How inestimably important in its moral results--and therefore
how praiseworthy in itself--is the act of eating and drinking!
The social virtues center in the stomach. A man who is not a
better husband, father, and brother after dinner than before
is, digestively speaking, an incurably vicious man. What hidden
charms of character disclose themselves, what dormant
amiabilities awaken, when our common humanity gathers together to
pour out the gastric juice! At the opening of the hampers from
Thorpe Ambrose, sweet Sociability (offspring of the happy union
of Civilization and Mrs. Gripper) exhaled among the boating
party, and melted in one friendly fusion the discordant elements
of which that party had hitherto been composed. Now did the
Reverend Samuel Pentecost, whose light had hitherto been hidden
under a bushel, prove at last that he could do something by
proving that he could eat. Now did Pedgift Junior shine brighter
than ever he had shone yet in gems of caustic humor and exquisite
fertilities of resource. Now did the squire, and the squire's
charming guest, prove the triple connection between Champagne
that sparkles, Love that grows bolder, and Eyes whose vocabulary
is without the word No.
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