Pagina 141 van 788

Everybody knows how necessary for coffee is good cream: in the

country this is not hard to get; for the coffee-maker, early in

the day, after setting her pots on the fire, visits the dairy,

and with her own hands lightly skims the fresh flower of the milk

into a separate little jug for each cup, that each of them may be

dressed in its separate little cap.

The older ladies had risen earlier and had already drunk their

coffee; now they had had made for them a second dish, of warm

beer, whitened with cream, in which swam curds cut into little

bits.

The gentlemen had their choice of smoked meats; fat half-geese,

hams, and slices of tongue-all choice, all cured in home fashion

in the chimney with juniper smoke. Finally they brought in stewed

beef with gravy43 as the last course: such was breakfast in the

Judge's house.