Two Pies
"If you would know the flavor of a pie,
The juicy sweet, the spice and tart, you must
Be patient till the fiery core is cool,
And bite a little deeper than the crust.
If you would know the flavor of a man,—
God's mud pie, made of Eden's dew and dust,—
Be patient till love's fire has warmed him through,
And look a little deeper than the crust."
—Aloysius Coll.
Table Stories.
Upon one occasion when six fair women and half a dozen brave men, gathered round a hospitable board, had fallen into that state of "innocuous desuetude" from which nothing but heroic measures would relieve them, a still small voice was heard asking if any one present could tell why the "Athenasian creed is like a tiger?" It chanced that no one present could guess, and when the propounder, a delicate, spirituelle looking woman declared that it was "because of its damnation clause," there was a roar of laughter that successfully put to flight all stiffness and formality.
A well-known gentleman gained quite a reputation among his set by propounding a French riddle, which is sometimes called Voltaire's riddle, because no one ever answered it. He wrote on the back of a card the following: "Ga" and asked if anyone could make it out, saying the answer was what every one had or should have had when he sat down to dinner. The card went round the table and made conversation for some time. After fruitless efforts, all gave it up, and he wrote underneath the "Ga" as follows:
Capital G. Small a.
G. grande. a petite.
J'ai grande apetite.
I have a good appetite. See?
There is only one thing which is said to be worse than being called upon unexpectedly to make an after dinner speech—that is to prepare an after dinner speech and not be asked to deliver it.