rty-five minutes a day at table_, including all the meals of the
day. I like, and I take care to have, good and clean victuals; but, if
wholesome and clean, that is enough. If I find it, by chance, _too
coarse_ for my appetite, I put the food aside, or let somebody do it;
and leave the appetite to gather keenness.'

* * * * *

Now I have no special desire to recommend _mutton chops_ to my readers,
nor to hold out the example of the individual whose language I have
quoted, as worthy of general imitation. There is one lesson to be
learned, however. Cobbett's never tiring industry is well known. And if
we can rely on his own statements in regard to his manner of eating, we
see another proof that what are called 'dainties,' and even many things
which are often supposed to be necessaries, are very far from being
indispensable to health or happiness.

I am even utterly _opposed_ to the rapid eating of which he speaks. In
New England especially, the danger is on the other side. 'Were it not
from respect to others, I never would wish for more than eight minutes
to eat my dinner in,' said a merchant to me one day. Now _I_ can
_swallow_ a meal at any time, in _five_ minutes; but this is not
_eating_. If it is, the teeth were made--as well as the saliva--almost
in vain. No! this _swallowing_ down a meal in five or even ten minutes,
so common among the active, enterprising, and industrious people of
this country, is neither healthy, nor decent, nor economical. And
instead of spending only _thirty-five minutes_ a day in eating; every
man, woman, and child ought, as a matter of duty, to spend about
_twice_ the time in that way. This would give the teeth and salivary
glands an opportunity to come up to the work which God in nature
assigned them. We may indeed cheat them for a time, but not with
impunity, for a day of reckoning will come; and some of our rapid
eaters will find their bill (in stomach or liver complaints, or gout or
rheumatism) rather large. They will probably lose more time in this
way, than they can possibly save by eating rapidly.

The idea of preventing conversation about what we eat is also idle,
though Dr. Franklin and many other wise men, thought otherwise. Some of
our students in _commons_ and elsewhere, suppose themselves highly
meritorious because they have adopted the plan of appointing one of
their number to read to the company, while the rest are eating. But
they