Daily capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1896-1899, 1899-03-23
MR. MEEKs DINNER.

~, ,ho servant go on holiday for
savor two. and they want me desper
otely at the Woman's Aid and lAe''e
Razaar this evening; IL is the last Gay
II Won Thought you could manage o.
yourself" -.a A.
"rn try to survive IT, observed Mt
Meek good-naturedly, Il uop
fancy il will prove fatli ~ :,
N IT, resulted, furthermore, that mr
,took loft his oiil,e about 4 O'CLOCK
,ha, afternoon. aud proceeded to col
lect ON his way home the necessary
snnnlies for dainty little dinner
An alluring display oI geese was the
first thing to eaten his eye and
ne was Just on the puiut Of securing
one Of them when he rccOl ected That,
as rule, you don't cook geese just as
they are. In the ruac,lOn that fol-
lowed this feat Of N emory he bought
couple Of mutton chops and three
tomatoes.
'I'll have good, PLATA, uld-fash-
ioned English dinner" he thought
"By jove !" he exclaimed a moment
later, "l'l haye some oyster soup to
begin with, and apple pudding to
finish"
BY O'Clock he had the fire going
beautifully.
BY 8 O'Clock he was just beginning
to enjoy the thing, The tomatoes
we're stewing divluely, the potatoes
we're boiling to their heats content,
aud the milk for the oyster soup was
smmertng contentedly on the back of
the stove. The oysters had not yet
arrived.
"Dedr me-" thought the ambitious
gentleman, 81 wish had thought of
IL in time, and I'd have had some oys.
ter patties for sort OF grand finale.
halo! what's this? By thunder, ii
that woman hasn't left me some ham
and cuStard pe!"
AT 6:30 he put the chops on TO broil, /.
"as in the good old days of yore"-.
poetic alluslon To the style Of cook |
lux OCluk bNNholOuNu BN JUG VI Lutll /
accidentally dropping iIto the fire,
whence he rescued 1t with great pres
ence OF mind by the Joint assistance
Of the poker and one OF the best table
napkins.
BY the time the chop was thus res
cued both IL and the table napkik
were fairly well doue-to put IL
mildly. This dtiicuIty he got over by
putting the erring chop on the win.
dow sill to cool and the napkin into
the fire.
This accomplished, and with one
chop gently cooking in The gridiron
aud the other one cooling on the win
dow sill, he started to construct the
paste for his apple pudding, lie placed
large quantity of -four in small
bowl, emptied jug Of water on top Of
II, and proceeded To mold 10 defJly
into shape as he had 'Uften seen his
wife do. The -four and water
promptly forsook the bowl and betook
themselves to his hands.
Then the milk for the soup began TO
burn Just as the potatoes boiled dry.
He rushed to the rescue, and left the
greater portion OF the paste fairly
evenly divided between the handles Of
the two saucepans and the poker,
At this juncture the tomatoes
started to see IL they couldn't surpass
the milk in burning. They succeeded.
The cat, which was accustomed to a
$3.50 dinner, walked off with the chCp
on the window sill, while the chop on
the fire grew beautifully black On the
down" side. So many things were
now burning all at the Sam me tine that
Mr.. Meek gave up all hope Cf trying
TO discover which one was burning
most.
With the astutenesS that charac-
teriZed him as distinguished from his
fellowmen, he gave up all effort %
track the truant paste, and simply
popped his apples into the oven TO
TO bake.
1t was how about 80 and the ire
was getting hotter than anything else
on earth, except, perhaps Mr.. Meek.
He turned all the dampers, nEeued all
the doors and took Cn all the lids.
This resulted most satisfactorily; the
fire began to cool. 1t got, ii any ,
thing, a little low Then IL went out.
The gentlest Of natures when :
aroused are OF the most terrible. lie
used enough lire lighters and parahne
TO have ignited the pyramids Of
Egypt. He departed to the outer
kitchen TO try the oysters, which the
lilatlry hshmOnger had just deposited
On the table without waiting 10 par
ey with Mr.. Meek. 4
When about five minutes later Mr.,
Meek discovered that the cat had
found the oysters 20 It's taste, ae be-
came even less calm Il
AT this stage, TO console the un-
fortunate man, lie tire began % go Z
again. Iu' about five minutes the T.
chop that the cat hadn't eaten was
especially we'll done. IL could b. quite
safely on the window Siii with a whole
legion OF starving eats around II.
Then there came over Mr.. Meek's I
face a terrible expression. He brought
in a nail and DOured the SOUP care