It was a regular
scramble. The principle seemed to be to _begin_ to eat as soon as
possible, no matter what! Some began with nothing but potatoes, some
with a bit of bread, some with a piece of beef, some with a limb of the
turkey. Some, I noticed, beginning with fowl, then taking roast beef,
then boiled mutton, then fish, and then some pastry,--all on the same
plate, and--faugh!--portions of most of them there at the same time! No
change of plate,--that would have been extravagant, and would have
savoured of aristocracy. Freedom, it seemed, allowed every one to help
himself; and that with his own knife and fork, which he had before used
for all sorts of purposes. Such luxuries as salt-spoons and
mustard-spoons are very rare south of the Ohio. My wife asked the lady
of the house for a small slice of the ham she had before her, when the
latter very politely begged Mrs. Davies to lend her her knife to cut it
with! This was good society in New Orleans. Things improved as we
advanced towards the North; but in most places, though the Americans
provide bountifully, the cooking is not good, and they make a strange
jumble of things at table.
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