BREAKFAST IS MY BEST MEAL

I

Breakfast is my best meal, and I reckon it's always been

Ever since I was old enough to know what breakfast could mean.

I mind when we lived in the cabin out on the Illinoy,

Where father had took up a quarter-section when I was a boy,

I used to go for the cows as soon as it was light;

And when I started back home, before I come in sight,

I come in smell of the cabin, where mother was frying the ham,

And boiling the coffee, that reached through the air like a mile o' ba'm,

[Pg 142]'N' I bet you I didn't wait to see what it was that the dog

Thought he'd got under the stump¹ or inside o' the hollow log!

But I made the old cows canter till their hoof-joints cracked—you know

That dry, funny kind of a noise that the cows make when they go—

And I never stopped to wash when I got to the cabin door;

I pulled up my chair and e't like I never had e't before.

And mother she set there and watched me eat, and eat, and eat,

Like as if she couldn't give her old eyes enough of the treat;

And she split the shortened biscuit, and spread the butter between,

And let it lay there and melt, and soak and soak itself in;

And she piled up my plate with potato and ham and eggs,

Till I couldn't hold any more, or hardly stand on my legs;

And she filled me up with coffee that would float an iron wedge,

And never give way a mite², or spill a drop at the edge.

 

[Pg 143]

 

II

What? Well, yes, this is good coffee, too. If they don't know much,

They do know how to make coffee, I will say that for these Dutch.

But my—oh, my! It ain't the kind of coffee my mother made,

And the coffee my wife used to make would throw it clear in the shade;

And the brand of sugar-cured, canvased ham that she always used—

Well, this Westphalia stuff would simply have made her amused!

That so, heigh? I saw that you was United States as soon

As ever I heard you talk; I reckon I know the tune³!

Pick it out anywhere; and you understand how I feel

About these here foreign breakfasts: breakfast is my best meal.

 

III

My! but my wife was a cook; and the breakfasts she used to get

The first years we was married, I can smell 'em and taste 'em yet:

[Pg 144]Corn cake light as a feather, and buckwheat thin as lace

And crisp as cracklin'; and steak that you couldn't have the face

To compare any steak over here to; and chicken fried

Maryland style—I couldn't get through the bill if I tried.

And then, her waffles! My! She'd kind of slip in a few

Between the ham and the chicken—you know how women'll do—

For a sort of little surprise, and, if I was running light,

To take my fancy and give an edge to my appetite.

Done it all herself as long as we was poor, and I tell you

She liked to see me eat as well as mother used to do;

I reckon she went ahead of mother some, if the truth was known,

And everything she touched she give a taste of her own.

 

IV

She was a cook, I can tell you! And after we got ahead,

And she could 'a' had a girl to do the cookin' instead,

[Pg 145]I had the greatest time to get Momma to leave the work;

She said it made her feel like a mis'able sneak⁴ and shirk.

She didn't want daughter, though, when we did begin to keep girls,

To come in the kitchen and cook, and smell up her clo'es and curls;

But you couldn't have stopped the child, whatever you tried to do—

I reckon the gift of the cookin' was born in Girly, too.

Cook she would from the first, and we just had to let her alone;

And after she got married, and had a house of her own,

She tried to make me feel, when I come to live with her,

Like it was my house, too; and I tell you she done it, sir!

She remembered that breakfast was my best meal, and she tried

To have all I used to have, and a good deal more beside;

Grape-fruit to begin with, or melons or peaches, at least—

Husband's business took him there, and they had went to live East—

[Pg 146]Then a Spanish macker'l, or a soft-shell crab⁵ on toast,

Or a broiled⁶ live lobster⁷! Well, sir, I don't want to seem to boast,

But I don't believe you could have got in the whole of New York

Any such an oyster⁸ fry or sausage of country pork.

 

V

Well, I don't know what-all it means; I always lived just so—

Never drinked or smoked, and yet, here about two years ago,

I begun to run down; I ain't as young as I used to be;

And the doctors all said Carlsbad, and I reckon this is me.

But it's more like some one I've dreamt of, with all three of 'em gone!

Believe in ghosts? Well, I do. I know there are ghosts. I'm one.

Maybe I mayn't look it—I was always inclined to fat;

The doctors say that's the trouble, and very likely it's that.

This is my little grandson, and this is the oldest one

Of Girly's girls; and for all that the whole of us said and done,

[Pg 147]She must come with grandpa when the doctors sent me off here,

To see that they didn't starve him. Ain't that about so, my dear?

She can cook, I tell you; and when we get home again

We're goin' to have something to eat; I'm just a-livin' till then.

But when I set here of a morning, and think of them that's gone—

Mother and Momma and Girly—well, I wouldn't like to let on

Before the children, but I can almost seem to see

All of 'em lookin' down, like as if they pitied me,

After the breakfasts they give me, to have me have to put up

With nothing but bread and butter, and a little mis'able cup

Of this here weak-kneed coffee! I can't tell how you feel,

But it fairly makes me sick! Breakfast is my best meal.

1 stump   

n.残株，烟蒂，讲演台；v.砍断，蹒跚而走

参考例句：

• He went on the stump in his home state.他到故乡所在的州去发表演说。
• He used the stump as a table.他把树桩用作桌子。

2 mite   

n.极小的东西；小铜币

参考例句：

• The poor mite was so ill.可怜的孩子病得这么重。
• He is a mite taller than I.他比我高一点点。

3 tune   

n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整

参考例句：

• He'd written a tune,and played it to us on the piano.他写了一段曲子，并在钢琴上弹给我们听。
• The boy beat out a tune on a tin can.那男孩在易拉罐上敲出一首曲子。

4 sneak   

vt.潜行(隐藏,填石缝)；偷偷摸摸做；n.潜行；adj.暗中进行

参考例句：

• He raised his spear and sneak forward.他提起长矛悄悄地前进。
• I saw him sneak away from us.我看见他悄悄地从我们身边走开。

5 crab   

n.螃蟹，偏航，脾气乖戾的人，酸苹果；vi.捕蟹，偏航，发牢骚；vt.使偏航，发脾气

参考例句：

• I can't remember when I last had crab.我不记得上次吃蟹是什么时候了。
• The skin on my face felt as hard as a crab's back.我脸上的皮仿佛僵硬了，就象螃蟹的壳似的。

6 broiled   

a.烤过的

参考例句：

• They broiled turkey over a charcoal flame. 他们在木炭上烤火鸡。
• The desert sun broiled the travelers in the caravan. 沙漠上空灼人的太阳把旅行队成员晒得浑身燥热。

7 lobster   

n.龙虾，龙虾肉

参考例句：

• The lobster is a shellfish.龙虾是水生贝壳动物。
• I like lobster but it does not like me.我喜欢吃龙虾，但它不适宜于我的健康。

8 oyster   

n.牡蛎；沉默寡言的人

参考例句：

• I enjoy eating oyster; it's really delicious.我喜欢吃牡蛎，它味道真美。
• I find I fairly like eating when he finally persuades me to taste the oyster.当他最后说服我尝尝牡蛎时，我发现我相当喜欢吃。