Thoughts and Things Clare discusses the sad state of American and English cuisine and dining habits. Claiming that "diners, like poets, are born, not made," Clare discusses the American tendency to only take interest in the size of one's cut of meat and not the art of the food preparation or dining. She contrasts the French style of cuisine and dining to the "moral" American version. Clare briefly mentions an exhibition of Schwartz's painting The Pilgrim Fathers at Goupil's and reprints a lyric from Sir Bohan's Ghost by Miss Prescott.