Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1913-09-18
lEdUard D. Clark

@EdWdrd d. Clerk
j. ! ! J: !. ! ] !: !. ] ] / | | | : : : : !: ! :: :: ! ; :; !: : ! !: !" :: :: ! ! ! ! !: ! J !: !: ! ! ! ! ! ! ! : J !: ! ! ! ! ! : ! ]: : ! ! ! ! ! !:
EcENTLY there wal given in Paris a great feast to the
MN mayors of France Some Of the French newspaper men
k.z| declared unthinkingly perhaps that in the point Of the
IkHf numbers fed and in the sumptuousness of the banquet it
was the greatest affair Of the kind rel given in the
If the Paris correspondents are Frenchmen they are
~A01R41 to be forgiven, perhaps for leaving ut oft their acula-
mY@o&sMW ton another Partisan feast given nearly five hundred
wv va years ago. At that banquet 100000 people were fed;
@$ Wine was lot served from bottles, but the jewellers filled
E&@xzA their fs gons and cup from fountains which raj h
E%Hn@ product Of champagne and Burgundy throughout the
nvaong day. 1t vas the English King Henry \. who
gave this feast, and it was in celebration of his conquest of France and of
his being declared king regent of that country. OF a truth the Padsians
ma be forgiven If their minds ever not to that former festival
AS a matter of fact there are in gastronomic history scores of dinners
one which the government of France gave to the mayors Of the counrys
Municipalities The story Of the BANQUET which Tigelhnus gave to Nero
On a raft made of lded tmberss the structure being moored to the shore
by means of golden ropes The whole earth contributed Of It's birds. nam.
mails, fish and plants o the spreading forth Of the table The entire revenue
was spread over the heads of the diners az of Syrian purple. while the
glassware wa "the plumber Of Italy, Greece and Asia Minor
The cost Of the French mayors banquet, putting it at $25oooo sinks
single man. Marcus Gabius spent n his appetite. This Roman epicure of
the early empire period paid 100000 for the ratification of his palate
himself in order that he might avoid the misery Of being forced to live N
a plain diet.
One needs to g o no farther than to England to find a feast at which
nor people were fed than parook of the French governments hospitality.
10000 people partook of the royal hospitality at ne sitting: A curious
feature of this banquet vas the serving. to the assembled multitude of
az the chief of deHcacies. That their taste may not have been OF the most
refined may De guessed perhaps ron the fact that on the same day they ate
of the bon vivant of today. The Scotch and English o N that occasion. in
addition to other edibles. disposed of 1oO IKE specially fattened for the
feast
The French people may find an instance in their W history of dinner
given by the government in the person Of tn king, which, for novelty and
cost far surpassed the gathering at the board of the mayors. Near the end
of the fourteenth century Charles v of France wanted to do something nice
for the emperor Of Germany so he invited him to dinner promising him as
an inducement to come something which h e had never seen before. The
emperor came, and guests to the number of many hundreds were seated
about the board in a great open pavilion. When the banquet had reached
the point between fish int TOW a shadow fell thwart the table, and looking
up the astounded banauetgs beheld a fun-rgged ship with sails all SET
bearing down upon them. It as impdled across the land by unseen and
nosdess machinery. At the edge of the pavilion the vessel cast anchor.