Again,
we don't eat so heartily as do the Americans, but content ourselves
with one or two mouthfuls from each set of dishes,
and allow appreciable intervals to elapse between courses,
during which we make merry, smoke, and otherwise enjoy the company.
This is a distinct advantage in favor of China.
In Europe and America, dessert forms the last course at dinner;
in China this is served first. I do not know which is the better way.
Chinese are ever ready to accept the best from every quarter,
and so many of us have recently adopted the Western practice
regarding dessert, while still retaining the ancient Chinese custom,
so that now we eat sweetmeats and fruit at the beginning, during dinner,
and at the end. This happy combination of Eastern and Western practices is,
I submit, worthy of expansion and extension. If it were to become universal
it would help to discourage the present unwholesome habit,
for it is nothing more than a habit, of devouring flesh.
One of the dishes indispensable at a fashionable American dinner
is the terrapin. Those who eat these things say that their flesh
has a most agreeable and delicate flavor, and that their gelatinous
skinny necks and fins are delicious, but apparently the most palatable tidbits
pall the taste in time, for it is said that about forty years ago
terrapins were so abundant and cheap that workmen in their agreement
with their employers stipulated that terrapin should not be supplied
at their dinner table more than three times a week.
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