Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1872-01-18
PIE.
Mammoth Mince Pho Factory In New
York-F0rty thousand Mincc Pies u
Mtek--PltnsApft ChrIstmas Sight
Pie and Liberty:
Il,

rs
long; long ago. Like slSuth-hound on
trail we instinctively followed our
nose. It was not the smell of baked
pies; what was it? With faculties
strained to the utmost, amid Il din and
clatter of chopping and pounding, there
came a rattle of tin pans, all proceed
ing from large building. In front of
it stood inumcrable wagons and vans,
blocking the street, and boys and men
with pies in baskets, boxes and tray 8
were rushing in and out in the most de-
lirious way; AS if. life depended upon
theft securing d giveti 4tahtity Of pics.
"Why," we asked of driver; "wh3
do you have two horses to one pie wag-
OH |" We could understand two horses
to a load Of paving stones, but not for a
load cf pies.
=" Why, you see" said the driver, "a
pie (he SAID poy) is kind of delicate
thing, and has got to be kept daky.
the heft of a pie is two and half
pounds, and as we carry 500 of them,
and is got to be carried along easy, a
steady wagon with no shake is tfle thing.
We loais up mostly with 500, but as we
are driven most mad just now, We piles
in all the pies the horses can pull"
"You don't mean to say that all
those wagons full of pies are sold in o
day, do you 2" we inquired.
i" Five hundred--eight hundred-to
load, amt no circumstances. I'll be
back here to-day two or three times for
more; Why, it amt a mouthful-hard
0What kind are the most in de:
mand!''
"They is running desperut on
minces just now, and is not on cranber-
ries. Jim; what's yottr load; he inquir-
ed of another driver.
"Three hundred minces, one hun
dred apples, and the rest of the load is
pumpkins and cranberries. Bless me,
If there isn't one street I'm almost
afeered to go to, seein Eve had to dis
appint 'em three days hand running on
minces. It don't do to fool with
women folks just now who has made up
their minds to have mince pies for their
Christmas dinners"
Without much trouble we made our
entrance into the pie factory. Pies i!
We never saw 80 many in our life.
Pies were packed ny fifty deep, all
around you higher than your head. Pies
were as walls, pies were coming and
going all the time. There whizxled
steam engine, turning machinety adaps
ted to pie-making; and there, with thelf
mouths wide open, their capacious
maws cram full Of pies, the glare of the
furnace throwing its rudy glare on the
golden pies, acres of pies were getting
baked. Men were slapping and bang
ing about Jumps of dough, rolling the
pie crust into sheets, prickling and
marking them with an H.. (for Harry,
evidently: like in the Mother Goose
story, while scores OF women were Ia
dleing out good things and cranimitE
apples in the pies. There stood hog
heads of sugar-one man distributing
it around in the most reckless way with
q shovel. On one side hissed and sput-
tered huge vats, with cranberries get-
ting cooked by steam. Was it possible
that all the men, women and children
in the world could eat that stack of
pumpkins piled up in the corner there!
What is that awful looking machine,
grinding and rumbling away9 It is
the mince meat.maker, the crowning
masterpiece of the whole.
"What2" we asked, "are all those
vats full of mince-meata"
eyes," replied the proprietor, "and
we are dreadfully short, and can hard
ly keep up with demand. The poor
machine is worked beyond it's capaci-
ty."
Chow many pies do you turn out in
a week?'' =.
"At an average of forty thousand
per week; but we are running now
much above that.
GLOW many months will that feed9"
we inquired.
"Itfs hard to say: Maybe it's &C.
cording whether they cuts them In four
or across"
"How ON earth did this colossal bus
mess begin2'
I'm the simplest way: My wife CON-
menced baking with a range, and when
we had sold the first four we made four
more. After a while-it was in 1855
the range wouldn't stand the pressure
no, not a hundred ranges. The peo-
pie was wild on our pies, and it's kept
in kind of overwhelming way ever
since"
"Americans are, then, the pie-eaters
of the world?"
"Pies and liberty 60 hand. in. hand,
its constant business. Cheap fruit may
effect us for month or so, but ever so
little. Now We are running on mince
heavy but apple pies are staple all the
year round"
"Fruits is in-cats is out. we very
Inadvertently remarked, as if to our
selves.
"Sir," replied the worthy proprietor,
gravely, 81 have forgiven the lainented
Mr. Dickens long ago for this bit of
fun"
"De neortuis- we said.
"Just sc" was the reply. "Wc
make them honest. Only the best
-four will make good crust. Try a
piece of the mince," and huge seq
ment was offered to MS.
"It may not be an aristocratie pie,
with layers on layers of crust, like a
Webster's Dictionary has leaves, but
it is-may call it so-a sincere article
and appeals to the masses" We ate a
piece, and found it was sincerity itself
in a pie sense. With our mouthfull,
We said:
Tho Queen of Hearts,
She made some tarts
All on . summers day.
"That might have been in the nur-
sery rhymes, but here it is no child's
play. What, with forty hands and
thirty horses in the pie business, that
Queen would have her hands full"
"Are you we'll posted in the history
of mince-pies2" We asked. cit is
Dutch, is it not2 Brought over here
from Holland"
livery likely, it's an American insti-
tuition now"
"You don't know how old it is, do
you2"
"Never thought of that, sir; age
don't hurt our mince-pies-they are
good year DID,"
Thanking our worthy pie manufac-
turer for his politeness, with the savory
taste of the pie still in our mouth, we
left, happy with the thought that our
beloved chronicle had not deceived us,
for we now felt certain thut the thou
sand oxen at the Abbey of St. Denis
must have gone into minco-meat-yes,
every one of them.
A Contradiction.
The sad story of the freezing to
death of Mrs. Palmer, at Graham Lake,
is familiar to our renders. Her htls-