Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1901-06-08
EXTRA DINING ROOMS.
Anything From Barrel to the SWELL
Box of an Organ.
From Tit Bits.

From Tit-Bsts.
An invitation to dine in a barrel has in
itself no great element of attraction; tut
! when the barrel takes the form of a cham
payne tun large enough to hold f2o0.o00
| worth of the seductive beverage, and when
| the dinner is one of a dozen courses, each
perfect of it's kind, the temptation as
sumes quite different complexion.
This was the invitation issued Two years
ago to 100 chosen guests by Messrs. Fruh-
inshaltz & Co. of Nancy, and the dining
saloon was colossal champagne tun built
for the Paris exposition of last year
This tun was in the shape of an cnOrm Dus
barrel, 81 feet in length and diameter. with
a capacity of 92.4po gallons; so capacibus
was it, in fact, that a small army If 5000
men could have been packed in its interior.
The mere preparation of the wood for its
construction occupied four months; a year
was spent i'm building it; its cost was H.. 400.
and ii was so heavy that a strong loco
motive would be required TO draw il.
Within this truly regal caSk covers were
laid for 100 guests, Just as many the
workmen who had made it, and for two
hours a sumptuous feast ranging from an
overture of potage a la bisque q ecreNisses
to a dessert that would have tempted Luz
cullus, was partaken Of.
More remarkable even than this strange
banquet was one which, a year ago. tempt
ed the appetite of two dozen villagers on
the northern coast of Norway. An enor-
nous whale, Great Northern rorqual,
had drifted ashore, bringing an unexpected
fortune in oil and blubber and whalebone
to its fortunate finders. lie was a mon
ster, even of its kind measuring eighty
feet from Snout to tail, and yielded over
E., 500 In bone and OIL
Ia honor of such rich treasure trove
the finders decided TO give banquet in the
most novel dining room record. the in
side of a whale, which, after the removal
of the blubber, afforded ample sitting room
for thirty guests. How far the appetite OF
the guests was affected by the unesthetio
atmosphere is not recorded, but II Is said
that some of the diners, toward the end of
the meal, were so enamored of their quar-
tiers that they expressed a determination
to stay there forever, and We're only eject
ed by muscular force.
More than one banquet has been served
in the interior of a large organ. The most
notable, perhaps, was that given by the
Silbermanns, century ago, in the mag
niticent organ of the Royal Catholic
Church, Dresden, when the yox humana
stop was more predominant than II has
ever been since.
Forty years or more ago ten guests sat
down to perfect little dinner in the SWELL
box Of a Leeds organ; and the famous or
gan of the Sydney Town Hall was similar
ly converted into dining room in which its
health was drunk by much more numer-
Gus body of diners
1t is no uncommon thing in California to
dine and dance inside the trunk of one or
other Of the enormous trees which are
common there, some of which are over 300
feet high and ninety feet In circumference.
In the hollow interior of one OF these
giants Of the forest, in Calaveras Grove,
a memorable banquet was given some
years ago.
The trunk, which was thirty feet in diam
eter. afforded ample accommodation for
the fifty guests invited, and after the din
ner was disposed of and the tables cleared
away twenty-five couples danced until far
into the morning.