us with the initiative sit down."

"Good!" said Mr. Cake, "where shall it be?"

"Wherever good oysters are to be procured," said Mr. Dropper.

"Here you are, then," remarked Quackenbush, as he pointed to a sign over
a subterranean door-way, over which was inscribed the words,

"Here are the spot
Where good oysters is got."

The club descended into the saloon, and Mr. Cake called for six half
dozens on the half shell.

Now, be it known to the readers of these records, that Mr. Cake was
unacquainted with the perfection to which many departments of manual
labor had reached, and being naturally of an inquiring turn of mind, he
stayed outside to watch the feats of the young man who brandished the
oyster-knife. This gentleman was an adept at his profession. With the
most perfect grace of motion, he would lift the oyster in his left
hand, lay its edge gently on a small iron standard, give that edge two
delicate raps with the butt of the oyster-knife as a signal to the
oyster that its turn had now come, when immediately the shells would
open, the upper half would jump off and fall below, and the oyster would
smile at the young man as he took the knife, and delicately stroked down
its beard. All of this transpired in a very short period of time, which,
with the artistic grace displayed by the professor, was sufficient to
astound Mr. Cake. Indeed, he had entirely forgotten his companions in
his admiration of conchological anatomy.

[Illustration]

The oysters were placed before the gentlemen, and partaken of with a
relish. But Mr. Cake had not seen enough to gratify his wishes. He
ordered another dose all around, and again took his position outside to
watch the operation of divesting the oysters of one half of their
natural exterior protection. Without doubt, the young man's merits, at
his particular vocation, were great; but Mr. Cake magnified them, in his
intense admiration, most alarmingly. To him, it seemed as if each
particular oyster was waiting for its turn to come, and only wanted a
wink from the young man, when it would jump into his grasp, proud that
it was permitted so soon to be sacrificed by such a hand. Mr. Cake was
transfixed; he never moved his eyes until the second, third and fourth
installment of shell-fish were served up.

Mr. Boggs then spoke about drinks. Johnny protested that he never drank
anything that would intoxicate--in fact, he was an uncompromising
teetotaller. Still, however, he had