The Findlay Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Hancock County, Ohio) 1870-1881, 1873-06-20
SPURIOUS SUBSTITUTES.

GChesp subsdtUtes' for something
LIT 70 eat or drink are not likely to
lind mneh favor in the United States.
| Neither should they, for, by economy
sad careful management, the present
lhst of articles Of diet IS within the
Ireach Of every industrious family.
No doubt there might be much re-
form in cooking processes, IS botn
the English and American kitchen
are waslefUl of nutritious substances.
Yet we doubt, notwithstanding the
testimony of the "School OF Cook
sry,' now in progress in London,
whether ''gcod SOUP enough for
four men can be made for fourpenee,
without any stock or meat Whist
ever.' In one sense, single spoon
full Of it may be more than enough
for ten men accustomed to generous
food but IS to the matter OF satisfy
ing honest hunger, Americans who
honestly earn their square meals''
will be apt to doubt. Perhaps the
"soup" is porridge. In that case it
viii come in use In its place tor those
who like porridge. Dispensing with
the habitual use of malt, alcoholic
and other stimulus would put big
piece of meat on every mans table,
and give his soup, if he likes soup, an
honest basis. There is, however,
happily for Americans, no lack here
Of enough to eat. The meat reform
needed is economy in good and sub
stantial things the best use of good
flour, vegetables, butchers meat, and
fish.
The last proposition is to supplant
tea and coffee by "yaupon," and the
proposition comes from the National
Department of Agriculture. From
the same authority we learn that
"yaupon' is an Indian word, and the
public is indebted to the Department
also for It's photography. Having
many years since heard Of the article,
the writer hereof did not know that
it existed in any recognized orthog-
raphical form. 1t lives in oral tradi-
ton like "We-uns'' and ''you-uns,'
and other elegsncies of the pine bar
rens and other desolste tracts, over
which "corn- crackers and what the
Southern negroes used to call "pOor
white trash" are scattered. The
connection in which the writer recol-
lects ''yaupon" is in q medical anec-
dote, which has never appeared in
any scientific journal. a "corn-
cracker declared himself sick just |
after supper one day, and the neigh
bors were summoned to see him die.
Doleful and loud were the lamenta-
tions and cries of the supposed mort |
bund man were the saddest. All at |
once hope lighted up the eyes of the |
sick man. ais that the gourd you
gave me my yaupon in tonight 20
"Yes, honey Up sprang the inva-
lid and gave his wife striking proofs
Of his vitality. 'It's a t,OO-quart
gourd,' he shouted, "and you skeered
q fellow to death. One quart is my
allowance, and you know it.
thought when 1 couldn't go to my
gourd Of yaupon that myself was a
ooner."
The Agricultural Bureau brings
mate into the question, and by CON-
paratiye analysis proves that yaupon,
mate, and tea and coffee are as much
alike as . crab is like = fish, or a
hawk like handsaw. Mate is Pc
ruvian weed, largely indulged in by
Indians snd half breeds. 1t is con-
cOcted in o small silver porringer,
with a tight lid and small spout,
which spout goes the rounds OF the
blac,.ened mouths of the mate-suek-
ing circle. 1t is 8 great breach of
etiquette in Peru to refuse to take
mate on such conditions. Neverthe-
less the writer of these paragraphs
did, ia his youth, so refuse, and was
voted very ill-mannered therefor, no
1oubt. He could not appreciate the
iraught. And it is venturing little
70 assert that the average American
home-born or naturalized,
male or female, young or old, will
lecline to take either to mate or
JaupOB. Tea and coffee are good
enough, and If cheapness is desired,
here are grades eAeop enough, though
jound economy teaches that nothing
5 cheap which is not GOOD.