Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1899-11-03
OYSTER FESTIVAL.
SOME SUGGESTIONS FOR AN UN-
IQUE ENTERTAINERS
Ideas Which Should Be of Special Interest to a
Community Already Made Famous by the
Olympia" Oyster, and at the Beginning Of
the Festive Season.

lOedS WHICH SnOulu Dc OF special interest u d
Community Already Made Famous by the
Olympia" Oyster. and at the Beginning Of
the Festive Season.
Elizabeth scott Raymond in Tacoma News.
Again the season OF the delicious
oyster is in full swing, and house.
wives and dealers alike are glad. Oys-
ters are so easily prepared and so pala.
table in almost any form that the
saving in labor is one that the cook
always appreciates. Oysters taste best
at the beginning of the season, be-
cause the choicest apparently are
those which are first taken from the
beds. Blue Points, gathered about
the town of Blue Point, Long Island,
for long time were considered the
best. Very fine oysters come from the
Shrewsbury river and from Buzzard's
bay. The finest beds in the country
are found along the shores of Long
Island, the northern coast of New Jer-
sey and Chesapeake bay.
The oyster supper that used to be a
prominent feature Of the winter pro-
grammc OF every congregation when
funds were needed for church pur-
poses is not so popular as it once was,
not because oysters are less palatable,
but because people who could eat
them in restaurant were not willing
to pay twice that sum for the priv.
lege of eating them in the church lec-
ture room.
Last winter, however, some bright
young women belonging to an aid So
ciety of certain we'll known church
got up what they called an oyster fes-
tival, whose novelty appealed to the
minds as we'll as the pocketbooks of
the neighborhood.
They had among their number a
young woman who painted quite WELL
She asked friend who knew q good
deal about photography how to make
colored lantern slides. Then she con-
suited Poole's "Index of Periodicals"
for a list of all the articles i'm maga-
zines on the subject of oysters or oys-
ter raising. Some of the magazines
she got by writing to the publishers,
others she picked up at secondhand
book shops and others were contrib
uted by friends to whom she wrote far
and wide for information on the SUBJ
ject. She wrote to the United States
fisheries commission at Washington,
and through it secured some valuable
reports on oyster raising. Then she
set TO work.
The church was in the habit of hir-
ing stereopticon for throwing on the
walls views to illustrate the weekly
lectures given by the pastor or other
persons. The artist selected some pic
lures which were about the size of the
stereopticon plates and, making n
thick paste of starch boiled until it
was transparent, she pasted the maga-
line pictures face downward on pieces
of glass cut the size of the regular
plates. She carefully went over the
pictures with her handkerchief, rub
bing out all the superfiuous starch so
that there should be no blisters when
it dried. Then she put the pictures
aside for day or two. When they
were perfectly dry, she went over them
very carefully, rubbing the paper on
the back until only thin film re-
mained on the glass. She went over
this carefully with paints giving the
cOlOrs of nature, and when she
thought this beyond her she merely
touched up the outline where it was
weak with black and white. She ex-
perimented with the stereopticon
when the pictures were finished and
retouched many of them to get good
effects. While the result was not a
wonderful one, it served the purpose
to show the life of the oyster gather
ers.
The first picture showed the oyster
in its home the last was table with
diners seated about it feasting upon
the tempting bivalve. The brightest
young man in the congregation was
asked to give lecture on the oyster.
He was, as it happened, the brother of
the girl artist, and she made it attract.
i've and to the point by selecting her
pictures to help out his talk to the
best advantage. He told all about
oysters, ran in interesting histories
from the time OF Julius Caesar, Lucul-
lus, Vitellius, who is said to have
eaten 1000 oysters in one day, and
who would have bankrupted a modern
oyster festival, all the way down the
centuries, telling OF great wits and
wise men and orators and singers who
had believed that their throats and
brains were the better for mollusk eat
ing. The speaker gave great deal of
interesting information about the cul-
ture of oysters, where the best ones
come from, how they are gathered,
brought to market and eaten. When
he came to point where a picture
was appropriate. it was thrown upon
the screen, and what it lacked in def
niteness his description helped out.
All present were delighted with the
talk and said that they should eat