‘I suppose,’ said he, turning to the doctor, “a bit of plain bread and butter wall be best for him in his present condition?’ ‘The very thing,’ he replied; and as the officer was about to run into the house to get a bit of bread and butter, another gentleman of the party cried out, ‘Stop! see that you bring _brown_ bread.’ ‘Pooh! pooh!’ said another; ‘it does not matter what sort of bread it is, but it must be _toasted_.’ ‘White or brown, or plain or toasted, it matters not much,’ exclaimed a fourth, ‘provided there is plenty of _butter_ on it.’ ‘I object most decidedly to the _butter_,’ observed a very sedate gentleman. ‘As to that,’ shouted out another, ‘I consider the _butter as most essential_: it is full of nourishment; and, besides, the poor boy might be choked by cramming _dry_ bread down his throat without butter; but then we must be careful that it be _salt_ butter.’ ‘No! no!’ cried another; ‘_fresh_ butter, if you please, and as much as you please; but no _salt_.’ ‘You are all wrong, my friends!--quite wrong!’ vociferated another of the party; ‘depend upon it, that _dry_ toast is the best thing he can have.’ ‘Oh! oh! oh!’ exclaimed all the other gentlemen; ‘who ever heard of such a thing as giving _dry toast_ to a starving child?’ ‘Who ever, indeed!’ chimed in another; ‘it is quite ridiculous to toast the bread at all; the poor child might die before it was ready! No! no! plain bread and butter is best for him; but mind, if I have to pay my part towards it, the bread must be _new_--yes, _new_ bread.’ ‘New bread!’ exclaimed some of the party why, that’s worse than all; for if it does not stick in his throat, it will in his stomach, and perhaps kill him. New bread is indigestible and most unwholesome stuff.’ ‘Well, well; let it be plain stale bread and butter, but only the crumb of the loaf, and I will pay my part willingly,’ observed another. ‘Crumb without crust!’ said one of the former speakers; ‘why, the crust of the loaf contains ten times more nourishment than the crumb, and I, for one, will have nothing to do with it, nor pay a farthing towards it, unless he has a good lump of crust.’ “Now during this contention, or ‘all this splutter About the toast and bread and butter,’