Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1897-07-08
a Georgia Ham.


Some months ago If you'll be so good
as to refresh your memory, word came
to town that Mr.. A. Il. Handley, OF
Troup county, was preparing to make
bacon OF some enormous hogs that ne
had raised. We gave the weight of these
Georgia-raised hogs at the time, and the
| aggregate was astonishing.
But no matter about the figures. When
word came that Mr.. Handley was pre-
pairing to have a hog-killing at his
house the bare announcement sent the
mind back TO the times before the war,
when a hog-killing was one of the an
nual festivities of the plantation. We
| fell to musing over the matter, and I'm
| this mood, petitioned Mr.. Handley TO re-
| new i'm his hog-killing as nearly as posi-
| BILE the good old fashion-the half-buried
| hogshead the hot rocks-and to give the
youngsters of his neighborhood taste
Of the festival enjoyments Of their for
bears. such as the blowing of bladders,
the broiling Of melts. and the roasting OF
pig-tails with a big dish Of haslet hash
for all hands at supper time. Cfhe die
tionary spells ii "harslet," but hang the
dictionary
These aforesaid musings with the pc
tition thereto attached, fell into the
hands of Mr. Handley, and forthwith ne
wrote TO say that the old-time pro-
cramme would be carried out TO the let
ter-that the youngsters should all have
a holiday, and that In making the pork
into bacon he would employ only the
simple formula which the wisdom of gem
erations has handed down 10 US as the
most perfect-a sufiiciency of salt and
a smother fire of hickory chips to Inn
part to the meat the indescribable flavor
that is a stranger to the bacon of COM
merce.
We are now in a position to say that
Mr.. Handley carried out the formulas OF
his forbears to the letter. He proved II
by means Of a ham weighing twenty-five
or thirty pounds-a genuine Georgia ham
without a flaw sweet to the bone, and
with no weak spot" in IT; a hickory
ham. firm and yet tender. and with a
flavor that carried the mind back to the
old days. the old people, and the old
plantation.
Ii so happened that the house TO which
this Georgia ham went is not particularly
hospitable to what might be termed the
modern negro cooks. Chloe Henderson
does about" i'm the kitchen, and Chloe
takes a good photograph Of herself. when
she declares that she don't like de new
kind er niggers." but she is sorry for
them. and. that feeling keeps her in a
good humor. Now, Chloe was on hand
when this Georgia ham arrived. Nobody
knew what was in the bundle except
Chloe. II don't halter look at dat ter
know what il is" she cried. II done got
a Whit un il. an it's meat-an' faint no
town meat needer" She was overjoyed,
when her wisdom or instinct was JUSTIFIED.
and exclaimed: "Dat ar ham smell des-
like home ter me-"
nj no Ub no
odor Of the Georgia ham rose from the
range and found it's way through the
han. there was some subtle suggestion
of its SAVIOR that bore the mind far back
to the old days-yes and TO the Old
nights-when youth and hope adjusted
themselves TO sights and scenes and ex-
periences that are never TO have repe-
tition I'm this world.
And so it was that this Georgia ham,
In its essence, became food for the mem
DRY. With its aroma stealing through
the house, Il was only necessary to close
the eyes TO be transported. bodily, as IL
seemed. TO the old plantation; TO see IL
as il then was; to witness its peaceful
beauty by day and 10 hear its various
voices by night-the sound OF music
laughing. singing. and dancing-the piano
i'm the parlor and the fiddle going
in the cabins-to see the flashing
torches; to hear the random baying of a
hound and the p-thump-shuffie Of
nimble feet: or in The gray morning.
TO hear the boisterous catching and har-
Messing of mules and horses, and then
to see a long procession of black riders
filing out through the double gates to the
fields a mile away. and then 20 see the
same procession come filing In. crossing
the rosy sunset, as il were, with voices
lifted up in melodies that all the apti-
tude and skill OF art have never been
able 10 produce.
So much for one Georgia ham