The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1895-01-31
ON THE PLANTATION,
'LD FASHIONED SAUSAGE
: MAKING IN THE SOUTH.
NothlnS Like the Western Process-
Homemade scrapple, Hogshead Cheese
and Back Bone Stew-Amu,ine sceues
Among the Negroes.

ADJUSTMENTS or the West and else
where everything, no doubt, is con-
Quoted with dispatch and precision,
but on the plantation hog killing is an
important event, attended with much
hustle and ceremony. Housekeepers
arrange their social affairs and their
various trips abroad with a view to
being at leisure at a certain time, be-
u ''they are going to KILL" and
various domestic events are post
poned or fastened with reference to-
the butchering.
1t is still the custom to make :.hogs-
heae.cheese" and "scrapple," ssau-
sages" and oliver puddings," all sea-
soned with delicate discrimination; to,
make a savory backbone stew"
compounded with great yellow ~turnips
sweetened by the frost; to convert the.
feet into jelly, pretty to sec and pleas
n to taste. and to hang great hams
and "sides" side by side in cool,
shaded ''smoke houses" dedicated to.
them entirely, to be ''curedn by smok-
ing corn cobs in the o~ld-fashioned wav.
10 initiate proceedings sacriicial
fires are built under the great iron.
pots-standing SO innocently on their
three stunted legs in n corner of the
yard, and into these receptacles buck
ct after bucket of water is poured; big
pans, long unused, are hunted up and
knives sharpened On the slowly-turn-
ing grindstone. Then the ebon ssmas-
ter of ceremonies" old Uncle January,
his ears prudently swathed about to,
ward off the chilling blasts, an i'm
provised apron of cotton-bagging
girding his loins, provides himself
with corn and leaning over the pasture
fence calls e~ncouragingly and invit-
lngly to the u~nsuspecting swine.
They are tolled into an enclosure,
says the Philadelphia Times, and as
they crunch their corn those most con-
cerned ~leisurely discuss the relative
conditions of the animals and decide
on the chosen victims. The execu-
toner stoops and seizes the victim
nearest him by the hind-leg. His
frantic yells and struggles warn the
rest to fly, and then follows an ami
mated scene
Pandemonium reigns for a season
and then, n by one, the captsves are
dragged across the yard to the execu.
ton, followed by interested specta.
tors, and a sudden cessation of the
protesting grunts tells when the
breathing, pulsing life has become ex.
tinct, only a mass of inert flesh re-
naming. The next day all is ready
for sausage making. Colored women
hustle about, displaying an unusual
activity worthy of the occasion, get
ting in order the various vehicles for,
the process. The primitive, long
handled ''stuffer" is given a fresh bath
and fastened in place, as if with the
consciousness of its new Importance.
The ''grinder" is fixed" and hands
are set to work, separating the smooth
white ''fat" from the pink, lean meat,
and cutting the former into plump lit
tie squares, to be thrown into the great
black caldron, presently to emerge
drained of all their succulence in the
form of crisp brown .cracklings."
The scene of operations is no
longer in the open air, but in the
outer room of the meat house. The
difference in the ages of the workers
there is only equaled by the variety of
topics discussed, as the knives steadily
cut and chop, the lard kettles bubble
and splutter and the grinder and
suffer perform their destined duties.
Some one tells how cole Miss" used
to make candles and how she herself
used to mix the dyes made of walnut
and maple for all the cloth used on
their place and how every spring and
every fall Irregular" there was that
six yards of ozenburg and a dress
pattern of mixed check comm to every
oman and gal on the plantation. An
other tells how zen de old times dey
usen neber put sausage an lard and
sich-like in nuthin' tall ceptin' dem
big calabash gourd, what won't grow
no more now, and she recalls the.
facts that they always used the little
gourds to stuff with-'never had no.
new tangled doings"-and she regards
the important looking stuffer with de-
cided disapproval, as she hastens to,
rectify some mishap that has befallen
her manipulations.
So the talk goes on, until long
links of shining plump sausages are,
hanging in rows from the rafters OF
the meat room and great cans OF
fresh lard are set away to cool. All
participants in the ceremonies, having
had their fill of cracking, bread and
fresh meat, go off laden with their re-
spective shares of the chitlins and
trimmings and ''pickings' generally.
The house mistress heaves a sigh of
relief when the key of the meat room,
is brought to her after the final
"washin' up" is done and she knows
that the important event is over and
that the family and those depending
on them are we'll provided with .heir
store of winter goodies resulting from
the hog-killing.
Crispi's Insight Into Human Nature.
have known in my lifetime not a
few public men recognized az great,
but l have never known one who had
such insight into human nature, or
one who had a more inAexible rule OF
public cOndnct. In snoaEinr of h;-