The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1878-04-13
Nanny DOwney's Pies.

THE pies and cakes made by the old
woman were. think, remarkable rather
for their inducing the same loyal and
generous spirit than for their instrinsic
excellence, and it may be said appealed
more strongly to the nobler aspirations
of humanity than its vulgar appetite.
Howbeit, everybody ate Nanny Dow
ney's pies and thought of his childhood.
"Take 'em, dear boys" the old lady
would say; g it does me good to see YOU
eat 'em; reminds me kinder of my poor
Sammy, that, eff he'd lived, would hev
been ez strong and big ez you be, but
was taken down with lung fever, at
Sweetwater. l kin see him yet; that's
forty years ago, dear comm out o. the
lot to the bake-house, and smilin' such
a beautiful smile, like yours, dear boy,
as handed him mince or lemming
turnover. Dear, dear, how / do run
on! and those days past! but seems to
live in you againr' The wife of the
hotel-keeper, actuated by a low Jealousy,
had suggested that she seemed to live
off Them" but as that person tried to
demonstrate the truth of her statement
by reference to the cost of the raw ma
terial used by the old lady, it was con-
sidered by the camp as too practical
and economical for consideration. 'Be-
Sides" added Cy Perkins, "ef old
Nanny Perkins wants to turn an hon
est penny in her old age, let her doit.
How would You like to have your moih-
er to make pies on grub wages2 elfS
A suggestion that so affected his nearer
| (who had no mother) that he bought
three on the spot. The quality of these
pies had never been discussed but once.
1t is related that young lawyer from
San Francisco, dining at the Palmetto
restaurant, pushed away one of Nanny
Downey's pies with every expression of
disgust and dissatisfaction. At this
juncture, Whisky Dick, considerably
affected by his favorite stimulant, APP
preached the strangers table, and,
drawing up a chair, sat unlimited be-
fore him.
"Mebbe, young man," he began,
gravely, Eye don't like Nanny Dow
ney's pies?"
The stranger replied CURLY, and in
some establishment, that he did not as a
rule "eat pie
Young man." continued Dick, with
drunken gravity, "mebbe you're ac-
customed to Charlotte rusks and blue
mango; mebbe we can't eat unless your
grub is got up by one o. them French
cooks? Yet eCe-us boys var in this
camp-calls that plea good-a COM
pe-tent pien'
The stranger again disclaimed any
thing but general dislike of that form
of pastry.
young man." continued Dick, ut
terly unheeding the explanation
young man, mebbe you onct had an
ole-a very ole mother, who, lettering
down the vale O. years, made pie.
Mebbe, and it's like your epicurean
soul, We turned up your nose on the ole
woman, and went back on the pies, and
on her! She that handled We when we
woz a baby-a little baby Mebbe we
went back on her, and shook her, and
played off on her, and gave her away
dead away! And now, mebb, young
mani wouldn't hurt We for the world,
but mebbe, afore we leave this var
table, gen eat that pien'
The stranger rose to his feet, but the
muzzle of dragon revolver in the I'M
steady hands of Whisky Dick caused
him to sit down again. He ate the pie,
and lost his case likewise, before a
Rough-and-Ready jury.-Bret Hdrte's
1t00 SAINTS Of the Foot HillS," IN
Scribner for April.