Show I I 4 Mother other Goose loose Novelettes Novelette's I By Berton Braley aley Bean Do Porridge Hot H. After AIo Henry Hy James Jamo V I I 1 1 I We were discussing discussing after after the manner of friends who to talk tulle I over particularly two such friends as an and I J. J both of or whom had l been e n nI I 7 V V comrades twenty years before and who h had d been sepal separated sepa sepa- l rated by time and distance while he was vas g tramping East I Africa in ethnological investigations which he had al alI alJ always always al- al i J ways found Intensely intensely Interesting and his his his' pent lent ent for which i had been shown in In early youth and I h had followed the I r I more more or or less routine career career routine routine however er only to I those who have not the imagination to understand Its Itsu u constant constant- variations and vagaries of stud study r and speculation I lation of lation-of of a bank banI cashier and who and who ept up b but t a I desultory correspondence a as is frequently tho case cast with j i busy m mn inn n whose affection none the less less remains un un- I r the dimmed the relative virtues of c certain Moods a a. subject sub sub- Suba a ab about ut which men seem always s 's to find ind aready a n ready I and satisfaction whether the tall talkers ers be e dyspeptics who weigh and consider what they may not eat or gourmets I who relish In memory or anticipation dishes is' is of ot deH delicate ate i j k savor and exotic nomenclature and ande we e had come as as I u f will trill finally to the question of porridge an and i E RV the issue asue sue Nas as well well Joined as to what wha state stat porridge api appeared ap ap- iIdA j i i IdA at its best in considered from front the tho viewpoint not I only of the el epicure leure with regard to taste flavor and aroma j j i. i t A. A LET LEY but from that that of the dietician regarding calories ease of ot I and readiness of absorption into the tissues is j I For Forr myself Merton averre averted averred J in a manner only a a. a trifle oracular oracular and I with a sim simplicity native nathl to a man who has has been been wandering the world near I Il l to nature in her most primal elements though elements though there is a simplicity ty engendered J by contact with civilization which perhaps ev ever evex r transcends the I I natural manner while at the same time being a a. product of pure art artI artand i an and artifice for artifice for myself r 1 prefer refer my bean porridge hot hoti hot hot- I i 2 I j I It was a challenge subtle in to its way brutal bluntness that remark To fo Toone I one who had been in the ordered comfort of city ty life sheltered largely from I ties life's fes fe's crudities and lapped about with of ot luxury accustomed to the j I I constant compromises and sari delicate evasions of ot sophisticated existence in a world of approximation and allusion the straightforwardness statement j I was like O the sh shock ck of cold water on tender skin It surprised it irritated and yet i yet It refreshed Bean Dean porridge nOT HOT he had said not bean porridge tepid I I or bean porridge at blood heat or bean porridge comfortably warm warm as less direct souls might have said nor had he even led up to it by easy stages as he might have done beginning with bean porridge porridge leaving its state to be surmised and surmised and then mentioning that the application of more heat would make male it slightly warmer and that by a natural process and continual 1 application of warmth it wo would ld ultimately reach the condition In which he preferred it no no he had done none of these things s. s Bluntly straightly briefly he had put before me his preference preference Bean Bean porridge hot I I Palpably the thing was put in such phrasing that I could coult not escape the j issue Bean porridge hot he had said and I must be prepared either to accept ac ac- I dept a state of ot hotness as the desirable condition for bean porridge or offer a supported view opposed to it or at least empt to show other stages i I or conditions of bean porridge which might have haye claims to preference over over I bean porridge hot There was his naked statement of his attitude toward bean porridge and though my conventional eyes might blink at such such- unaccustomed I I J revelations of bare speech I must perforce accept the fact of its nudity I could not clothe it myself and closing my eyes would not remove it fro I What was my procedure to be That led back in my th thoughts for a long dis dis- dis- dis tance To begin with how DID I prefer my porridge e I must know that before before be be- beI I 1010 fore I could hope to combat his preference And If I J preferred it a certain way could I be sure that that was the wa way I actually preferred it ft and not simply Imply a ps inhibition which made me think I preferred it that way vay when actually my subconscious and self pl preferred it otherwise otherwise otherwise other other- wise And how could I which was m my conscious and which my subconscious sub sub- conscious e ego o unless I J consulted a All AlithiA this would take time I land and and meanwhile Merton was palpably waiting for some comment on m my part I So I faced him with the manner of a man who has made up his mind though actually I had not determined exactly what course my observations would purI pursue pursue pur pur- I sue since the tho truth was that I did not know know know-at at any rate not with the comI com- com 1 I and solid confidence when a man should possess If It he is Intending to cone convey con con- e vey to tb a world which is hi w waiting or which he r fondly believes unless sunless he fie be one I j of or th the few modest mode t folk who never harbor harlor the idea that their remarks are worth j i waiting waiting- for for and andI I was nos just about to open my lips when the 1111 maid rnald remarked Sure an y yeve ve waited so 10 o long yell have ha to be beatin atin ratin tUn yer er bean porridge cold 3 This crass interruption interrupt naturally diverted my thoughts and those of ot Merton Mer Mer- ton from the nice tutee question under discussion ion for the time as if it our minds had been derailed from froma a high embankment of or a quagmire of though though the experience was not without without without- Authors Author's note note- J As it is is evident eident that these two characters character will will- never never arrive anywhere where in the style they the began with it ma may be he just as Well to explain that b by the time the they they- finisher finished th the discussion as to their porridge the cook cool had it thrown out because I she said shed she'd be darned if shed shell disgrace her kitchen any longer with Bean porridge in the pot ten days old I |