The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1894-07-14

Some Comment by . Newspaper
In the Pho Bolt.

In the Pho Belt.
It Il quite plausible that bis diet il
lsrgsly responsible for the New Eoglan-
der. His crabbedness and obduracy are
the natural consequences of the Puritan;
but three centuries of pie eating and cider
drinking have unquestionably filtered ad-
ditional verjuice into his blood. There is
authority for the assertion that pie has
been greater moral and physical bane
to New England than whisky. One may
not be able in support of it to point out
an instance where, after eating quarter
section, man went home and killed his
wife. The methods Of the pie-eater are
slower; be kills with lingering torment,
with marrying day in and day out the
meek, long suffering wife. Miss Wilkins
has shown in 'Pembroke" what pitiless,
unrelenting brow heater man can make
of himself through indulgence Of the pie
habit. Were it not for his abnormal ap.
petite for pies-suggesting to his fancy
that even pies made from the weeds OF
the field are edible-one could declare
old Cephas impossible, but, having that
appetite, he is wholly credible. Iron.
jawed Deborah Tbayer, whose unrelieved
asperity was the cause Of little Ephraim's
tragic escapade, was likewise victim Of
this New England vice. Miss Wilkins
has her undergo poetic but exquisitely
just punishment but whether the poor
boy died Of his mothers cruelty or of ono
of her cider cooked mince pies doesn't in
tho least affect the meaning Of the situa-
ton.
Mr.. Kippling is the last to remark upon
the gastronomic depravity of the New
Englsnder. He told some one in London
the other day that his Vermont home
was on the 'border of the great pie belt, >
and when asked . leading question about
the temper of the people he now lived
among replied, thoughtfully, with: "Have
you considered the physiological condi-
ton of people which eats pie for break
fast, pie for dinner, pie for supper. and
takes sweetstuAs between whlles9 Dys-
pepsia is endemic; you can't expect any
thing else" Such diet is VIGOROUSLY un-
healthful. Accompanied by the drinking
of beverage that turns the juices OF hu-
man kindness to vinegar, and influenced
by the climate that snakes brains more
than muscle, and nerves more than either"
and the action of it all upon a consti-
tuition singularly irritable by inheritance
might have been accurately fore*old.
We Rhode Islanders are near tbs mid
die of the east boundary of the pie belt.
All New England, all New York State,
part of Pennsylvania, most of Maryland,
and the country lying between the north.
srn and southern limits thus indicated to
% far west as the western boundary Of
Indiana, comprise the American pie belt.
In the back counties, especially, do the
people serve pie at the three regular daily
meals, and the children, when they can by
hook or crook, eat it at 81! times. Hot
doughnuts and cheese are not half such
luncheon favorites. On many an urban
breakfast table the pie still holds its own
against the restrictions of the doctors and
the protests of the ventricles, which have
to extract from it nourishment.
Probably Boston consumes more pies
than any other city in the belt. They
have there the largest pie factories. We
have here it is not said boastfully-the
little brother of that factory, which is
tantamount to saying that as eaters of
what johnson called "pasty," we can not
occupy any closer relation than that to
Boston's full-grown reputation. They
have there pie factory that not only
stands on patriotic soil, but one that is
located in an old church building. And
thus the shadow of Bunker Hill and
tie shade OF Cotton Mather both help to
consecrate this native form of dessert
Cotton Mather doing his part upon the
under crust, which is doubtless the essen.
tial cause of its utter indigestibility.-
Providence Journal.