The Arkansaw traveler., 1884-12-20
GREAT MEN AT TABLE.
tBaltimore Heraid.l


 "l want to tell you" continued ths supeEannuated restauranter, "oa Henr] 1 Clay. Perhaps you never heard of wha an eater he was. Well, can say that knew Mir. Clay great many years, be canse waited on him both al the Ma tional hotel and at Hancock's reseauTan as we'll as at good many other places Mir. Clay was a great lover of broileC oysters and baked pumpkins He wal the most sing nlar man ever saw about his eating. People said he wanted to bs eccentric for effect. Perhaps you don, know that Mir. Clay used to eat butter on his watermelon Well, sir. he did. recollect very we'll that on certain day when there was great many famous men at the table, including Mir. CoIwin Mir. Calhoun, General Taylor and Gen. elal Carey, of Michigan, Mir. Clay had his watermelon set out before him. Aise. having the melon sliced, he said Now, gentlemen, you have before you the mos, magnlhcen, product of the veRe- table kingdom nos, here is the mos, magnificent product of the animal king dom-butter Then he proceeded to butter slice of melon, and he put it on | AtSAy 0h0 AAh tCtA yVh knAk nC dlO uOt stop at one slice. la fact, may say that he never did stop at four or five slices oi buttered watermelon every time they put watermelon on the table, But can say that none of the otheri gentlemen ever followed his advice One of Mir. Claws frieads, a Kentucky colonel, tried it once, but you ought to see him lay the watermelon down real quick. No, sir, never see nobody 'cept Mir. Clay take buiteTed watermelon.
 Somehow or other, all these great men had their peculiaIi.ies about what they wanted to cat. There was Mir. Cal houn. who always had his 'possum and sweet potatoes when he could get them. He used to say to me: Now, Steve, you get me a nice fat 'possum, cook it the day after it is killed, parboil 1t first, and then put it in a hot oven with boiled yams and potatoes laid around it in the oven, and then le, it slowly brown. If you can get coon, Steve, you make plenty of coon gravy, vAy brown, and pour it over the 'possum. And don you fail to have the 'posSum well favored with pepper, salt and sage We'll, sir, you ought to sec MT. Calhoun sit down to dish of 'possum with Coon gravy. He wasn't big man, but he was mighty thin, and there was plenty of room about his vest. lie could make that 'possum very sick before he got through with ii. He used 10 say that It reminded him of South Carolina to eat 'possum, aud that's the reason he liked it so well. Many a time he's told me about possum hunting at plight, with colored boys and dogs and an axe, freeing the 'possum, cutting the tree down and roasting the 'possum be, fore log fire. Mir Calhouns neiehbors down there used to send him boxes of peIsimmons and these he would dis. tribute among his friends here as one of the great productS of South Carolina Of course Mr Calhoun had ali the old southern habits. He wanted his coffee iu the morning before he got out of bed. For breakfast he wanted hot corn bread or biscuits and the breast of a chicken. He wouldn't eat any other part of the chicken. For dinner he didn't care much for anything except soup and fish. It was at night that he wanted his 'possum or any extra dish he might fancy.
 Senator Benton, of Missouri, was a mighty funny man about his eating" continued Uncle Steve. was a, the National hotel for long time while he boarded there, and can say that he was about as fussy man as you ever saw. He could talk moro and pay his walters less than any congressman 1 ever waited on. In the morning he would say to me Steve, you black rascal, bring mo Missouri cocktail That would mean whisky straight, two drinks in one He would call for pretty much everything on the bill ot fare, but he didn | touch much of it. What do you suppose was his iavoiite dishl Bacon and molasses, as sure as you arc born! He would have a big dish of bacon fried crisp, with the gravy at the bottom. Then he would pour pint of molasses over it, and tell you, when he got through there wasn't anything Jeff but the dish. That's the reason Mir. Benton had his meals mostly in his room. He did not want people to know that he was so fond of bacon and molasses.
 There's President Harrison who died SO quick after he got into the White House. They aii say he died from CT. cisement, nervous prostration and all that. But the man who waited on him ! sdlQ uC dtCd ioLu bOO tnutu uiunCf. TIC had been in tho White House but few days when he told the waiter he had brought from Indiana to get him up what he called a regular old fashioned North Bend dinner. That was Mir. Harrison's home in h. diana, and his order meant cabbage, pickled pork, fresh roast pork, peas, cu- cumbers and sweet potatoes, with corn meal fritters for desert. That was on day that Mir. Webster had long talk with him. Mir. Webster was in hrs cabi- net, and he said: Harrison, if these d-d office seekers don't kill you. that dinner will Well, sir, he never saw a we'll moment after that dinner. He had indigestion, headaches, and swimming in the head, and they say his mind wasn't right Gill he died It might have been something else but believe that it was that dinner tbas caused his death. The old cook at the White House said L AL (o (. .L