The evening world. [volume] (New York, N.Y.) 1887-1931, 1894-07-28
DIET OF PIE AND CIDER.
one Way Of AccountiuR for the
New EnRinnders CrRbbedness.

1t Is quite plausible that his diet Is
largely responsible for the Sew Eng
lander. His crabbedness and obduracy
are the natural consequences OF The
Puritan. but three centuries Of pic eat
ms and cider-drll<ins have unquestion-
ably altered additional verjuice into his
blood. The Providence journal claims
authority for the assertion that pic has
been a greater moral and physical bane
TO New England than whiskey. one may
not be able in support OF 1t 10 point out
an instance where after eating quar-,
ter section, "A man went home and
killed his wife. The methods OF the pie
eater are slower; he Kills with lingering
torment, with hurrying day In and day
wilkins has shown in y" Pembroke"
what u pitiless, unrelentinG browbeater
a man can make OF himself through in
diligence OF the pie habit. Were II not
costing to his fancy that even pies made
from the weeds OF the field are edible,
one could declare old Cephss impossi-
BILE, but having that appetite, he Is
Thayer, whose unrelicved asrerity was
the cause OF little Ephraims tragic es-
oapade, WAS likewise victim of THIS
New England vice. Mis-. wilkins has
punishment. and whether the poor boy
died OF hts mothers cruelty or OF one
Of her cider cooked mince pies doesn't
in the least affect the meaning Of the sit
uatidn.
Mr.. kpling is the last to remark
upon the gastronomic depraHity OF the
New Englander. He told some one in
London the other day that mis- Vermont
home was ON the " border Of the sreat
pie belt" and when asked a leading
question about the temper of the people
he now lived among replied, thoughtful
ly. with: Have you considered the
physiological condition of a people which
eats pic for breakfast, pie for dinner.
pic for supper, and takes sweet stuns
You cant expect anything else" Such
diet Is VIGOROUSLY unhealthful. Ac-
companie by the drinking OF beverage
that turns the juices OF human Kindness
mate that makes brains more than
muscle. and nerves more than either.
and the action OF 1t all upon a ,constitu-
ton sngularly irritable by inheritance
might have been accurately toretold.
All New England, all New York state,
part Of Pennsylvania. most OF Maryland.
and the country lying between the north
ern and southern limits thus indicated.
OF Indiana comprise the American pie
belt. In the back counties, especially
do the people serve pie at the three reg
they can. by hook or crook. eat II at all
times Hot doughnuts and cheese are
not half such luncheon favorites. on
many an urban breakfast table the pie
stlll holds It's own against the restric-
tons OF the doctors and the protests OF
the ventricles. which have to extract
from II 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 hoastfully--the little brother OF that
factory which II tantamount to saying
that as eaters OF what Johnson called
''pasty" We cannot occupy any. closer
relation than that to B)ston's full-grown
| reputation. They have there pie factory
that no. only stands on patriotic soil
bat I,t to lao tnI In, al .htt rob
building. And thus the shadow OF
| Bunker Hin and the shade OF Cotton
Mather both help to consecrate this
native form of dessert-Cotton Mather
| doing his part upon the upper crust,
which In doubtless the essential cause of
| its utter indigestibility.