The herald. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1905-1953, 1914-05-21
A CULINARY TREAT
Served In a Little Cake Shop In
a Little French Town.
THE COST WAS LITTLE ALSO.

Surprises Came Thick ana fast In tho
Way Of Meals, but the Greatest Sur
prise of All Came After the Castro
noric Conquest Was Ended.
They were talking about dainty din
nerS when the man who goes abroad
/ said, The best meal ever got was
in the back parlor of a small shop In a
one horse town, and it cost me 30
/ cents"
Urged to tell his story, he continued.
1T was in small provincial French
town-BioiS. 4 friend OF mine called
Bodfsh enticed me there 10y looking
me up in Paris and throwing a tit
about the delights OF the town
"It has castle he told me. and
moat and ramparts and little cake
shop run by a charming old woman
Enough said I. me for Blois'
I'VE went there and We Castled
and we moated and we ramparted.
and then we blew into the little shop
TO cake. The proprietrcss. very
| pleasant old woman. indeed. intro
duced us to her son. who was mod
estly hiding behind his mustache in a
corner.
| I'VE got into conversation with him
that is, BodfiSh and | plunged into
French and be, diving In heroically
after US, was pulled under in our
drowning struggles. The upshot of It
all was that we agreed to hire G room
In his mothers house for the Hight-
we meant to stay just one night in
Blois
'And-er-dinner? asked BodfSh.
"If the meSsieurs will permit | will
do myself the honor Of cooking them
a dinner, said the cake lady's son,
bowling most courteously.
"Thereupon Bodfsh and went
blithely TO an attic 51S years old at a
conservative estimate, washed the cas-
tie and the moat and the ramparts
from our hands and faces and descend
ed to the dining room, a small apart
ment in the rear Of madame's cake
shop.
"Our landlady's son was there, ready
for us. So was a soup.
THAT was. by actual count, the
grandest soup ever produced by a hu-
man being. | have Travelled all over
the world. tasting the best every coun-
try has to offer in the way Of soup, but
at the first taste of that Blois sample
/ oil ,g,.,se nf ath bad
died together in dark corner of my
mind and froze to death.
81 looked at BOdfsh. He was posi-
lively half witted with delight. He
looked as If he wanted to spend the rest
of his life as high priest in a temple
devoted to the worship-and manufac-
ture-Of that soup.
"More, messieursP
Between US we RACED that soup to
the ground.
"'Entree. meSsieurS?
Don't ask me what that entree was.
Bodfish ate it with his eyes shut and
his head bowed reverently.
"Bodfish and I stayed in Blois for
twenty nine meals. Don't ask me how
many days that makes; we knew only
two sorts OF times-meals and between
meals. AS for sightseeing, we didn't
see much more than our plates, be
cause after each meal in the back par
Tor of that celestial cake shop we were
so chock full that we hibernated like
snakes. lay sprawling on touches, un-
able to bulge. blinking sleepily. grunt-
ing gruntS Of Elysian contentment.
Time and again we would ask that
Frenchman how he had come by his
culinary skill but in vain. He would
merely smile and give US another help,
ing. You may get some idea Of what
sort OF meals that cuss gave us when
tell you that Bodfish summed up his
ability In these words:
"At times he seems to lose his Gull
nary grip and descends to mere per
lection
after the twenty-ninth meal Bod
fish and | remembered that we be
longed somewhere, had a number OF
relatives, were engaged In business
had FESTIVE careers to coax along. Sc
we called our cook, announced that we
were leaving and wanted to know
how much we owed.
"'Six francs for each day, mes
sieurs,' said he One for the room
one for breakfast, one and a half fol
lunch, two and a half for dinner
"Bodfish and | fell heavily against
each other Then we paid and started
for the door.
"'Wait,' said our host 4. too, trave
away today
WHITTIER are you bOundT we asked
"'To st. Petersburg he replied. :
came away but to see by old mothe
IN the cake shop. / had not seen he
for five years. l must thank you, mes
sieurs. for giving me this chance o.
keeping up my art. Had you not done
so, fear that after getting back L
St Petersburg, my art would surel!
have suffered
'Whuh-whuh-what are you In ST
PetersburgT we inquired huskily.
"Chef,' he said, bowling, to his mai
esty the czarr New York Times.
Overheard on the Street.
Hasn't that girl an ethereal lookT'
"Very"
"I of us listen to what she Is sayinI