The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1890-08-09
WAR TIME HEROES.
THE POISONED HAMS.

Lady Readers.
''Now. mistis, amt we gwine SEN
.Marse Ran no box dis Chris mas 1t
p'intedly do seem too bad to disapp'int
de chile!''
We were all ''cbillun'' to nanny, and
even though my soldier-brother now
bore the title of Major, she could never
forget that little more than twenty
years before he had laid his curly head
on her breast we'll knowing there was
no more faithful repository for his child
ish woes.
Tears came into my mothers eyes as
she thought of the soldier-boy who
would have to be disappointed, so far as
she could see. It was the Christmas of
1864, when the people within the Con-
federate lines were almost at the last
extremity of their need. "a.
20 nanny" she said, ''What have we
for box? Not a turkey nor chicken,
except old Specl1, did the last raiders
leave us! l sent to the village yester-
day to get some eggs. but the last had
been sold at fifteen dollars Il dozen.
You know last Christmas we sent the
last coffee, and unless you or Chloe could
go to make it for him, Randolph would
never have it fl to drink, out of the rye
and ochre we use."
''Why, mistis, is you done forgit the
pizened hams?'
These "pizened" hams are worthy of
place in history. When it was report
ed that the raiders were coming, my
mother determined to save, if possible,
the few hams we had left. Taking
nanny and faithful Ben into her conf
dence, she proceeded with austentatious
secrecy to the smoke-house, we'll know
ing that the eye of a young negro was at
each chink, trying to find out what 'ole
mis- was dom so secret in the smoke
house."
The next day the Federal soldiers
came. While some looked after the live
stock, others proceeded to the smoke
house. for Virginia hams always had a
high reputation. The looks of the lit
tie negroes told story of mystery of
some sort, which excited the suspicious
of these soldiers, which were confirmed
when they discovered a fine white pow
der over the meat.
Selling one black boy by the collar, a
soldier demanded the secret.
''Ise slSeered to tell you,'' sobbed the
boy, while his teeth chartered, s'ca'se
nanny caught us peepin', and said eff
we told she gwine bus our head OPEN -
But as the danger of "bus' open
head' seemed more imminent from the
soldier than from NANNY, the confess
sion was finally extracted that ':Me and
Dick seed old mis- sneakin' long to de
smoke-house and she shot de do so still
like, dat we peeped in, an den she was
putin dat white stuff on de meat, an
Uncle Ben said as how EFF de Yanl KEGS
eat dat meat dey won't nebber eat muffin
mo-"
just then a slip of paper labeled
''strychnine" was discovered in corner.
SO our precious hams were saved bv a
harmless shower of flour and piece of
white paper.
With ham to start with no Confed-
crate would despair of a box. So Chloe
proceeded to make half bushel of gin
ger-snaps, which with '.goobers'' (pea-
nuts) constituted the Confederate con-
tectlonery. l turn now to my ssConfed-
crate Recipe-Boolz, and see how those
snaps were made:
"One-half meal, one-half -four, sorghum pot
ash instead of soda "a dark powder got from
hickory ashes by some homely chemical pro-
cess: garden-raised pepper, and a little horse
radish for pungency."
We had peach preserves, made with
the inevitable sorghum, of course; but
as there was not a jar to be had, we had
almost despaired of being able to send
any. Nanny solved the problem by
producing some gourds, well-sweetened
and dried. These were filled with the
precious sweet, and then the plug
replaced over the hole and secured
with paper and paste. Some of the field
hands brought in two young possums,
for Slmson said if "Marse Ran done got
to be major, I knows he amt forgit to
love possum."
proposed to sacrifice "Speckle,' the
only hen had left, but Chloe protested
that ''dat old hen had so much sense she
mustn't be kilt, even for Marse Ran. F."
When the raiders came the good old
cook had stuffed the hen into an empty
box in the kitchen. There the wise
bird staid without making sound for
thirty-six hours, wondering, no doubt,
what made the night so long When she
was released she found herself mon
arch of all she surveyed" Every other
domestic animal on the place had gone
the way of all flesh.
But though there was no poultry for
it, the preparation Of the Christmas box
went on. In one corner was put little
bag OF cloudy-looking salt. Randolph
had said in his last letter that if there
were always salt, the corn-pone or hard
parched corn would not be so bad.
This salt was a triumph of Confeder-
ate ingenuity. All the large meat-houses
had floor of earth, over which had been
cured and hung the meat used on the
plantation for generations. These dirt
floors were dug up and the earth boiled
in large kettles until all the salt was ex-
tracted. Several wagon-loads of dirt
produced few quarts of the precious
powder. -.
Our box was filled at last with one
thing and another, and seemed to our
poor confederate eyes very complete
when the chinks had been stuffed with
sweet-potatoes and home-knit gloves
and stockings.
The box was done, but there were no
nails with which to fasten it. The
blacksmith had said, a few days before,
that he had no more iron But Ben
brought from his stores some old horse
shoes. Armed with these myself went
to see the nails beaten out by the smith,
since we dared not trust that precious
iron out of our sight
When MRan'S', next letter told us houz