The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1896-02-19
"REMINISCENCES.

OF construction, unless, indeed, they
may have lived somewhere near wber
railroad was being built. In thii
connection, though, it would be neces'
sary to remember the difference be
tween the time now and eighty ol
more years ago, when work on The
pike was commenced. In the early
days, when the work was under full
head-way, and workmen were in de
mand, and flOcked in vast numbers, in
quest of work, it naturally followed
that someone had to keep boarding
houses for the accommodation of the
hands. Sometime after the work Wa
commenced, an old Scotch-irish WON.
an named Granny" Kinnear, came 4
this country, with her children, and
her cold man." but, as he was alway.
second fiddler to her, very little OF
nothing is known Of him, except the
mere fact that there was such person.
''Granny" Kinnear was the active
member of the eo-partnership, the
''old man" being only a silent mem
Der. The old lady, when she came to
this country, after looking about her a
little, concluded she would keep Il
clearinghouse, and the writer's
grandfather, Squire Mitchell, agreed
to let her occupy an old house stand
ing in the meadow not far from the
pike, close 10 which was spring. The
old lady, without very much previous
preparation, announced herself ready
for business, and, as the class of GUS
tom she expected was something like
herself, not very particular, regarding
either the surroundings or the accom-
modations, she soon had as many
boarders Is she could comfortably care
for.
An old farmer was once describing the
condition OF his wheat crop to a neigh
bor. He said, "my wheat is short, but
then it is thin" So, while the viands
gotten up by Granny" Kinnear, were
not very plentiful, nor of very great
variety, nor the cooking quite up to
the standard of Delmonicos, neither
We're they very clean. Things went
along swimmingly, for Il while, until,
finally Granny kinnear conceived
the idea of giving her boarders plenty
of soup, every day. So she procured a
large iron kettle, holding thirty gal
Ions or more, and hung it on a crane
in the fire place there were no cook
ing stoves then,-into which she put
all kinds of vegetables and scraps OF
meat, bones, etc, This congi0merate
mass was said TO contain potatoes, cab
bage, turnips and almost every known
vegetable and plant, besides ali kinds
of meat ever heard of, pork, beef, NUT
ton. game, chicken, goose, etc. This
kettle was never taken from the FIRE,
and rs tine soup became low, 10y evap-
Grafton and healthy appetites, some
mlre vegetables and meat were added ;
80 the kettle, like the widows cruise OF
oil, never became empty. Day after
day the soup was dished out to her
hungry countrymen, who under the
stress of environment and circumstan-
ces, made no complaint. Granny
Kinnear at this time had a puppy,
which some Of her neighbors had Civ
Ell her, of which she was very fond,
and TO whose physical and material
comforts she religiously administered.
After some time this puppy disappear
ed, and Granny" kinnear made in
quiries of all her bOarders whether
they had seen her puppy, and suppOs-
ing, possibly, il might have gone back
To the person of whom she got il, she
inquired there, but no puppy had been
seen by any body. The old lady still
dished out her soup TO the boarders,
stirring among the bones at the bot
tom Of the kettle frequently, so that a
meaty flavor might be added to the
soup, and the boarders still ate with
their wonted relish. One morning,
however, after her boarders had gone
To their work, and the ''old man" was
just starting down through the mead
Ow with his pick and shovel on his
shoulder, the old lady came running
to the door and shouted, Jamie. jam
ie, | hae just foon the wac puppy. II
was i'm the bottom of the kettle in the
soup" So the long lost puppy came
To light, if not to life, and long year.
before the modern phrase "In tn,
soup" came into general Use, the iden'
teal expression had been inadvert
emily used by this old Seoteh-Irisl
woman. After this, though, Granny
Kinner was compelled TO discard the
soup kettle, and it is reasonable to sup
pose her boarders were good while
getting the flavor of the "wae puppy
from their mouths. The old lady.
popularity As boarding-house keepel
began to wane, after this occurrence
and she was constrained to seek fol
other employment.
y large cherry tree stood, and still
stands, close TO where 'Granny" Kin
near's boarding-house stood, and Will,
she kept boarders, she was in the hab
it, both before and after the puppy in
cident, in summer weather, of setting
her table under this cherry tree. Prev
ious to the time the puppy came to it,
sad end, she cooked sleeps head
one day, with some kind of dumplings
The mess was savory enough, at leas
the men ate the dumplings, and a
much of the meat as could be cut from
the sleeps head. The old lady, how
ever, prompted doubtless, 10y spirit O
economy, still put the sleeps head OF
the table, for a couple of days. Final
ly, one morning, when the sheep:
head appeared, rs usual, young fel
low picked the head up on his fork
saying ''you are getting to be an OLE
acquaintance, and your face is alto
/ gether too familiar" carried it to tn
ravine below the spring, gave it a Wig
orous kick, which sent it spinning
down the bank, into the spring drain
The old lady had witnessed this pei
formance, and she was almost speech
less with amazement and wrath; re
covering herself she said, "De'il H.
away wild ye for a dirty spalpane tina
We are, mony's the day an We shall at
any of Granny" Kinnear's victuals,
and she summarily dismissed tn
young man. The old lady's eustor
gradually left her and she remove