NOTHING TO EAT

By Horatio Alger and Thomas Chandler Haliburton

NOT By the Author of “Nothing to Wear”

“I'll nibble a little at what I have got.”

—“My appetite's none of the best.
And so I must pamper the delicate thing."

—The least mite will suffice:
A side bone and dressing and bit of the breast.
The tip of the rump—that's it—and one of the fli's"

{Illustration: “PROTESTING, EXCUSING, AND SWEARING A VOW, SHE'D NOTHING WORTH EATING TO GIVE US FOR DINNER."}

NEW YORK

1857

Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1857, by EDWARD O. JENKINS, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Respectfully Dedicated

TO ALL LADIES “DYING WITH DYSPEPSIA.

“Where fashion and folly are all of a suit.”

BY A JOLLY GOOD NATURED AUTHOR.

CONTENTS

NOTHING TO EAT.

The Argument

The Proof—the Queen of Fashion

The Object aimed at.

What another Poet did.

How the Author sometimes Dines.

Merdle the Banker.

Places Where Mortals Dine.

Things That Mortals Eat There.

The Invitation.

The Merdle Origin.

Mrs. Merdle At Home.

Mrs. Merdle goes to Market.

The Dinner-bell Rings.

The Dinner Table Talk.

Mrs. Merdle doubts Paradise's Uneating Pleasure.

Mrs. Merdle Discourseth of Things Earthly.

Mrs. Merdle Discourseth of Things Eatable.

Mrs. Merdle Ordereth the Second Course.

Mrs. Merdle Discourseth of Hygiene and Fish Sauce.

Mrs. Merdle Describeth her Doctor.

Mrs. Merdle Discourseth again on Dinner.

Mrs. Merdle Accepteth of a slight Dinner, suitable for a Woman suffering with Dyspepsia.

Mrs. Merdle Discourseth of Wishes and her Sufferings.

...