Morgan County democrat. (Versailles, Mo.) 1900-1906, 1905-02-17

you DO. old skate. don't you ever get
. morbid appetite"
What Is . morbid appetizer" asked
the old man, as he peeled a banana and
began to eat 1t.
Scientists say a morbid appetite "a
n that don't know when II has got
enough. Dad likes good things. but he
wants all there Is on the table. Now,
at New Orleans. before we came home,
dad and I vent Ia a restaurant to get
some oysters. and you know the oys-
tiers there are the biggest In the world.
When we got there dad was hungry,
and the thought of raw oysters on the
half shell made him morbid. He had .
blue-point appetite, and ordered four
dozen On the half shell. for himself,
and one dozen fer me. Well. you
would have dropped dead In your
tracks II you had been there. Six
walters brought OF the Ave dozen oys.
tiers. and each oyeter was as big as .
pie plate. Six Apzen oysters would
cover this floor from the door to the
iCCOOA. Ddu dliIOSI IhlutGu WhSh bo
saw them, but his pride was at stake.
and he made up his mind II he didn't
eat them all the walters would think
he was a tenderfoot and so he started
In. The first oyster was as big al q
calf's liver. and nobody but a sword
swallower could ever have got 1t down.
Dad cut n oyster into quarters and
Unt uuyov uyfth ~ md aftnr aWhfln hn
murdered another. and after he had
eaten three he wanted to go home and
leave them. Then Is the time his little
boy got in his work. I told dad IL he
didn't eat all the oysters the walters
and the people would mob him. that 1t
was a deadly offense to order oysters
and not eat them, and that they would
probably kill us both before we got out
Of the place. He said: 'Hennery, I
don't like oysters like | used to. and 1t
seems to me | couldn't eat another one
to save my life, but II. as you say, we
are in a country where a mans life Is
held SO cheaply. by the great horn
spoon, I will eat every oyster in the
house, and the Lord have mercy on
me- told him that was about the
size of 1t, and he would eat or die, and
maybe he would die anyway, and just
then a wicked-looking negro with a big
oyster knife came to the table and
looked ugly at dad and said: Have
another dozen?' and dad said: Yes,
and then he began to eat as though his
life depended on 1t. and l could hear
the great wads of oysters strike with a
dull thud on exposed places inside OF
dad, and before he got up from the ia
BILE he had eaten them all, and he told
the man he would be in again to lunch
after awhile. Dad Is the bravest man
| ever saw, and don't you forget 1t.
He would have come out all right,
suppose, and lived. II 1t hadn't been fol-
his devilish morbid appetite for travel
and adventure. Quick as we got on,
OF the oyster place dad wanted to take
a steamboat ride down the river to the
Eads jetties at the mouth of the river
and we went on board, and had a nice
ride down to the mouth. After We
had looked over the j%ctties. where Eads
made an artificial canal big enough fol-
the largest ocean steamers to come w
to New Orleans, the passengers wanted
the captain to run the boat outside the
bar, into the blue ocean. where the
waves come from. Gee, but ! hope
may live long enough to forget the
ride. We hadn't got n boats length
outside the bar before the boat began
to roll and toss, and held on TO dads
hand, and wished | was dead. told
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