Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1882-02-11
THE INTRODUCTION
OfCotton seed oil Into 'BIIl Arp's'.
ESome.
Atlanta CONSTITUTION

/ 1t becomes man to be caution,
about running after new things
especially if he is not afflicted will
surplus money, but the other day 4
man from your town sent me car
of cookaline, which he said ht
wanted Mrs. Arp to try as substi
tute for lard. 1t was made out o.
cotton seed and looked as nice and
pure as sweet oil, and / didn't sec
why it shouldn't be good thing
for l knew rich people used olive
oil in their vituals at the North, and
over in France, and saw no reason
why a good oil shouldn't come
from other vegetables. The only
difficulty was in getting Mrs. ARP
to start out fairly on the expert
ment, for you see she has opinions
and convictions of her own. She
don't run after nothing, nor no.
body. She won't change chairs
nor corners, nor needles and thread.
She makes puddens and pies by the
same old receipts, and she used the
old time loaf sugar done up in blue
papers as long as she could get it.
She keeps a towel hid away from
the children and a water dipper
hung so high they can't reace it.
When things are calm and serene
and everything lovely / use the dip
per and towel too, but otherwise L
just rank along with the children.
So / says, saysI to the girls, hide
this cookaline away in the kitchen
and use it about half and half with
lard for a while and gradually
slide it into the biscuit and batter
cakes without any lard, and let's
see how it works. Well, it worked
splendid; that is the fact. The
girls took extra pains with the Wit
tells, and my wife, Mrs. Arp, she
complimented 'em and said they
were mighty nice, and SO one morn
ing l told her about making snow
flake crackers, and she said that she
wanted no more of the crackers,
and / said that lard was an animal
grease and a very dirty animal at
that, and sometimes had diseases
that killed folks, and the oil was
from a clean vegetable and didn't
| see why it wasn't as good or better,
| she said cotton seed might do very
well to winter poorl cows and sheep
on, but there wasn't enough SUBJ
stance in them to make milk or
butter and that cotton butter was
the poorest stuffin the world. But,
said /, suppose we try it, and if it
makes as good cakes as these and is
a heap cheaper than lard, hadn't we
better use il. She looked up sud-
denly with an inquiring glance, and
just then our little eight year old
cackled out te he he, te he he, and
the girls bit their lips and frowned
at her, but 1 saw the thing was
done for. Mrs. Arp never eat mar
ry mother cake just out of suspicion.
After that, however, we all got
along as usual and nothing was
said, but we know that she knows
we are using it, and she knows that
we know she knows it, and so it's
all right now, for she is a sensible
woman. It's great blessing and
the beauty of it is it comes from our
side of the house. It's sorter like
sugar. Them fellows up North
can't rai-e it, though they can refine
it and adulterate it, but they
haven't found anything cheaper to
mix with cotton seed oil yet, and
maybethey won't. The next thing
you hear of they will have their lit
tie mills all over this country
squeezing the juice out of our seed,
and the price will go up to % cents
a bushel, and all that will help and
make us better acquainted. When
they come down here they all turn
Democrats, if they wasn't before,
for everybody wants to be cOnsid-
cred respectable, and the Democrats
down South are the most respectable
people. / mean what say, and
mean no offense, for 1 know some
Republicans who are mighty nice
people and clever and kind and all
that, and they didn't go to be Re
publicans. Some of 'em turned
over after the war to save their
property and some to get Office,
which was all right, cOnsiderin',
and | think they were sort of "A
breakwater between us and our
foes. Some few of 'em, like Joe
Brown. knew when to flop back
again, but some didn't, and they
are there yet. I've got nothing
agiD 'em. Marcellus Thornton is II
right clever man, and if l was about
to drown in a mill pond, had just
as leave depend on him to jump in
and pull me out as anybody. L
don't know of any great issues that
are dividing us now but money and
Office and spoiIs. | don't. The
finances are settled and the parties
are split up among themselves on
the tariff, which is to say neither
party has any plank to stand on,
and if the Republicans would quit
stealing and waving the bloody
shirt l wouldn't care anything
about politics except this. 1 want
our boys to have a showing. The
Democrats haven't had chance to
put hand in the public crib for 25
years. and l think that time about
is fair play. | want chance for
our people to show the Republicans
that wecan run the machine just as
well as they can, even if we can't
steal as much. Though l recon
that if there is anything loose a lie
ing around our folks will pick it
up.