Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1886-09-16
COFFEE IN THE CONFED Err
ACY.

Coffee had been almost the sole table
beverage of the South, and no priyation
caused more actual discomfort among
the people at large than the want of it.
There was nothing for which they strove
so eagerly and increasingly to procure a
substitute. Few indeed were the sub
stances which did not first and last find
their way into the coflee-pot Wheat,
rye, corn, sweet-potatoes, peanuts, dan
deion seed, okra seed, persimmon seed,
melon seed, are but few of the substi-
tutes which had their turn and their
day. "A fig for the difference between
Rio and rye" said the wits. "Eure-
kai" cried an enthusiastic newspaper
correspondent "Another of the shack
les which holds the South the CONNER
cial thrall of the world is severed. Let
South America keep her Rio and the
antipodes its Java. 1t is discovered to
be true beyond peradventure that as
beverage the seed of the sea-island cot
ton cannot be distinguished from the
best Java, unless bv its superiority;
while the seed of the ordinary variety is
found to be moi whit behind the best
Rio" What tiutter of excitement and
Joy it raised in many household-and
doubtless the scene in ours was typical
Ito find that the great national plant,
the very symbol of the Confederacy,
was indeed so mauy-sided! 1t gave us
greater confidence, if it were possible to
have greater. in the power and possible
tiles of the South, now that Cotton, the
great king. had had another crown laid
on his brow. So opportune was the
discovery, too, that it struck us as al
most divine revelation, indicating the
interposltion of Providence in our favor.
So eager were we to test tor rather to
confirm it, for it was too good not to be
rue-that we could not await meal
time. Residing in North Carolina and
up the country, we had never seen any
sea-island cotton, but the prospect of
being confined to Rio was by no means
appalling, A pickaninny was forth
with hurried off to the cotton patch,
then sparsely hccked with newly opened
boles. The apr0nful of precious stuff,
now veritable mamma, was hardly in
doors before a dozen hands, of all sizes
and colors, We're tearing, picking, at
the discredited fibre, in quest OF the
more priceless seed. The Rio was made
and drunk. Despite the sorghum
sweetening, the verdict was unanimous
in its favor. hope that the commune
cation of this studendous discovery to
our neighbors added as immensely to
our happiness as to our self-importance.
But if in the last respect we sinned,
retribution could not have been lag
gard. For although, owing to the fact
that happily the recollection of disap-
pointment and humiiations is less
abiding than the opposite feelings, | am
unable to tell exactly why and when we
returned to parched bran, it is neverthe-
less true that we did.
Receipts for making "cotlee without
coffee" (wnen the real article was al
luded to- strong emphasis on the word
left no doubt us to which kind was
meant were extensively advertised in
the newspapers, and in some instances
sold by canyassing agents. But rye,
okra seed, and meal or bran held in the
long run the popular favor. Those who
could afford an iniinitcSimal quantity
of the real article, counted out by the
grain, to flavor the substitute, were the
envy of the neighborhood. 4 cup of
pure and genuine coffee would in the
eyes of many have been an extrava-
gance akin to Cleopatra's famous
draught itself. The contents of small
gourd, which held our entire stock of
the genuine article for many months
before the close of the war, must have
gone towards the making of an incredi-
bic lake of coffee
The few yotaries of tea consoled
themselves as best they could on de-
coction OF raspberry leaves or sassafras
root. Some genius discovered in corn
fodder the exact flavor of black tea
Sugar after the fall of Vicksburg, was
almost as scarce rs coffee. But in
sorghum the people found substitute
which came perhaps nearer Il success
than any of the numberless makeshifts
of the period. Sorghum. or Chinese
sugar-cane, as it was then known. had
been raised to some small extent in the
State as early as 1857 1t began to be
largely planted in 1862, and during the
two succeeding years its cultivation be-
came general: Sorghum boiling adding
another to the great Southern festivals
of constructing and hog-killing. 1t
was about the sole thing of which there
was no stint in the Confederacy.
Verify the land was submerged in
sorghum" Ii sweetened the coffee, tea,
and all the desserts of the time; sorgh-
um candy was the national CONNECTION,
sorghum 'stews' the national festival.
The strange creaking hum of the cane
mills pervaded the land. Every place
-, - 4,
sticking with it-DaCM Dodge, IN
AugU& AtilHtic