The Van Buren press., 1898-03-12
.f1s AND TEAR OF BGsQUETs.
A Popular Former Mayor o.
r,.s,re Tells How 10 Bifhsfana IL

A Popular f9fHsff
nore Tells How 20 sithstaha A.
In thess days. when many 81 me lils
.rbseb flesh IS heir 80 are said 10 De at
.-.s...a5,1e directly . tie eating Of TOO
5aueb good food q the drinking o. 100
uueh good drial1. it Is difficult to mo :
ran who. il the course d THO decades
= ruB.ie lie. has attended, al con-
s.e-zst5se estimate, lot less than Dt2
l.areBetg and still maintains con-
fs,-ss555e avoirznpois and shows Do 1.
effects os az ordeal which might wei
make uanY a gour1naud sbudcer.
ssea a nan. however. is e1-Nayor
Ferdinand Claiborne LatroDe. For il
years be sal il the mayors char alae
during az that time be was subject 70
a anarsfteH law. which declares maj
3 part q q mayors duties Is 70 20 10
hsnauete. Before he Wag ever elected
MAYOR Of baltimore be was public Of
feial. having been speaker OF The house
If delegates. and held other Offices. and
during that time bis quota d banquets
ssas moi email And since lie has retired
70 private life his friends. who during
seven yearg as mayor had honored BAN
with Invitations 70 banaueiss have not
forgotten him, and lie has continued .
grace the tables which have known him
il his official capacity.
Say, then. tina. there are 70 YEARS
Turing which Gen. Latr0be has been
regular guest at public banq1ets. He
himself saws that he must have attend
81 Al least - . year during that time.
and that makes the total Of 60 ban
auefs. What is tie secret Of doiHG this
without ghattering health and iappi-
ness. without even being interested in
the Zurich. Switzerland. operation Of
having ones stomach removed Per
haps It would be best 70 give it in hiI
words:
i never found The task arduous,
said &c the other day. = have attended
al kinds Of bauquefs and DINERS. al
which the dishes Of many distinctive
nations were served. But the fact IS
that / never ate much and seldom drank
ANYTHING bar mineral water. ! would
always eat q good dinner before ! left
home, and would, when arrived at the
banquet table. partake Of perhaps few
things and then sit sill and enjoy my
self until il came time 10 respond 10
that abused toast. The City Of Balti-
more
- mayor can make no greater mis-
take than 10 try to 60 to two banquets
In one night. This is thing that |
never did. When | received ar invita-
tion | wrote it down, and if another
came informed the second Corners that
| was already engaged to eat and drink.
As far as the speechmaking was con
/ cerned that never bothered me much.
When the time came TO talk NO I'D get
up and tel my hearers something about
tie city government, which, must con-
Tess. ! knew a great deal about al one
| time
1t struck Gen. I.atrobe as rather fun
nswhen the national complexion of the
/ baneuets which he had attended was
called 10 his attention. There were the
German celebrations, for instance.
with very Teutonie dishes and wine and
beer. Then there we're the meetings OF
the Hibernian society, where the sons
q the sod Of Erin had the catering in
charge The ST. Andrews society
serve1 him haggis piping hot and equal
ly hot Scotch whisky and the St. George
society stuck to the roast beef Of old
England and other things which 90
with it
All of these Gen. Latrobe attended as
siduously and regularly, and therewer
others. There was the banquet OF the
| Hebrew Benevolent society, where the
dishes of the prophets met the eye, the
banquets of the City college, and other
educational institutions, and last, but
net least. the annual gathering around
the festal board of the Merchants and
Manufacturers association, where or
ators Of national fame usually dis
courses upon topics Of timely interest.
81 really enjoyed it ALL" continued
the eX-mayor. 81 liked to go, not only
! TO the banquets which you have men
toned, but to many others. | always
bad good time wherever went. But
| didn't eat much, Banquet-goers
should remember that, and | didn't
drink much and that is why have not
developed any of those diseases which
are lurking in the atmosphere sur
rounding the gourmet.
"A public man must needs attend a
great many of these functions, but at
all Of them he is almost sure TO meet
number of people whom he knows. and
it is always pleasant to talk to ones
friends Thus man may combine
pleasure with a duty which might at
times seem disagreeabe on account of
its frequent recurrence, but if he would
have peace of body and avoid surgeons
who have a hankoring to remove stom-
achs, he should follow my example
never eat much and never drink much 8"
Baltimore Sun.
Lovc-Mnising in Public.
The comieal sight Of a French bride
ard bridegroom, in all the glory Of