Evening capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1888-1893, 1892-04-21

Trials That Beset Many n Family Which
Had tc Eat and BE Clothed.


Trials That Beset Many Family which
Had tc Eat and BE Clothed.
To most people Virginia cooking
has been a synonym for a delight
fully prepsrod meal. And no doubt
this universal opinion is a correct
one. But Virginia cooking, when
there wasn't anything to cook, is
quite different matter from what it
is with a pantry to which the whole
country supplies every deicacy in
and out of season.
Those uTon whom devolved the
care of the larder during the days of
the civil war tell a pitiful but ludi-
crous tale of the straits to which dire
want and necessity often reduced
them. The country was of course
then torn up by excitement and the
marching troops fo1aging kept it
pretty well clear of everything in
the edible line. OF course the north
ern soldiers appropriated all they
could get for themselves and their
horses, and the southerners expected
nothing but hberality at the hands
of those for whom they fought Oc-
casionally woman who was hard
pressed for money Confederate
bank notes being almost worthless)
would concoct rare dishes and sell
them to the passing Union troops at
exorbitant prices.
A lady, who is famed for her
shrewd and keen business wit, told
funny story of some such dealings.
She found some old Norway raisins
and mixed with them some stale,
dusty honey that had been kept for
years for poison mixing purposes.
These ingredients she compounded
into pies, and though she failed to
taste them herself she sold every
one of these pies to the passing troops.
Uncle Sam had many foes to face,
but it is safe to say none ever had
deadlier effect than those same pies.
Coffee, being an imported article,
was impossible to obtain. Tea, mus
tard and a thousand other seeming
necessities grew to be strangers at
southern tables. Sometimes sweet
potatoes were roasted, cut into sew
eral pieces and boiled as coffee, but
rye was the usual substitute.
Corn bread was of course the usual
dish, and chicken or turkey often
served as meat when the soldiers left
any such dainty. Salt was a scarce
article, and a famine was staring the
people in the face when salt works
were started in West Virginia Pork
was the usual meat, and such vege-
tables as the dangerous times enabled
the slaves who staid at the farms to
raise, were the principal fare. Cattle
were driven off by soldiers of either
army, so beef was scarce. Hard
tack" biscuit were often the only
bread to be gotten, and many poor
soldiers lived on it for days at a time.
Hard tack" which is about as diff
cult to chew as piece Of marble
tombstone, was soaked in water over
night, then fried in milk in the morn
ing.
In the motter of clothing, too, the
south was nearly as bad off as it was
for food. Most of the mills for max
ing goods were at the north, so Miss
Dixie found herself hard pushed to
get the goods and ribbons for her
frills and furbelows. Still fashion
reigned in spite of wars alarms, and
the rough homespun and cheap cali
co dresses were turned and made
over and looked upon with truly
feminine pride. When Confederate
money had so much deprecated,
fabulous prices were paid for the sim
plest thing-calico selling at $40 per
yard, soap at So per pound, lawn $50
a yard, and a barrel of -four being
worth 500 in greenbacks. OF course
their value in gold was only the sell
ing price at the north, but southern
paper was almost worthless. Yet in
spite of the depressions in the pan
try, the scarcity of raiment in the
wardrobe and the terrors of the rag
ing war the Dixie girls amused ther1-
selves much III the manner of today.
New York Advertiser.