The Arkansaw traveler., 1885-07-11
For THK ARKANsAw TRAvKLKR.
 NEW ENGLAND PIE,
BY JENNIE PORTER ARNOLD.


 A facetous writer has said thu, as you cross the Hudson-going east-~you strike the region of eternal pie." Had he added, and the valley and shadow of pills " he would have had the whole thing about ngh,, for in every well regulated New England household the omnipresent Piepla,e and pill-box, stand in close jux- taposition on the pantry shelf. joined in unholy bonds which not even death can sever though a li;:ie common sense might
 wonder who first invented that rooth- some but deadly comestible the New England pie? It must have been a wo- mana man could never have been guilty of such refined cruelty as to tickle the palate at the expense of outraging ali the digestive organs and planting the seeds of disease and death in the human system. think t mus, have been some malignant female who held spi,e az aims, her hege lord and so conceived the idea of enclosing the most delicious fruits be tween two layers of the indigestib.e and deadly pie crust, and then setting the dainty dish before him morning, noon and night until the poor man suffering all the horrors of indigestion and an awakened consoience-both symptoms of the same disorder-commis,ed suicide to escape from his ,ormeats.
 And the New England housewife, look ing upon the pie saw that ii was pleasant to the eye, and agreeable to the palate, so proceeded to the making of it, wi,hou, seeing tha, the results which mus, follow were as deadly to the human race as was ever Mother Eve's ooveting the apple. Some years ago made the acquaintance of very intelligent woman-an admira- ble housekeeper, who told me she in- vented the strawberry pie. Shades of Olympus Only think of it-a strawberry pie would as soon think of mixing the nectar of the gods with stale beer, as to cruelty that most delicious of all fruit, between two layers of indigestible pie crust! l tried my best to overlook some iapses from morality on the part of that woman, but was never christian enough to forgive her for inventine a strawbery pie. The contents of the pies-most of them at least-are not so objectionable, excep, the high seasoning, bu; l, is ;he " pig in the pie that raises the mischief. The ia, of that hl,hiess of all filthy abominations, the swine.
 The only 1t use to which the animal was ever put is recorded in Matthew S-3I. 37-@ And the devils brought him, saying. If thou cast us out suffer us to go away into the herd oi swine And He said unto them, 'Co.' And when they were come out, they went into the herd of swine: and, behold, the whole herd of swine ran violently down steep place into the sea and perished in the waters"
 But think one or two into whom had entered the largest evil spirits mus, have survived and become the progenisors of all the race which has cursed the human family since that day. Certainly they have proven to be possessed of the big 1 ges, kind of devil
 A question of great interes, to philoso- phezs and stasesnes, 2. the present time is the decadence of the New England race That our old families are fas, dying out is plainly evident, and various theories are advanced as to the cause If the philosophers would visit any New England farm they would discover the reason without even the use of their eyes the nasal organ would guide them di- rectiy to 1.-the fragrant pig pen! No for farther search it all centers there!
 One theory strongly advanced is that the alarming decrease in populasion is owing to the prevalence of consumption.