“Is it wildness”, returned the Judge earnestly, “to condemn a practice which devotes these jewels of the forest, these precious gifts of nature, these mines of corn-I fort and wealth, to the common uses of a fireplace? But I must, and will, the instant the snow is off the earth, send out a party into the mountains to explore for coal.”
“Coal!” echoed Richard. “Who the devil do you think will dig for coal when, in hunting for a bushel. he would have to rip up more of trees than would keep him in fuel for a twelvemonth? Poh! poh! Marmaduke: you should leave the management of these things to me, who have a natural turn that way. It was I that ordered this fire, and a noble one it is, to warm the blood of my pretty Cousin Bess.”
The motive, then, must be your apology, Dick on”, said the Judge. – ” But, gentlemen, we are waiting. – Elizabeth, my child, take the head of the table; Richard, I see, means to spare me the trouble of carving, by sitting opposite to you.”
“To be sure I do”, cried Richard. “Here is a turkey to carve; and I flatter myself that I understand carving a turkey, or, for that matter, a goose, as well as any man alive. – Mr. Grant! Where’s Mr. Grant? Will you please to say grace, sir? Everything in getting cold. Take a thing from the fire this cold weather, and it will freeze in five minutes. Mr. Grant, we want you to say grace. ‘For what we are about to receive, the Lord make, us thankful Come, sit down, sit down. Do you eat wing or breast, Cousin Bess?”
But Elizabeth had not taken her seat, nor Was she in readiness to receive either the wing or breast. Her Laughing eyes were glancing at the arrangements of the table, and the quality and selection of the food. The eyes of the father soon met the wondering looks of his daughter, and he said, with a smile:
“You perceive, my child, how much we are indebted to Remarkable for her skill in housewifery. She has indeed provided a noble repast – such as well might stop the cravings of hunger.”
“Law!” said Remarkable, “I’m glad if the Judge is pleased; but I’m notional that you’ll find the sa’ce over done. I thought, as Elizabeth was coming home, that a body could do no less than make things agreeable.”
“My daughter has now grown to woman’s estate, and is from this moment mistress of my house”, said the Judge; “it is proper that all who live with me address her as Miss Temple.
“Do tell!” exclaimed Remarkable, a little aghast; “well, who ever heerd of a young woman’s being called Miss? If the Judge had a wife now, I shouldn’t think of calling her anything but Miss Temple; but – ”
“Having nothing but a daughter you will observe that style to her, if you please, in future”, interrupted Marmaduke.
As the Judge looked seriously displeased, and, at such moments, carried a particularly commanding air with him, the wary housekeeper made no reply; and, Mr. Grant entering the room, the whole party were seated at the table. As the arrangements of this repast were much in the prevailing taste of that period and country, we shall endeavor to give a short description of the appearance of the banquet.
The table-linen was of the most beautiful damask, and the plates and dishes of real china, an article of great luxury at this early period of American commerce. The knives and forks were of exquisitely polished steel, and were set in unclouded ivory. So much, being furnished by the wealth of Marmaduke, was not only comfortable but even elegant. The contents of the several dishes, and their positions, however, were the result of the sole judgment of Remarkable. Before Elizabeth was placed an enormous roasted turkey, and before Richard one boiled, in the centre of the table stood a pair of heavy silver casters, surrounded by four dishes: one a fricassee that consisted of gray squirrels; another of fish fried; a third of fish boiled; the last was a venison steak. Between these dishes and the turkeys stood, on the one side, a prodigious chine of roasted bear’s meat, and on the other a boiled leg of delicious mutton. Interspersed among this load of meats was every species of vegetables that the season and country afforded. The four corners were garnished with plates of cake. On one was piled certain curiously twisted and complicated figures, called “nut-cakes”, On another were heaps of a black-looking sub stance, which, receiving its hue from molasses, was properly termed “sweet-cake;” a wonderful favorite in the coterie of Remarkable, A third was filled, to use the language of the housekeeper, with “cards of gingerbread;” and the last held a “ plum-cake”, so called from the number of large raisins that were showing their black heads in a substance of suspiciously similar color. At each corner of the table stood saucers, filled with a thick fluid of some what equivocal color and consistence, variegated with small dark lumps of a substance that resembled nothing but itself, which Remarkable termed her “sweetmeats.” At the side of each plate, which was placed bottom upward, with its knife and fork most accurately crossed above it, stood another, of smaller size, containing a motley-looking pie, composed of triangular slices of apple, mince, pump kin, cranberry, and custard so arranged as to form an entire whole, Decanters of brandy, rum, gin, and wine, with sundry pitchers of cider, beer, and one hissing vessel of “fl ip”, were put wherever an opening would admit of their introduction. Notwithstanding the size of the tables, there was scarcely a spot where the rich damask could be seen, so crowded were the dishes, with their associated bottles, plates, and saucers. The object seemed to be profusion, and it was obtained entirely at the expense of order and elegance.
All the guests, as well as the Judge himself, seemed perfectly familiar with this description of fare, for each one commenced eating, with an appetite that promised to do great honor to Remarkable’s taste and skill. What rendered this attention to the repast a little surprising, was the fact that both the German and Richard had been summoned from another table to meet the Judge; but Major Hartmann both ate and drank without any rule, when on his excursions; and Mr. Jones invariably made it a point to participate in the business in hand, let it be what it would. The host seemed to think some apology necessary for the warmth he had betrayed on the subject of the firewood, and when the party were comfortably seated, and engaged with their knives and forks, he observed:
“The wastefulness of the settlers with the noble trees of this country is shocking, Monsieur Le Quoi, as doubt less you have noticed. I have seen a man fell a pine, when he has been in want of fencing stuff, and roll his first cuts into the gap, where he left it to rot, though its top would have made rails enough to answer his purpose, and its butt would have sold in the Philadelphia market for twenty dollars.”
“And how the devil – I beg your pardon, Mr. Grant”, interrupted Richard: “but how is the poor devil to get his logs to the Philadelphia market, pray? put them in his pocket, ha! as you would a handful of chestnuts, or a bunch of chickerberries? I should like to see you walking up High Street, with a pine log in each pocket! – Poh! poh! Cousin ‘Duke, there are trees enough for us all, and some to spare. Why, I can hardly tell which way the wind blows, when I’m out in the clearings, they are so thick and so tall; I couldn’t at all, if it wasn’t for the clouds, and I happen to know all the points of the compass, as it were, by heart.”
“Ay! ay! squire”, cried Benjamin, who had now entered and taken his place behind the Judge’s chair, a little aside withal, in order to be ready for any observation like the present; “look aloft, sir, look aloft. The old seamen say, ‘that the devil wouldn’t make a sailor, unless he looked aloft’ As for the compass, why, there is no such thing as steering without one. I’m sure I never lose sight of the main-top, as I call the squire’s lookout on the roof, but I set my compass, d’ye see, and take the bearings and distance of things, in order to work out my course, if so be that it should cloud up, or the tops of the trees should shut out the light of heaven. The steeple of St. Paul’s, now that we nave got it on end, is a great help to the navigation of the woods, for, by the Lord Harry! as was – ”
“It is well, Benjamin”, interrupted Marmaduke, observing that his daughter manifested displeasure at the major-domo’s familiarity; “but you forget there is a lady in company, and the women love to do most of the talking