Evening star., 1901-12-23
FOR THE FEsTAL SEASON.
Hints About the Construction of Curl
OuS Menus.

Ouo N1chuDs
From the London Mail.
The term freak menu Is applied by
caterers to menus drawn up otherwise than
in the orthodox STYLE whether as regards
spelling. diction. form or external or inter-
nal establishment or adornment. A good
example Of the latter class was placed
upon the table at judges dinner party
not long ago. Each menu card was shaped
like miniature brief. tied with red tape.
An undertaker's dinner menu was in the
form Of a coffin. and bore above It the reg
ulatdon deaths head and cross-bones. Even
journalists, sad to relate, have been guilty
of similar frivolities. At q press dinner the
menu card par0died newspaper contents
bill.
A party Of medicos, dining together at q
London club, had the Indifferent French Of
the ordinary club menu turned Into worse
Lahn-the Latin OF the prescription. The
and decidedly perplexing appearance. For
instance. Compete dAbricots' masque-
raider as ''Malorum Armentacorum condt-
tus crustalata inclusus." Dialect menus
figure at many county dinnera One OF the
best was that which was placed beside
each guests place at a Yorshiremen's So
ciety banquet. given last autumn at Wei
Hngton. New Zealand.
Menus comprising pra ctically only one ar
ticle OF food are not uncommon, and some
times run to a considerable length. Menus
have often been used to protest against the
use Of French as the language Of gastron-
omy. Thus at the annual ministerial white
bait dinner at Greenwich. some years back.
the guests were informed that This Billie
of ye Fare Is drawn in Playne Englyshe.
without any cloake OF French or other
Foreyne tongue" the announcement wind
ing up with a mild joke, to the effect that
''Ye dinner will be servyd after ye manner
Of ye Russian people. but ye guests are
bydden TO cate after ye Hungarie manner"
The political menue is a variant OF the
menu humorous The Irish party used at
one time to specially affect this mild form
colt" and "Bifteks en- Its blanche" figuring
almost invariably on their parliamentary
bills of fare during the stormy times Of the
Balfourian regime. The literary menu is
teries. Thus a shakespearean dinner menu
will contain only quotations from Shakes
peare; as, for instance, turtle soup, "The
impecunious seas breed monsters for the
dish," "Cymbeline." iv:2: galantine OF pig
cons. Some pigeons Davy." II Henry
W." vi. The most learned and most
elaborate Of these literary menus was that
placed before the guests at a dinner given
by an oriental congress at Stockholm some
years ago. This amazing compilation con-
stituted In Itself a small volume Of eighteen
pages. and contained discourses on the
several dishes in sixteen oriental languaxes
When the war fever was at its height last
year war menus were exceedingly popular.
One OF the most remarkable menus ON rec
oru Is tnat IN which three kinds OF meat
only are used-that Of dogs cats and
horses. The dinner was served during the
siege Of Paris. on Christmas day, 1870
Finally, mention ought to be made of the
famous dinner given by the Aborigines
Club at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, New
York. to Mr.. Beerbohm Tree, when not the
menu card alone. but the whole surround
tngs, were made as odd and interesting as
possible. Thus. the table. for instance, was
covered with the skins of wild beasts,
leaves from the forest foliage, the weapons
of war of almost every age, arrow heads.
tomahawks. bows, and arrows with flint
points. and firearms from the fintlocks to
the improved magazine rifle and revolver