The Neihart herald. [volume] (Neihart, Mont.) 1890-1901, 1895-12-07
WEBSTER'S POTATO TALK.
Rts OHhand Lecture to q Party of Ira
cling .C~ompaniOns,

"sS oh Hiapu 1<eCsuIe 10 u fafty. OF Ir8t-
cling Companions.
One can always spend an interest.
ing hour with that fine old gentle.
man, E. D. Grafton, the we'll known
water colorist. Sitting at his easel he
INDUCED the following personal rec
election of Daniel Webster and his
potato talk"
1t was in the year 1S49, the year
of the gold fever, that l was on a
train returning to Philadelphia from
Harrisburg, and Daniel Webster was
in the same car. Every one on board
not only felt the influence of Web
ster's overpowering personality, but
the majesty of his thoughtful look
and speech as well as that grandeur
of simplicity in the familiar ease
shown toward some plain but intel.
llgent farmers whom he was enter
tanning, while they attentively lis
tened to his agreeable talk upon the
subject of the simple and unambi-
tious potato. Others upon the train
hearing of Mr.. Wesbter's presenceo on
board, before his talk was over he
had an audience of nearly a car full
Of people. Said one of the farmers
from Lancaster: Have you noticed
how the Meshanocks and the MERGERS
are losing their foothold and becom-
ing s~hockingly bad and tasteless?
They are not dry and mealy. as they
were a few ago. I believe
they are running out" Then some
one remarked that it was almost
time for new varieties to appear.
MI. Webster at this point took a
modest hand in the talk. Apologetic-
ally excusing himself, he told his
listeners how he had worked upon
his fathers farm in his youth, and
also upon his own at Franklin, N
H., and he had had some experience
with the potato; knew something
about it, although perhaps not
enough to hurt, but he considered
himself the better from having had
some agricultural experience. Hav-
ing gained their attention, he now
launched into a pleasant little potato
history and held their interest in
the subject until the end. Mr.. Web
ster went back to the remote times
of the close of the fifteenth century,
when the potato was a scrub plant,
and the crew of the Pinta, with Co.
lumbus, had landed upon the west
ern continent and found comfort in
it as an article of food; how it was
afterward carried to Europe by the
Spaniards and cultivated, with the
tomato, merely as a garden curios-
ity; how Sir Francis Drake, Haw-
kins and Raleigh in 1923 transplant.
ed it in Ireland and England, all the
time undertaking. its merit, and
how long a while it took to awaken
within the public mind a knowledge
of its worth; how finally a confess
sion was extorted from European
high authority that the potato and
Indian corn were the two greatest
blessings America ever gave to the
world; how, notwithstanding all
this, they we're still used as food for
cattle and horses, though in a pinch
it vas thought they might help
bridge over a starving people who
had met with failure in the crop of
cereals.
Mr.. Webster related that ever in
Washington's day the Father of His
Country had proclaimed loudly
against the vile land vulgar horse
food," as he called it, known then
and now as cornmeal, and which was
not considered good enough for the
soldier. Mr.. Wesbter spoke of tho
German and French people, who
wouldn't eat either Of these articles
of food; that, when Antoine Parmen.
tier, a philanthropist, had helped on
and improved their cultivation and
urged their daily use, Johnny Cra-
paud wouldn't listen to him. Finally
the government felt the need of aid
ing this business, and the gendarmes
were placed around the potato field,
plentifully planted with them, as if
to guard a highly precious commod-
ity, and Louis XIV ordered the potato
blossom to be worn by the court la
dies. This done, the tide turned in
favor of the poor, prosecuted potato,
and under the loftier name of pomme
de terre it came out of the fire of op-
position cooked, as it is now said to
be by the French cuisine, in some
300 different ways. By this compul-
sorry recognition it now holds an
honored place upon the table, an in
dispensable adjunct. Interrupted &C.
casionally, but respectfully, however,
by some questions his hearers now
and then put to him, Nh. Webster
cheerfully continued his potato talk
for nearly an hour, and it was an ad.
mirable help to lessening the monot-
ony of the trip, I can ssh you.-
Cincinnati Times-Star.