The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1876-01-12
Nince Pies and All About Them.
BY ELEANOR SHREDDER.

Among the pleasant things which custom
has associated with the Christmas season,
the never,to be.forgotten mDce pie is really
the most significant of them all; although
in its present shape we can hardly see sny
connection between this little piece Of pas
try and the actual birth hour Of the infant
Christ.
To fud cut Why it was and how it was the
mince pie became associated with the great
est event the world has ever seen we must
trace its history. Then We shall discover a
lopg while ago the mince pie used to be called
mnce crotch. Now, crotch is word that
has dropped out Of our language, but as we
still keep scot, "Cradle, and "Crutch," it
is easy to see il is an older Saxon word from
which these three have sprung, We all re.
member the mother Of our Saviour had no
soft, warm cradle wherein to lay her pre-
cious first born, for the wise men found him
"ln rude msnger laid to rest
F,2gs-S& he= FiE1ia breast
In the far away East, where the Bible tells
us "their strength is to stand still, there
has been very little change in the common
things of every day life since the time Of
Joseph and Mary. We fad the traveller in
the caravansary, or inn, as the gospels call it,
still taking his rest beside the beasts of bur
den aud the mapger, out of which the oxen
and camels are feeding, is just the same sort
of hole soooped in the earthen floor, not very
deep, but oval in shape, 80 that when it was
filled with the fresh, dry fodder it was I'M
doubtedly the most comfortable nook in the
desolate caravsnsary where the newborn
could be laid to sleep. It is this Eastern
mauger, where the infant Christ was Graded
that the mince pie or Christ crotch was
made to represent. Even now, in some old
country houses, We might still find among
the disused belongings of pantry and kitch-
en- some of the odd little oval shapes in which
the true old fashioned mince pie was always
made.
There is a receipt for mince meat said to
have been used in the royal kitchen of Rich
ard the Second. Ii was an established Gus
tom then, 30 there is no doubt that the
Christmas pie is an heirloom from the old
Crusading days, when many red cross knight
returned to his baronial hall to die, and the
weary footed pilgrim, who had actually
gazsd upon the holy Sepucher, came back
with his scollop-shell and palmer's staff to
the friends of his childhood, to tell of that
wondrous land where Christ was born. So
the English housewife in those early days
kaew many things about the East of which
later generations were in ignorance. How
carefully they treasured every relic of those
shores when SO very few could read and fewer
still could write The people wanted some
thing that could be seen and handled to
make them realize the Bibles story. TWAS
rude XII Of object teaching, in its way,
although it grew to idol worship in the end.
1t was in this spirit the mince pie was added
to the Christmas feast; and there is deep
and beautiful nearing IL thus reminding the
Christmas guest of the manger-oradle in
which the hope of the whole world once lay
sleeping
So, in contrast to the bitter herbs with
which the passover cake of the Jews was
eaten, the little crotch was filed with the
sweetest and the best the housewife of those
primitive days could command. The fruit
and the meaf, the honey and the spice--for
honey took the place of sugar then--all
blended together to form that union of oppo-
sites we call mince meat. The top was af-
terward covered with thin crust for the
of eating l am afraid we should
not know how to manage our dinner at all if
our knives, forks, and plates we're taken
away. In those old days they were too rare
and too expensive for daily use. Few house.
holds had more than one or two for the mas
ter and hio most honored guests as for the
rest, the loaf was cut into thick rounds,
which we're called tranchoirs, and on these
the roast meat was laid. A finger piece cut
rom the edge of the tranchoir served for
. spoon, and most of the men used the knife
hey carried in their belt. We should think
t great waste to use bread in this way, for
10 one thought of eating up their tranchOir
when the meal was oVer-these were gath.
red together and given to the poor; but the
Christ crotch could be taken in the hand
ike ca ke.
There is another saying about mince pies
which one often hears; so many different
nince meats as one may taste at Christmas,