This is a distinct advantage in favor of China.
In Europe and America, dessert forms the last course at dinner; in China this is served first.

I do not know which is the better way.
Chinese are ever ready to accept the best from every quarter, and so many of us have recently adopted the Western practice regarding dessert, while still retaining the ancient Chinese custom, so that now we eat sweetmeats and fruit at the beginning, during dinner, and at the end.

This happy combination of Eastern and Western practices is, I submit, worthy of expansion and extension.

If it were to become universal it would help to discourage the present unwholesome habit, for it is nothing more than a habit, of devouring flesh.
One of the dishes indispensable at a fashionable American dinner is the terrapin.

Those who eat these things say that their flesh has a most agreeable and delicate flavor, and that their gelatinous skinny necks and fins are delicious, but apparently the most palatable tidbits pall the taste in time, for it is said that about forty years ago terrapins were so abundant and cheap that workmen in their agreement with their employers stipulated that terrapin should not be supplied at their dinner table more than three times a week.