Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-01-21
WITH DUE soLEMNITY
How a Duck 3 Cooked at the Famous
Toar DeArgent.
DIFFERS FRQf OHER RESTAURANTS
The Chef rs Il the Dignity of a
\ gh Priest.
l. A ! EST FAD IN PARIS
Special Correspondence of The Evening Star

To reach it from the hotels one must drive
under the shadow of Notre Dame and by
the hideous little moTgue. where the Pari-
slams make show of their unfortunate
dead A visit to the Tower of Silver is a
pilgrimage. Other cities vaunt their famous
restaurants, but this is mecca of ep!cures,
a Sastronomc shrine of people who build
monuments to their cooks. Here is per
formed rite with duck so wonderful that
to have participated therein makes Il band
Of brotherhood between trencher men
wherever they may meet, even in the ends
of the earth.
NO epicureS were enlisted in the party
which did homage tonight to Tour d Argent
duck, only plain Americans, who swore by
pialn beefsteaks and never met in Paris
without questioning one another in an il
Hterate and scofTing way, Have you de-
Jeunered!' to show their contempt for the
customs OF the country. They found the
lo"er OF Silver no tower at all, but a
homely, narrow little room, at which New
norkers would tilt their noses at home.
But that 1t was no ordinary restaurant was
soon mace plain by the mobilization of
walters effected against the party
waiter TO bring q fork a waiter for a knife
waiter with spoon. waiter behind each
chaif ana many free lance walters, who
hoNered near without any discovera bic
proVocatlon. The Americans dutifullv be-
gan AT the beginning with the hors d'oeuv-
res, which look so little on the TIA bic and 50
large on the bill They worked their wa,
aloHs bhe culinary path without meeting
ndiy Inllestones until they came to the de-
nouemehtrthe duck. Then. suddenly the
SklfnlSh line of mnions ,tisapneared tho
curtain was down for five minutes an
"mesol"e hush was over the house broken
oihy by excited whispers behind the scenes
Solemn Ceremony.
presently a procession emerged. There
came lille of servitors in white aprons.
Slowly, portentously, as acolytes move to
the chancel. Each bore a mysterious i'm
PIGMENT, machine or dish. These they
placed reverently upon the table as though
they mad been the crown jewels of England
then ranged themselves in the background
up stage Ike tie chorus of a Greek TRACE
us. inaily tme star. Salvini l have seen
make make his enta nee, irving. even Richard
Mansfield. Ba never a tragediau Saxan
nor Latin, wifi SO somber a brow tread
so majestic, stth airTof a Jupiter about "a
huri his thundRbolts1 He advanced to the
almost had q said table. and ransacking
a matter-of- "a ct MEMORY afterward i>l'i i
seems very like tasie-but under the speli
" the presenciit was nothing less than an
altar. He bow4dto tie company, abstract
Guy, loitily as an emperor might stoop to
hotlce beSgarsc with eyes turned ceiling
ward as JOSEPH Cook was used to come
upon the platform charged with heavy
thoughts upon the unuttcrabIe There had
neeh conversation, even triyialities bur
nlppant joke on the~lips of one American
died between two sylablcs while the ladies
looked almost frightened
some words he spoke. French they We're
II seems, but the tone and the manner were
VI ", oeulpCs IN his agony In response an
other Vassal came upon the scene bearing
d platter, thereon amid gorgeous garnish
lngs duck recumbent,
Services Over the Duck.
What followed was too profound too on
pressive, too long drawn an intensity of
suspense for the emotions to permit de-
tailed rehearsal. The high priest at I'll,
altar IN the center of the room first lighted
a ire, q silver spirit lamp under a silver
ofazler, then he carved the bird. not as
mere fowls are carved, but as a devout
tnlhdman might prepare the New Year
Offering before the tomb of his great-preat
est-Sfahd1ather thousand generations re-
moved. he placed the body over the fire
and while 1t lay there erlling he perfornoed
upon 1t wondrously with as many curious
implements as | dentist uses Next n great
press with nickel handles like those kent in
a business office to fiatten the con,,ing
books was produced. Into this compress.
the duck was thrust and the celebrant snat
upon his hands 'pN'
Spoke in d husky whisper one of the
diners who had baen there before.
lies squeezing out its blood"
So he was. He grasped the shining han
ules ana turned them cautiously with an
eye upon the result like an engineer nuI1inp
the throttle. The dismembered fragments
Oh duck were Spooned out from the press a
PUPPY jelly. Other portions exempted from
the squeezing were arranged on a nIattar
The pulp had its place there also. The blood
came dripping out gruesomely from a
spout IN the machine, while some one sug-
gested the guillotine." More chatting dishes
and another spirit lamp were Impressed
INTO some sorcery upon the blood, which.
having been seasoned with other things
was poured over the body of which it had
been a constituent. But this was NOT all
for still some witchery must b. done with
spices, sauces and herbs.
1t was while this final degree was being
worked that young lady snickered, lust
rasping. falsetto feminine giggle You NAV
cast a banana peel under the feet of the
drum major as he approaches the White
House portco, nudge the scuIptor's elbow
as he chisels an eyebrow of his Venus,
daub out the face of Dick Tornenhow's
"Me,ancholia," the first violin NAV snan
a string when the tenor quivers on his
highest note-these crimes are human Int
respect the maestro of duck in the rapture
OF commpoSition
Pearls Before Swine
The look with which he froze that Amer
lean lady memory duplicated but once. 1t
was the lightning by which OthelIo scared
was preached. He was wounded deeply,
that was plain: but when he beheld his
symphony completed, the ashes of duck
swimming in their own blood, the gar
lands frescoed about it. his spirits rose,
scared superior to a trivial world in the
self-sufIiciency Of greatness which knows
itself. He bore it tenderly to the table
with his own hands, backed up by cat
tering change Of the walters chorus and
Strengthened himself as a conductor lays
down his baton after the overture and
waits for applause. 1T was casting pearls
before swine his brow declared, but he
stood there. gloomy. zaloof. throughout the
eating, with the fine contempt of a Whis-
tier who watches his masterpiece auctioned
to Darvenues.
The Americans pretended to eat Really
they watched 7the master. Something
strangely familiar, as the novelist says
stamped the profile. Where had they seen
it before? 1t was no ordinary face Bushy
hair thrown be1ligerently back from the
forehead, smooth small chin. firm little
mouth, with long iron-gray whiskers brst-
ling outward to two antagonistic points,
this head set over ponderous stomach
One of the quartet whispered "Ibsen"
1T is, 1t ISL the others chorusad
1t was Jbsen stepped out from a frontis-
piece to the dolls house, true to the por-