Litchfield enquirer., 1874-12-24
PIE.

It is asserted that during our late civil war the Union troops incurred greater physical danger from their love of pie than from the bullets of the Confederate soldiers. This assertion, of course, im- piled no disfespect to the rebel bullets. Whenever one of them hut man fairly 1t killed him. But, unfortunately, our sol. dlers were not delivered from pie when they were we'll guarded from the southern sharpshooters. In fact, the former SUD- plemented the latter in the work of des- truction, and was the most effective when the men were in camp or on 8 march through a peaceful district of country
 We are not sure, however, that it was not sometimes eaten in the face of the enemy. The facility with which 1t can be eaten anywhere is one of the most dangerous characteristics of pie. --..
 Senator SchurZ, in his recent lecture in this city, took occasion to speak of pie as it appeared iu the family circle His re- marks were not respectful. It is true that he limited his attention to the ''half- baked" and ''soggy" va-ieties, but his condemnation was so hearty that we are inclined to believe that he regards all pie as innutritioqs and unwholesome. He in- troduced the subject by speaking of one OA SAC pAAAOAp0A CACC0o Ok' OhbAuk H1Cs namely, dyspepsia. He said that this this might fairly be called the national disease of this country. The social as- poets of dyspepsia were then considered; but we need not repeat all that he said about the querHlous habits and chronic il-temper which the disease usually pro- duces. He continued as follows,
 "As dyspepsia comes from unwhole- some food, 1t is impossible to say how large portion of the laboring classes of our country might be kept in good health
 If only our wives were once thoroughly taught that soda biscuits and half-baked pies are most unfavorable to health. Yet soda biscuit and soggy pies are the staple food with large classes of people"
 Insufficient exercise or, what is the same thing. over eating. is of course as much a cause of dyspepsia as unwholesome food, whether it comes in the form of pie or in some other form. But, without reference to this coordinate cause, Senator Schurz has not accused the ''soda biscuit" and the ''half baked pie" unjustly. As to so- da biscuits we shall leave the persons wno continue to use them to the torments which this article of food is 30 well calcu- lated to produce. But pie is a different thing. It crowns the feast at every board In eating houses. at railroad stations, in the fine hotels, on the tables of both the rich and the poor it appears with una- bashed front. It is eaten not only at the regular meals, but before and after meals, and often 8 piece is sandwiched in be- tween saying goodnight to the family and saying our prayers. The Massachusetts State Board of Health, in their annual re
 port for 1873, assert, as the result of the most careful Investigation, that ''pies are eaten twice day bysmost people in Mas sachusetts above the age of five, and if a lunch is called for it is generally pie and nothing else. Country bakers often dis tribute more pies than they do loaves of bread. On the diet list of factory board ing-houses pies occupy the most promi- nent and constant places. Pies are the most constantly recurring form of food to the traveller throughout the state" We cannot assert the same thing of other states, on such unque>tionable authority because this line of investigation has not been pursued in other states The poor
 stomach submits for long time without complaint, but the strongest constitution at last breaks down. Then the children inherit not only the appetite for pie, but the weaknesses of the stomach which it's OACCcS1Sc urc AAN8E10OAy pfOUuCeS. T1Qal. ly, in the third generation, the grandchild- ren inherit the dyspepsia along with the family tastes and the family features.
 Even if the pies were well made-that IS, If sweet and wholesome fat was always used-ands properly cooked, they. could not be eaten co tinuously and excessively as in this country with impunity. The reason for this is suscinctly given in the following paragraph, which we quote from high medical authority: zl $
 "An forms of food containing nitrogen Gncluding the gluten of fiour) are digest ed in the stomach. Oils and fats of every kind pass unchanged through the stom- ach and are digested lower down in the alimentary canal. The close incorpora- ton of the gluten with the fat in the pro cess of rolling pastry (needful to make it light by inclosing the materials which will distend it when heat is applied) renders the action of the gastric juice upon the mass exceedingly difficult. It must, so to speak, pick out from this close union the parts which it is fitted to reduce to form ready for ahsorbtion, and let the remain
 der pass on. sd L1q1ffsE. T,sS io Ees- It is not too much to ,says when We con slider how universally pie is eaten m this country, that it is the most injurious of all the products of the American kitchen. | There are evils of this excessive pie-eat- | s- r~arhar1a &hor,