Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-11-17

1t fresh at Constantinople than when it is
SIX months old and is sold in America. Al
dinner which once attended in Upper
Egypt we had q course of candy between
each one of the other courses, and we had at
least ten desserts during the meal. The
Turkish tooth is very sweet tooth, and
with sweetened water sherbets, candies and
cakes he makes his thick blood flow slower
and slower.
AN ARGUMENT AGAINST FORKS.
At least half the world know not the use
OF the fork, and fully one-quarter of all the
men, women, and children in 1t eat with
their fingers. The Egyptian and the Turk
pride themselves on their cleanliness in
using their fingers rather than forks. The
forks. say they, have been in some other
mans mouth, and you have to depend on
your servants for their cleaning. They wash
their hands before sitting down to the table
or squatting around the meal on the floor,
and they pick up the morsels of food with
thin pieces of bread, rolling 1t around the
food or sopping it in the soup. They use
their hands in aiding in the carving, and
tear rather than cut their roasted fowls. A
whole sheep Is often served at an Egyptian
dinner, and the guests go at this with knife
aEd fingers.
1 once attended wedding Of the daughter
OF the richest man of Upper Egypt, and
this sheep formed one of the many curiosi-
ties of the meal. AS we entered the house
richly-dressed servants brought US cups of
water as sweet as the sap of the maple, and
favored with anise seed, and behind him
came 10y with gold embroidered nap
kin. took sip of the water and used the
napkin in common with the rest of the
guests. was led into the salemlik and
oiu
squatted a richly-dressed Egyptian in a
turban, and with him took a sip at the
cup Of black coffee, which followed the
sweet water. Then we had candies and
brandy. and after this cigarette, when the
dinner was announced. In addition to the
sheep there was roast turkey, roast beef,
vegetables and all the extras of big French
dinner. Between each course candies and
sweet cakes were served, and the meal took
several hours. The foreigners present were
given knives and forks, but the natives ate
with their fingers. A large part of the $50,
100000 inhabitants of India
EAT WITH THEIR FINGERS.
The Burmese do not know the use of
chopsticks, and the Siamese have the same
table utensils as were used by Adam and
Eve. The 400, ,000, 900 Cinnamon use in the
neighborhood of 1000, ,000,0 900 chopsticks
every morning, noon and night, and the
Korean carries his chopsticks with him
wherever he goes. The chopstick is about
as big around as a slate pencil, and not
much longer. They are made of wood,
ivory or metal, and the Emperor is said to
use chopsticks of gold. 1t is customary at
a irst-class hotel in Japan to give each
guest fresh pair of unused chopsticks at
every meal, and the sticks are so cheap that
they cost practically nothing.
The kitchen and dining room furniture of
the far East is as simple as the table uten-
siIs. In Burmah the cooking stove, consists
of box of ashes, on the top of which is
built fire OF charcoal. It is much the
same in Japan, save that you find here and
there little clay stoves of the rudest descrip-
ton, and so small that only one dish at a
time can be cooked upon them. The stoves
in Egypt and China are much the same,
and an American cooking range would be a
greater curiosity in the interior of China
than Barnum's show in a country village.
Here fuel is so expensive that the use of it
is reduced to a minimum. Few fires are
used for heating, and many houses in China
use fuel only for cooking, and depend upon
their wadded cotton clothes for warmth.
Boiling water is an article of merchandise
in some of the cities, and in Peking 1 saw
great quantities of coal dust mixed with dirt
and offered for sale in the shape of little
cakes the size of biscuit. All over the
East manure is. to a large extent, used as
fuel, and this is especially SO in Egypt and
India. FRANK G. CARPENTER.