roasted-in-the-shell oyster supper. Johan, who had never before
attended such a feast, thought he had got loose among a lot of
milkmaids and firemen, each with his bucket and pail, and when he saw
the enormous pile of oysters brought in on platters he wondered how
many "r's" March had in her. However, like a lamb he sat next to his
pail, and after having consumed about a bushel himself he became quite
expert at opening the oysters and throwing the shells in his pail. It
was a most amusing and original evening, and the amount of
oyster-shells we left behind us would have paved the way to the
Capitol.

Another original entertainment I must tell you about. We received a
note from General Burnside (Senator from Rhode Island): "Will you come
to my codfish dinner on Thursday next?" We of course accepted and went.
General Burnside and Senator Anthony are great friends and live
together. I never could understand, and never dared to ask, why such a
little state as Rhode Island needed two Senators. However, that is
neither here nor there. The other guests were Mr. Bayard, Mr. Blaine,
Mrs. Blaine, Mrs. Lawrence, General Sherman. According to the rules of
a codfish dinner, every one was provided with the same amount of boiled
codfish, hard-boiled eggs, beets, carrots, and potatoes, and every
English sauce ever made. Every one made his own mixture, which was
passed about and "sampled." The lucky person who got the greatest
number of votes received a beautiful silver bowl. The dining-room was
arranged as if it were a camp. There were no ornaments of any kind, and
we sat on little iron tent-chairs. You may imagine after we had
finished with the codfish that our appetites were on the wane, and we
felt that we had dined sumptuously, if monotonously, when, lo! our
genial host surprised us with an enormous turkey (reared on his own
estate), twenty-seven pounds in weight, with its usual accompaniments