ought to see
Mr.. Calhoun sit down to q dish of 'possum
with econ gravy. He wasn't big man,
| n; Ge wa; mighty thin, and there WAS
pl.ui1 OF room about his vest. He would
make that 'possam very sick before be got
through with it. OF course Mr.. Calhoun
| had All the old Southern habits. He wanted
his coffee III the morning before he s"t out
| Of BED. For breakfast be wanted not corn
bread or biscuits and the breast of a chicken.
He wouldn't eat any other part oil the
chicken. For dinncr be didnl care much
| for anything except soup a"d fish. 1t was
| 1T night that lie wanted his 'noasum or any
extra dish he might fancy.
| Senator Benton. OF Missouri, was
mighty funny man about his eating" con-
tiuued Uncle Steve. Il was at the National
| Hotel fer !. long time while he boarded
there, and | can say that he was about rs
| ttlsSy 4. man as you ever saW. He could
talk more and pay bis walters less than any
| Congressman | ever waited on. In the
morning ne would say 10 me- Steve, you
hInci; rascal, bring me a Missouri cock
| tail That would mean whiskey straight,
two drinks in one. He would call
for pretty much everything ON the
bill Of fare. but be didn't touch
much it. What do you suppose was his
favorite dish? Bacon and molasses, as sure
as YOU are born. He would have big
disk OF bacon fried crisp, with the gravy
at the bottom. Then he would pour pint
| of mousSes over il, and tell you, when he
80. through there wasn't anything left but
the dish. That's the reason Mr.. Benton
had his meals mostly in his room. He did
| no. want DsH:hc 10 hHOW Iuat IC ~
| fond Of bacon and mo!asSes.
There's President Harrison, who died
50 Quick after he got into the White House.
They all spy that he died from excitement,
nervous prostralion, and all that. But the
man who waited on him said that he died
| from too much dinner He had been in the
White House but few days when he told
The waiter he had brought from Indiana TO
get hiu. up what he called regular old.
fashioned South Bend dinner. That was
Mr. Harrisons home in Indiana, and his
order meant cabbage, pickled-pork, fresh
rosst-pork, peas, cucumbers, and sweet
potatoes, with cornmeal fritters for dessert.
| That was on a day that Mr. Webster had q
long talk with him. Mr.. Webster was in
his cabinet, and he said: Harrison, if these
id otfice-seekers don't kill you, that dim
ner will Well, sir, he never saw we'll
minute after that dinner. He had indiges-
ton. headaches, and swimming in the head,
md they say that his mind wasn't right till
he died. II might have been something
else, but believe that it was that dinner
that caused bis death. The old cooE at the
White House said that he had cooked for
five Presidents, but that Mr. Harrison could
eat more than all of them put together.
Why, sir, he could eat two whole white
head cabbages aud pork to correspond, with
corr cakes and molasses, at one time.
I've known good many small eaters,
but believe that Mr.. JEFF. Davis was about
the smallest ever saw. He was always so
thin you could almost see through him, and
they used to say it was because be did not
eat enough. waited on him at Welcker's
before he was Secretary of War-it must
have been about 1887, or may be forty years
ago He looked sckly and pale seemed to
eat because be was obliged to- He drank
tea instead of coffee, but he never drans;
more than a half cup. Abouttwo or thrse
mouthfuls of toast finished his breakfast
For dinner he had half plate of soup 8
thin slice of roast beef which he had hardly