St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1892-09-11

dorsed in professional jargon with the
visitors name, with you the attorney
general etc.
Most pains, however, were taken by
party of doctors who dined together at
a London club a few years ago, and for
the occasion had the Indifferent French
of the modern menu turned into worse
Latin-the Latin of the prescription.
1t was a curious and perpleXlng
experiment, and hardly fulfilled the
primary OBJECT of a menu, that of let
ting people know what they were eat
ing. "LardO suffXi cucumeris super
assulas thymi aguorum" is soncrouS
line, but does hot seem to convey its
meaning SO readily as Iris de veau
piqueeS aux concOmbres." Neither is
"Compote d Abricots' to be promptly
recognized under the classic veil of
"Malorum Armeniacorum conditus cru
stulats inclusuS."
Latin does not seem to fit we'll in the
modern menu card. 1t becon e; unnat-
urally ditfuse. 1t is pity that menus
were not in fashion in the days OF
EeliOgabaluS, and that specimen has
true classic form.
Ali menus in tongues, however, pale
before the amazing compilation which
did honor 10 a dinner of the SavantS OF
the Oriental congress at Stockholm. 1t
made volume of eighteen pages, hand
SOmely bound, and contained diScourSeS
on the several dishes in sixteen Oriental
languages, by as many eminent
scholars.
n Menu in Honor of ChiIds.
The literary menu is not infrequently
very we'll done. 1t is rather played out
of late, as most of the more obvious
quotations have been used up. One of
the very happieSt efforts In that direc-
I ton was Shakespearean menu on the
occasion of the luncheon given at STRAIT
! ford town hall on the 18th of October,
1887, to commemorate the Inaugural
| ton of the clock tower presented to the
town by q. w. Childs, of Philadelphia.
The selections were in most cases ad-
mirable, as for example: Turtle soup,
The imperl0uS seas breed monsters for
the dish. "-Cymbeline, w., 2. GalatineS
of pigeons, followed by other entrees,
Some pigeons, Davy, and any little
tiny kickshaws, tell William Cook
III. Henry w.. ", l. Venison pasties,
''Come, we have hot venison pasty to
dinner. Merry Wives. j., 2. Potted
| lampernS, From the banks of the Wye
| and sand-bottomed Severn."-I. Henry
illss lie all JllC NC
equally appropriate.
The debate as to whether the menu
should be written i'll French or English
is never ending one. Many cooks and
caterers compromise the matter by iu-
artistically jumbling both languages to-
| gether in unadmired discord. Many
artistic dishes are of French invention
! and bear French names so impossible of
terse English renderings that it is diff
cult to avoid the use of French
OH the menu card, and there
really seems no particular reason
why it should be so vigorously
Pobjected 20, since, by almost universal
usage, French has become recognized as
the language of cookery, as Italian is OF
music and English of sport. Obviously
it needs not knowledge of language
for one to be an accomplished gourmet
and Oh occasions it may be desirable
| that the bill of fare should be written in
the language most familiar to those who
sit round the board. There have beel
several practical protests made against
the use of French on the menu card
Volapuk has even been recommended
as substitute.