The record-union., 1897-07-27

| he was so very nervous A dozen times
he shifted his feet, as if to get firmer
hold and fifty times at least he looked
anxiously up the street. A spectator
in the hotel windows had no need to
look up the street, for the attitudes
of the spearsmen and police told plain
Iy that the Judges coach was not yet
in sight.
But after few minutes more, and a
further increase in the crowd, the at
titudes changed. The spearsmen
Strengthened themselves up and stood
like statues. Policemen hurried about
driving back the crowd in front. The
big man shifted his feet once more,
and got a better grip. Sure signs, these,
that the Judge was coming. and sure
enough he was.
ARRIVAL OF THE JUDGE.
His lordships coach. drawn by four
handsome horses in very gorgeous har-
ness, came along at a swinging trot,
the driver sitting up like bronze stat
ue, his whip at exactly the proper
angle. The coach was a large affair,
in dark blue and buff, with Venetian
blinds where the windows usually are.
Over the drivers seat was thrown a
dark blue pail, or lambrequin, or table
cover, embroidered in gold, the ends
hanging we'll down. At the back stood
two men, possibly footmen; but as one
of them held a long white wand over
the top of the coach. he may have been
a Sheriff's officer, or even the Sheriff
himself.
This fine equipage drew up at ex-
actly the right spot in front of the
| open space, and one of the men in cape
and apron opened the door. Out step
ped his lordship, and slowly and ma
| jestically began to ascend the steps. A
| right picturesque Judge he was, too.
i Upon his head was a big white wig
and no hat. Covering the whole of his
| body from neck to heels was bright
/ scarlet robe, held together at the waist
| with a black sash. He was glorious
| enough, at any rate, to impress the
| crowd, for most of the men took off
! their hats. Up he went, slowly and
grandly and when he reached the top
the great doors We're thrown open, and
I he disappeared within Off went the
| coach, up and in marched the striped
men, away went the crowd, his lord
| ship had arrived safely. 1t must have
| been tremendous relief to the big man
| at the top of the steps
| After such an imposing ceremony, oc-
f! pying in all nearly an hour a little
/ wholesome nutriment seemed desirable
! and l went out Immediately diagonalIy
| across the square to a little shop that
/ had attracted my attention soon after
| my arrival in Liverpool. There were
| many larger and grander shops but
none, in my opinion, that offered the in
| ducements of The Douglas Oyster
House" 1t must be privilege peculiar
10 the New Workers to long for oysters
after protracted abstinence from them,
| for 1 do not find that other people are
affected in the same way In more than
| three months I had enjoyed the luxury
| only once, for in London oysters are
scarce, and dear, and bad. A dollar a
dozen for the raw article has a deterrent
| effect, even upon a New York appetite.
To be sure, it was nearly a month past
the oyster season, from the American
standpoint, but here, happily, they know
no season; in England the oyster is fit to
eat whenever it is ripe enough to pick.
| A REAL OYSTER STEW.
Still, had my doubts about the Doug
| las Oyster House. There were, to be
sure, heaps of oysters in the show win
dow-real oysters, still in the shell. And
| there were other indications of a real
oyster house. But 1 remembered my
last London experience. A dozen oysters
are only a whet to the appetite after
| long abstinence, and could a man, I
wondered, double the dose with a clear
conscience and eat 81 worth of oysters
at a sitting?
The signs in the big show window,
| however, and in the glass case outside,
almost carried me back to a dear old
land where the sun shines and the oys-
/ ters sing with gladness. Saddle Rock
| Stews, l shilling: Blue Points, Raw l
shilling a score; BEST American Oys-
tiers, Cd. per half score" Common
/ enough signs at home, those, or some
thing like them; but what would you
think of the patriotism Cor the stomach)
Of an American who could pass them
by in Liverpool?
| Hello, here!" said I to the two men
| behind the counter. I'D like to know
about this thing. What do you mean
| by American oysters? And do you fell
lows mean to say that you can make a
stew?"
Indeed, we can, sir said the smaller
OF the two Thank you, sir And
they're real American oysters, sir. These
| are Saddle Rocks (nis hand on one heap
and these Blue Points (his hand on the
| other heap.
| But here a complication arose. All
the shells were fluted in a manner en-
tirely unknown to Saddle Racks or Blue
| Points.
| "Our American oysters do not wear
those frills on their Shells suggested;
those box pleatings."
They get that on this side, SIR said
the little man. You see, they are
brought over small, sir, and planted out
| in beds till they grow. Some are planted
/ on the Irish coast, some around the Isle
of Man-wherever there are good beds.
They are genuine American oysters,
| sir
With some curiosity I watched the
making of my stew; and I must admit
| that the little Manxman (for the name
of the place THE Douglas') was suffi
cient to show that they came from the
| Isle of Man, even if they had not said
so; that the little Manxman went about
| it with all the skill of a Fulton-street
cook-milk, butter and all.
TT