The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1889-02-02

| To make s,ire generally had dinner ready
| at 8 O'Clock, but il was more often near MD
| picht before il was served. have servod
President Arthur his dinner after o'clock IN
the morning He rarely went TO bed before
| or 4, and generally rose little before noon.
ut is not true that Mr. Arthur was high
| liver He was n man that liked the best that
could be prepared when he had guests al
tch,c bu. ct other times he ate very slmple
| 1000 For breakfast he was very fond OF
little cut fish, poached egg and piece OF
toast When he was alone his luncheons and
dinners were equally simple. IL was his IT.
regularity that injured his health, not his
over indulgence. Ii also made the work very
hard in the kitchen, where ! was at my post
from sixteen 10 twenty hours day. But
| didn't mind that, for we were very fond OF
Mr. Arthur. Gen Harrison, learn, will be
| like President Cleveland i'll his regularity at
meals. The president breakfasts always at
9, lunches at 80 and dimes at z, They say
no is rs regular rs clock work, and from what
know of Gen. Harrison / am led to believe
he will be the same"
"Did President Arthur drink much winel"
"No. He was rather abstemious. The
stories about his drinking to excess with his
New York friends, and about their carrying
on mt night in IA lively way, are all false. In
my two years at the White House l never
saw the president or one OF his friends notice
ably under the influence of liquor. But
/ young Mr.. Arthur was not so careful. l re-
member one night when he entertained
party of friends in the billiard room. There
were fifteen or twenty of them, navy officers,
young men from college, and Others. They
consumed two dozen bottles of champagne,
three dozen bottles of beer, two dozen Apol-
| inaris and several bottles OF whisky. AT 3
o'clock in the morning, give you my word,
some of them couldn't tell the door from
window
"Can you cook and serve a state dinner
from the White House kitchen"
yes By hiring three or four extra cooks
and dozen extra waters we can serve
state dinner there, though it lisa pity we can
not have our own men there all the time. In
hiring extra walters we try to set men who
have been with us before, but sometimes that
is impossible, for walters are moving about
all the time, and then we have to take new
men. AT state dinners we usually lay fifty
six or sixty plates, serving in what we call n
six service dinner 1t is much easier to get
up a good dinner in this country than III
| Paris. Skilled help is not so plentiful, but
the markets are better. We can get every
thing we want right here in the Washington
market. The people of this country do not,
in my opinion, sufficiently appreciate the
great variety of fish and game to
be had at reasonable prices in their markets.
Even the wines are now cheaper here. These
California wines are as good rs the French
wines, and much cheaper. California wines
! are now used on the best tables in this city,
even on the presidents Last week served
fine dinner at the residence of cabinet
minister, and there was not drop of wine
on the table that was not grown III this coun-
try. Even the champagnes were OF native
| growth, and believe that within few years
no French champagne viii be drunk in Amer
lea. Probably there are not two dozen men
in Washington who can tell the difference by
tasting between imported and native cham
payne taking the best of our home growth
along with the average run from abroad.
You know get very little OF the
best champagne of France i'll this
country, because France cannot grow tenth
part of the champagne winch the world Is
ready TO buy. Russia alone affords a market
for more champagne than France can grow,
and | see no reason why America should not
become the greatest champagne country in
the world With cheaper and better game
than other peoples, plenty of prime beef and
mutton, no end of luscious oysters and fish,
beautiful hams fine poultry, excellent vege'
tables, the best fruit in the world and the
greatest variety, and with wines pure, cheap
and wholesome, you Americans should be
the happiest people, the best living people to
be found anywhere All you need is good
cooks and cultivation of the art of dining"
Mr.. Forth is right And if Washington
has no other salutary influence upon the hab-
its and manners of men, it certainly spreads
the art of dining. Hundreds of men come
to every congress from the country districts
and small towns, and here get their first les
sons in refined table manners, their first
glimpses of the delights of leisurelineSs
and order at dinner Washington is be
coming veritable colony of diners and
epicureS, and all that is acquired here
is sooner or later carried TO the ut
termost parts Of the country there to
find admirers and copyists. | have in mind
now "a certain public man who came to Wash
ington eight or ten years ago on his first cleo
ton to congress, and with his family lived at
prominent hotel. In the dining room
he shocked his neighbors by using a fork
for a toothpick, while his wife attracted
attention by feeding her baby and herself Off
tho end of a table knife! This Congressman
is now an epicure, an after dinner talker,
man OF dainty appetite and refined manners
There have been presidents Of the United
States who did not know how to eat when
they came TO the White House, and one or
two who were too stubborn to learn, even in
that hi place ROBERT GRAVES.
Doctor and Patient.