75. Camp Fare
BY GEORGE WASHINGTON (1779)
WEST POINT, 16 August,
1779.
I HAVE asked Mrs. Cochran and Mrs. Livingston to dine with me
to-morrow; but am I not in
honor bound to apprise them of their fare? As I hate deception, even
where the imagination only
is concerned, I will. It is needless to premise, that my table is large
enough to hold the ladies. Of
this they had ocular proof yesterday. To say how it is usually covered,
is rather more essential;
and this shall be the purport of my letter.
Since our arrival at this happy spot, we have had a ham,
sometimes a shoulder of bacon,
to grace the head of the table; a piece of roast beef adorns the foot; and
a dish of beans, or greens,
almost imperceptible, decorates the centre. When the cook has a mind
to cut a figure, which I
presume will be the case to-morrow, we have two beef-steak pies, or
dishes of crabs, in addition,
one on each side of the centre dish, dividing the space and reducing the
distance between dish and
dish to about six feet, which without them would be near twelve feet
apart.
Of late he has had the surprising sagacity to discover, that
apples will make pies; and it
is a question, if, in the violence of his efforts, we do not get one of
apples, instead of having both
of beef-steaks. If the ladies can put up with such entertainment, and
will submit to partake of it on
plates, once tin but now iron (not become so by the labor of scouring),
I shall be happy to see
them;
and am, dear Doctor, yours, &c.
GEORGE WASHINGTON.
