
most eligible methods of preparing them for the table. His reminiscences of good
cheer, however ancient the date of the actual banquet, seemed to bring the savor
of pig or turkey under one's very nostrils. There were flavors on his palate,
that had lingered there not less than sixty or seventy years, and were still
apparently as fresh as that of the mutton-chop which he had just devoured for
his breakfast. I have heard him smack his lips over dinners, every guest at
which, except himself, had long been food for worms. It was marvellous to
observe how the ghosts of bygone meals were continually rising up before him;
not in anger or retribution, but as if grateful for his former appreciation, and
seeking to reduplicate an endless series of enjoyment, at once shadowy and
sensual. A tenderloin of beef, a hind-quarter of veal, a spare-rib of pork, a
particular chicken, or a remarkably praiseworthy turkey, which had perhaps
adorned his board in the days of the elder Adams, would be remembered; while all
the subsequent experience of our race, and all the events that brightened or
darkened his individual career, had gone over him with as little permanent
effect as the passing breeze. The chief tragic event of the old man's life, so
far as I could judge, was his mishap with a certain goose, which lived and died
some twenty or forty years ago; a goose of most promising figure, but which, at
table, proved so inveterately tough that the carving-knife would make no
impression on its carcass; and it could only be divided with an axe and handsaw.
    But it is time to quit this sketch; on which, however, I should be glad to
dwell at considerably more length, because, of all men whom I have ever known,
this individual was fittest to be a Custom-House officer. Most persons, owing to
causes which I may not have space to hint at, suffer moral detriment from this
peculiar mode of life. The old Inspector was incapable of it, and, were he to
continue in office to the end of time, would be just as good as he was then, and
sit down to dinner with just as good an appetite.
    There is one likeness, without which my gallery of Custom-House portraits
would be strangely incomplete; but which my comparatively few opportunities for
observation enable me to sketch only in the merest outline. It is that of the
Collector, our gallant old General, who, after his brilliant military service,
subsequently to which he had ruled over
