The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1894-01-16
GEN. LEES CHRISTMAS FARE.
There Was Cabbage and Bacon, But
the BncOn Was Only Borrowed.

Ihere Was and Bacon, But
the Bacon WAS Only Borrowed.
AS the fortune Of wal had favored
his larder. through some killful forag-
ing OF Ephraim, a negro, who was his
faithful cook, body servant, and waiter
three gentlemen in one-Gen. Lee
invited several officers to dine with
him on Christmas day, 1854. The
lucky recipients of the timely invita-
ticn were five in number, all officers of
distinction, among them Gems. Long
street, Gordon and Kershaw. They
We're on time when dinner was called.
1t was served on q rough pine table,
!. without II cover, in Gen. Lees weather
Fbeatcn tent. 1t consisted Of boiled
cabbage n eight or ten boiled sweet
potatoes and II dish of rice cooked dry.
The piece de resistance, which indeed
the. knlghtly guests foundi it hard to
resist, was q small bit OF fat bacon,
about three inches square that lay on
top of the large cabbage. Now, bacon
was as rare IN the Confederate camp at
tnat time as are roses on the Northern
hilltops in December. Even Ignatius
Donnelly. with all his genius for un-
folding the hidden, could not have dis
covered u trace of it in the mess stores
OF that army. You can imagine,
therefore, the self-restraint exercised
by each guest as they declined in turn
a slice OF the delectable meat proffered
by their host, who held the carving
knife and fork ready To cut and help.
1t was observed that when the Gen
oral, after helping to the cabbage, said
to the guest whose plate Ephraim held
out, Allow me to help you to a slice
Of the bacon ?" the devoted old servi-
tors hand trembled greatly. In fact,
he seemed to be in a state of decided
~ rh h htrrh 49,, ..l r 49,
guests would not account for his trep-
i~dat!on, for he daily served near a
master who out ranked them all.
There was no splendor left in the
tracery of faded gold lace on their bat
tie stained uniforms to dazzle his eyes
and cause them to roll about and
glance from bacon to guest, and from
guest to bacon, as eacn answered the
half question with the words: mo,
thank you, General" The discomposure
OF the serving man was all the more
serene self poised dignity OF his benign
master.
Dinner over, the General and his
guests retired from the tent, but as
they passed out Gen. Lee turned and
said in n low tone, Ephraim, we have
another cabbage, have we not ?"
The answer was, Yes, sab, Mass
Bob. Yves got anudder cabbage,
sah."
Then Ephraim," said the General,
"save the piece Of bacon to cook with
that cabbage"
/, The prompt and decisive reply was,
"No sab, Mass Bob, [ can't do dat |
js borrow dat piece Of bacon for sea-
senin' from u friend ober dar in Rich
mon, and | done glib up my parole oh
hOnah dat IN glib him back dat same
bacon what | borrow"
The General, who could not be q
!, party to any mans violation of his
parole of honor, consented at once to
the return Of the bacon that had sc
successfully run the gauntlet of six
hungry diners. He must have re-
Elected too, on the extremity of his
a part OF his Christmas dinner, on the
/ hard condition hat it should be re.
turned untouched. His New Years
dinner was still more meagre, I Judge,
from what he Indicated to Gen. Grant
next day.
A flag of truce had been sent into
the Confederate lines with an inquiry
regarding u Union officer who had been
wounded and taken prisoner, and the
officer who bore it, after stating it's OBJ
ject, said Cen. Lee, l am directed
by Gen. Grant to give you his compli-
ments, and to say that he is thorough
ly informed as to all your movements,
and even knows what you had for
dinner yesterday"
Gen. Lee took the pleasantly in good
part, II answered please, Cap
tain, present my compliments to Gen.
Grant, and say that | must doubt the
correctness OF his information. for |
know him to be II humane man, and if
he had known what | had for my dinner
he would have sent me a part of his
own"