t
the number of courses served at an American millionaire's dinner is
after all less numerous than those furnished at a Chinese feast. When
a Chinese gentleman asks his friends to dine with him the menu may
include anywhere from thirty to fifty or a hundred courses; but many of
the dishes are only intended for show. The guests are not expected to
eat everything on the table, or even to taste every delicacy, unless,
indeed, they specially desire to do so. 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. Since then terrapins have
become so rare that no stylish dinner ever takes place without this
dish. Oysters are another Western sine qua non, and are always served
raw. I wonder how many ladies and gentlemen who swallow these mollusca
with such evident relish know that they are veritable scavengers, which
pick up and swallow every dirty thing in the water. A friend of mine
after taking a few of them on one occasion, had to leave the table and
go home; he was ill afterward for severa