to whom I had first given the "currency."

"That plate? Oh, yes, so it is; well," says I, with feigned
astonishment, "this is the first time I ever saw a good supper so
universally discarded!"

The plate was off again. It reached the foot of the table. An elderly
lady looked up, looked around, removed a large sweet potato from the
pile--then passed it along. An old salty-looking captain, just then took
a vacant seat, and the plate reached him just in the nick of time. He
looked voracious--

"Ah," said he, with a savage growl, "that's your sort; thunder and
oakum, I'm as peckish as a shark, and here's the _duff for me!_"

That ended the peregrinations of the plate, and I and my friend--_yelled
right out!_

A Hint to Soyer.

Magrundy says, in his work on _Grub_, that a Frenchman will "frigazee" a
pair of old boots and make a respectable soup out of an ancient chapeau;
but our friend Perriwinkle affirms that the French ain't "nowhere,"
after a feat he saw in the kitchen arrangement of a "cheap boarding
house" in the North End:--the landlady made a chowder out of an old
broom mixed with sinders, and after all the boarders had dined upon it
scrumptiously, the remains made broth for the whole family, next day,
besides plenty of fragments left for a poor family! That landlady is
bound--_to make Rome howl!_

The Leg of Mutton.

I'm going to state to you the remarkable adventures of a very remarkable
man, who went to market to get a leg of mutton for his Sunday dinner. I
have heard, or read somewhere or other, almost similar stories; whether
they were real or imaginary, I am unable to say; but I can vouch for the
authenticity of my story, for I know the hero well.

In the year 1812, it will be recollected that we had some military
disputes with England, which elicited some pretty tall fights by land
and sea, and the land we live in was considerably excited upon the
subject, and patriotism rose to many degrees above blood heat.
Philadelphia, about that time, like all other cities, I suppose, was the
scene of drum-beating, marching and counter-marching, and volunteering
of the patriotic people.

The President sent forth his proclamations, the governors of the
respective States reiterated them, and a large portion of our brave
republicans were soon in or marching to the battle field. There lived
and wrought at his trade, carpentering, in the city of Philadelphia,
about that time, a very tall, slim man,