The Steam-Packet: A Tale of the River and the Ocean — page 121: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

88 THE STEAM PACKET. at all, and who had on former occasions found out that London French © and French French are not quite the same thing,—had proceeded to. the Custom-House, with the commissioner of the hotel, to facilitate the passing of the fee and Mr. Pifpaf was therefore compelled to call in the services of his daughter Sarah. ~But although Miss Sarah | had been finished in Paris, she had only been to an English boarding- school there; and her knowledge of the French language was about as vague and uncertain as that of the theorist relative to the interior © of the earth. The waiter himself spoke English very imperfectly ; and the commissioner, who might have acted as interpreter, had accom- panied Captain Pentonville to the Custom-House. Fortunately Miss Sarah Pifpaf had her dictionary ; and upon this did the worthy chair- man pounce with an air of triumph. : STE ‘“‘T should like, amongst other things,” said Mr. Pifpaf, turning over the dictionary, “‘a nice pea de buf’ (pieu being the French word for stake ;—Mr. Pifpaf having forgotten in the excitement of the moment that the word was spelt steak, and that the other meant a an of wood). The waiter stared at him with a look of stupid astenishment, ohaae Mr. Pifpaf returned with another of astonished stupidity. ‘‘ And then,” at length continued the chairman, after having oltiehedh once more to his dictionary, ‘‘let us have some culoties de veau, because I am very fond of them.” | “‘Culottes de veau!’ shouted the waiter; ‘“‘culottes mean de breeches, sare—it be cotelettes that Monsieur ould have.” “Ah! very well,’ said Mr. Pifpaf, looking somewhat conan ‘And, I say, waite hays you got any—any—brun robusie?” he added, after a third reference to the dictionary. : Now the words ‘‘brown stout” in English will not exactly bear translation by means of the French words bran and robusie, although the former certainly means a colour, and the latter expresses “‘ stout,’ but in the sense in which it is applied to a gentleman or lady’s figure ; and therefore when Mr. Pifpaf achieved this last blunder, the waiter shrugged up his shoulders in despair. | “Ab! well,” cried the chairman of the Luminaries, *‘ I must leave it all to you—I see I must. Get the best dinner you can, and serve it up as soon as possible.” The waiter comprehended this, and disappeared to execute the sumptuous order thus communicated to him. In due time the repast was served up—and an excellent one it was, too. This being the first dinner which the Luminaries had yet tasted upon French ground, and as everything connected with the proceed- Gomicbooks (E{0) ~ * - = ee = a a ae ee >