The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1882-11-09
THE POETRY OF BACON.
What Henry w. Grady Dreams abo"t
when lie goes to Bed Hungry.
,,ia,,ta c5n.t;tu,imf, Nan, .iIom- To,r'.

,iianta Lou:tjtutio,'s Nan .ib'm- 7o'rn.
Am dinner the other night, after the
trasI, had been disposed OF. two roast pigs,
each with an apple in his mouth, wer9
bro,lgh, in and SET i'll front of the hos, ana
hostess. had not >eeh such Il.ns ~
wears. but il was Il savory reminder Oh
many Il lavish board under which my
Youthful legs had twined about each
other in ecstacy.
There's good deal of sent niincnt III HE
memories that hang about the hoS.
Where Is there festira! that com Pares III
solid enjoyment with "hug-kiliing tisne
on an old plantation? How nianya time
,ayc sat Oh the warm side Of a big hre
i'm tho cold ofu December dawn and licked
my half frozen chops as | watched the
sleek carcas,cs being drawn and quar-
tered, or hung over the huge scaldihs POT,
like a Young Macbeth over the witches
curOn
Ilow Tie glures OF those festive o"cs-
| sious come trooping into my mind as l
write! The first trophies that came to
| the Youngsters who were happy enough
; t. be present, wore the bladders that
blown up and tied, opened game OF i'm
promptu foot ball, or dried and laid away,
| were exploded on Christmas as the open
iny gun. Then came the tails TO be
roasted in the ombcrS of this fire or that,
| and stay the demon that WAS unclaimed
| in the Youthful stomach, while the hogs
were laid OH raii-piic to freeze during
| the night. The next day came tho spare
| ribs with their crisp and clinging fat,
and the back bone with its unutteraDle
marrow. These elemental delights past,
| then came the more Intricate process OF
cutting the leaf lard into little white
| blocks that were thrown into the pots
| from which came the sweetest and purest
| lard, and those dry brown bits into which
al! tho SAVIOR and the essence and the soul
| ri the hog seemed iinpriSoned~-the crack
lings! Stop a moment! pardon this
| emotion. Therc-it Is over now y Ana
from the cracklings the y-bread--and
tho head cheese. and the chitterlings, and
the smoked iowls, and the brains, and
the liver, and the shoulders and the feet,
| first boiled and then fried i'll batter. And
! after this the over worked sausage grind
| or, that whecZed and couglied rs it was
| well nigh choked to death with chunks
Of fat and strips Of lean, or strangled to
death with red pepper and salt, or tickled
| to death with RRge leaves, but neyerihe-
| less filled pans, pots and skins and maws
| with odoious sausage, until 1t must nave
itself been astOnished at what it had done.
| And then the mince meat, which is at
| once the meeting point and tho resultant
OF all the edible felicities. And last OF
all-after every part and particle OF this
| precious amin al, save and except the brain
and hasletts, had been absorbed with
thanks and praise-the old smoke-house
with it's earthly smell, its "dim religious
| light" its sinouldering fire of hickory
chips in tho PIT dug in the centre Of its
dirt floor. its winding rat holes haunted
the winter through by keen young sports
men, and it's vague and blackened rafters
beyond the aspirations OF all save the
most daring climbers, and their slender
cross sticks from which were clustered
festoons Of sausage links sweetening in
their skins as nuts in their shells--genial
mildlings on white oak splits and hams
that ripened and grew tlavorous in their
secusion, absorbing month after month
the aroma of the earth and OF the silted
ashes that were sprinkled over them, and
Of the sweet chips that burned beneath
them, and of the odorous smoke that
tioated about them, and of the night
winds that stole through the loosely
shingled roof above them.
This may all he very FOOLISH. 1t is
fashionable now to berato the hog, niain
! ly, think, because hog killing has be-
come u business now instead OF Il senti-
| ment. and because hogs are killed in
slaughter pens rather than in the open
woods, anu sausage made OF beef rather
than pork, and hams sweetened i'll Il
night with sugar aud cured in day with
chemicals rather than with the gentle in
tluences bred of air and earth and forest
i'll the long and patient vi,ils that Nature
requires of all things she brings to per-
lection. BE this aS 1t may, the hog III all
his particulars is appreciated i'll high life
The late Senator Hill loved nothing so
well rs a plate Of chittcrlings. have
, seen Governor IIerschel V. johnson cat
pigs eur with infinite relish. What
were Governor Browns collards II re-
fuse to spell il coleworts) to that great and
good nan, if underlying his historic love
tor this fine esc"!ent there "as &c: sii ;;ii.
confessed love for hogs jowl. once saw
Gen. Gordon rushing through Wall
street, when We both had more stocks
than was healthy, ~i;!l !, buclis: ui hogs
brains that he had bought from down
town butcher for his table at tho ST.
James. Governor stephens '!otes ON
brUiled ham, and the nearest 10 death
Gen. Toombs ever came wa. from indi.
gostion caused by overeating Of head
cheese; SO that q little more hogs head
might have prevented Secession. More
than one historian holds that Lees army
was never whipped until tho bacon had
given out ana 1t had to fall back on beef.
Mayor English frequently grc,scs his dis
tinguished chin with tty-breau, and it
was at n Governors table that | saw the
sucking pigs that evoked this train of
memories.