The comet. (Johnson City, Tenn.) 1884-1916, 1894-06-21
A GREENSBORO DANCE.
Thousands of Geese in strasbourg Hop
About to Enlarge Their Llvers

who knows about it. But there's more
romance and adventure to the story of
the pate de foie gras than one would
ever dream of
Indeed, pate do foie gras saved a
mans life once. That in fact was the
first any one ever heard of It. He was
a gay old cavalier OF Strasbourg He
had been caught in some peccadillo by
the police of the marechal-the mare
chal de Contades, fine old French
gentleman, who bore the cares Of gov
ernment far more lightly than he did
the cares of his stomach for the table
wonders of Strasbourg's governor were
the talk of the land. The culprit was
so frowned upon by the mareehAl that
his friends knew he was in danger of
losing his head, AS last resort, they
determined to reach the marechals
heart through his stomach
There was famous chef-it was in
the year 1880, and great chefs were not
plentiful in Strausbourg-aud through
him they perfected their design. His
name was Close. He made pie of fat.
tened liver-it was the first pate de
foie gras.
When the marechal de Contades sat
down to his dinner that day he was not
long in noticing the new dish. lie
tasted of it, suspiciously at first. He
smacl1ed his lips
Surely It's good, he murmured, He
tried another and larger morsel "Mon
Dieu, it's deliciousp he cried. Half an
hours tete-a-tete with the new dish
only served to strengthen his first inn
pressions
"Who devised this?' he demanded.
The servants told him how the great
Chef Close had done it at the suggestion
of the prisoner, the gay cavalier who
had been caught in the peccadillo.
Let the cavalier be released at once,
them commanded the marechal, "and
bring me some more of this pate de foie
gras"
Chef Close came with it, and the
mareehal made him the royal chef to
the ruler of Strasbourg. Close lived in
honor till the governor died. The next
governor was an old soldier. Close
felt called upon to offer his services,
too, but the veteran only turned up his
little battle-scarred nose at the famous
pate de foie gras, and Close was so
wrought up over it that he left He
started factory to make the pates. 1t
was then that the fame of the pate de
foie gras was spread all over the world
The nobility and gentry made haste TO
get the delicious pates that had been
so jealousy guarded by the old mare
chal of Contades, and even in England
the skill of Close was duly appreciated
and his dainty dish was duly welcomed
as "Strasbourg pie"
But alas for Close! One day chef
from the st III of France appeared in
Strasbou"s IN some way he-this
chef, Doyea- cot the secret of Closes
concoction. lie conceived the audacious
and ingenious idea of adding to the
Close pate a paste of the truffles OF
Perigord. That painted the lily! Close
was outdone, and the MOBILES and gen.
try gathered about the new shrine and
Doyen fiourished, while Close was driv'
en- to an early grave, cursing the chef
who had stolen his secret and was reap
ing the rewards of his genius
The demand for the pate OF Doyer
became enormous. The chief ingredf
emit, the livers of geese, became scarce.
What was to be done? Doyen's genius
came to the rescue and he decided that
it was easier to increase the size of the
liver of each goose than it was to in
crease the number of geese. Again hi,
genius stood him in good stead, wheI
he began to figure upon the means. HC
first put goose into an isolated cage
so narrow that it could not move in its
prison. Three times each day he fec
the goose a meal paste that had to bt
forced down its throat On the twenty
second day ne added few drops o.
poppy oil to the meal He continued
this diet till the fortieth day Their
the goose had become SO fat that 4
couldn't breathe After that, it tool
but moment to wiring its neck.
Doyen cut the goose open and was
delighted to see that its liver had in
creased enormously in size, and that 4
had acquired pulpy, oleaginous con
sistency nicely suited to his purpose
Doyen's successors devised some fnel
methods of fattening and enlargini
livers. They found that the size wa,
increased If the narrow cage where the
goose was imprisoned had metal floor
under which slow fire was constantly
burning. The floors got hot and the
poor geese could not stand still long
because it burnt their feet So they
had to keep shifting from one foot t
the other hopping up and down in {
sort of ludicrous agony with walt
step 1t was a grewsome dance o
death to any one who saw it in tina
way, but the livers kept enlarging al
the time, and that was all the mer
chants wanted.
One of the great sights of Stras bourt
to-day is the making Of pate de fol-
gras. No society for the prevention o
cruelty to animals dares interfere will
it, for it is the towns principal indus
try. 1t is said that there are fort,
thousand geese dancing up and dow
all the time with that waltz step o
death in the cages of Stras bourg, blu
the pate dc foie gras is so good tina
people over here never think of tn
death dance when they are eating II
7 it is doubtful if they know about il
{ though, unless they have visited oil,
Stras bourg m Y Recorder
l How She Got Even with Him.
. The dinner was in progress-it was
dinner given in honor of some very i'm
, p1"trat new acquaintances Just be
! I r. Lae guests arrived the master O
the h,use had been intensely rude an
annoying to his wife, and she had no
forgotten it. There was a moment
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