The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1888-09-05
About Eating CROW.


Crow i an unralatable bird, and EAT
ing o is u Of the popular phrases
to indicate the enforced doing Of some
unpleasant thing, especially the enforced
confession of error, and is analogous to
eating your own words" 'eating hum
bic pie" eating dirt etc. Indeed, some
-uiseacres would derive It from the
French manager la croft eating dirt OF
refuse croft pronounced GRO being the
old spelling, thus THE dirt and croft Of
Paris may be smelled miles off" How
els "Londonopolis," 1851 But the
American phrase is sufficiently intelligi-
be, as It stands, without any far fetched
foreign derivation.
Two stories good enough to become
classic have entwined themselves around
this phrase, aud profess togiye It's origin.
Both are probably s~poeryphal, bat both
are worth preserving.
The frss appeared 10 the K~hiehasoohsr
/ Nasasin, soms forty years aso, and con-
Germs a thrifty boarding house keeper on
the Hndson and an INDECENT patron.
Whenever the latter demonstrated at the
food he was told he was "too p~artiekler.
Il kin eat anything" asserted the auto
crat Of the table, with aproud conscious
ness of superiority Il kin eat crow
| The constant repetition OF these words
wearied the boarder. Finally he resolv-
ed 10 test the old man. Taking his gun
with him he succeeded ia bagging a fine
fat old crow. By dlnt Of soft words and
filthy Iucre he induced The cook 70 pre-
pare the crow for the table.
The cook was a Scotch woman and used
snuff. He borrowed all she had and
srfinkled it liberally over the crow, gave
it an extra turn and brought itbefore the
host, saying, as he sat it down Now,
my dear sir, you have said a thousand
times, If you have said it once, that you
could eat crow; here is one carefully
cooked" The old man turned pale for a
moment, but, bracing himself against the
back Of his chair, and with Il kin eat
crow" he began cutting a good mouth
full. He swallowed it, and, preparing for
another onslaught. looked bis boarder
straight in the eye and calculated, "Ive
eat crow" and took a second portion. He
lined his hands mechanically, as if for a
third attack, but dropped them quickly
over the region Of the stomach, and, ris-
ing hurriedly and u~nsteadily, retreated
for the door, m~uttering as he went, ~but
dang me il I banker arter it,"
The other story, which is even better,
has been told in a variety of ways, but
this is the most finished version:
A Massachusetts, regiment during the
war was encamped near the estate Of a
wealthy planter. A city bred private
having shot a tame crow on the planters
ground was discovered by the owner
with the bird in his possession. Selling
the private's musket, which lay on the
ground, the irate planter cried: @As
NDu fC hiAtu ny tiDhs NbA VIC XVI W cat
IT," There was no escape, and the pri-
vate had to eat il. Alter a few mouth
fuls the planter asked with a grin
"HOw do you like crow
"Well," was the reply, 81 kin eat it,
but I don't banker arter H."
"All right" said the planter, you've
done pretty well. Here, take your gun
and get Off
But no sooner was the gun in the sol
diers hands than ne pointed it at the
planter, saying, "Now, you've got to eet
your share of crow
And the planter, swearing and splutter-
ing, was forced to obey. Next day the
planter came into camp and reported to
the Colonel that he had been insulted by
a federal soldier. Strict orders had been
issued against insulting or injuring resi-
dents. The planters description served
to bring the soldier before the impromptu
tribunal.-AOts and Queries.