Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1898-02-04
IN THE PIE BELT.
The Fame that is Coming to
Bellows Falls.
Pie In Fact, In Bellows Fails and In
LIterature"--A Special reference TO
the Fried Pie.
From the Rutland Herald !

the Fried Pie.
From the Rutland Herald
The Herald has letter written by the
proprietor of the depot restaurant at Bel
lows Falls concerning remark about pie
recently made by this paper. The letter
is an inquiry as to the authorship of the
remark. 81 think" says the restaurant
| proprietor, that it is a fellow turned off
a few days ago." Here is what the Herald
said:-
New York had pie eating contest In 10
| rounds the other day and the metropolitan news.
| papers reported II at great length. Up mere i'm
| V rmont We have such ,ntests continually but
no newspaper ever thought them worth report.
| ing The contests are with grim death At the
depot restaurant in Bellows Falls, for instance.
there always on tap five kinds Of PIE and fried
| pie, aud he who eats and lives Is the cham.
| piOn until another eater comes"
Now, although it is against the rule of
newspaper offices to give the names of
writer's Of articles that appear in its col
umns, we can yet relieve the restaurant
mans anxiety in one respect; It was not
any man recently "turned off" by him who
wrote those sentences about pie. In fact
no graduate of the Bellows Falls pie foun-
dry has been employed by the Herald as
editorial writer at all. SO much for that.
But we are led TO fear that the restau.
rant keeper fails to fully appreciate the
literary side Of the pie, and especially some
things written in which he might be sup
posed to take a general interest. 1t was
Charles Dudley Warner who said that Bel
lows Falls was the boundary line of the
| great "pie belt and nobody who ever saw
the depot restaurant need be told where he
| got the idea. And great multitude of
travellers must have come within range of
| ,,ia fret MI Ia n
corners and goers who find their way into
that depot! T. w. Higginson once said in
a lecture that the aver age pie of the Amer
lean railway station was something very
white and indigestible at the top and very
moist and indigestible at the bottom,
with untold horrors in the middle" He
declares that this remark has been printed
more times than anything else he ever said
or wrote. Now, We don't know whether
Brer Higginson ever has met the Bellows
Falls pie or not, but il he has he could not
fairly include ii among his average pies"
Ii would be llbelous TO say that the Bellows
Falls pie could not be digested. We know
better Why, the eating and dgesling
have actually been done, II anybody
doubts ii the Herald will undertake to
pIove an instance.
But to find pie fairly treated let US turn
! from Col. Iligginson to O. W. Holmes.
| The little Boston doctor was full OF hard
sense without dyspepsia. This is what he
wrote:
Pie when can get it; that is. Of the genuine
| sort, FOR am not patriotic enough to think very
! highly OF the article named after the father OF
! his country who Was first IN war. first in peace
not first IN pie &C ding TO my standard
There Is very oud pre- judcr against pie as an
article II diet 1t is common 10 hear every b d
! ily drs"n-rAcy an iudrmty attributed to this
! particular favorlte food | Sc no rea,on or sens,
! Ia 1t. Nj Emerson believed IN pie. and al
! most indignant when fellow traveller refused
| the slice he offered him. Why MIR Blank said
| he what is PIE made fors' II every Green Noun
! tam hoy has rot eaten thousand times his
! weight IN appe, pumpkin, squash and mince pie
call me dumping.'
There speaks the man with true feeling
for pie, He hates the monstrosity called
"WAshington pie like true believer.
/ And he knows where boys live who eat
! pie, and mighty good pie. What he says
| goes far toward raising pie TO its true dig
/ nifty.
! But if pie of the typical, conventional
kind-the thing called simply "pie" and
/ nothing more-s left entirely out of the
/ question the Bellows Falls depot restau-
rant has truly substantial basis for endur-
! ing fame in its fried pies alone. Who that
/ has journeyed in this region does not
know them? For style, workmanship aud
! durability they may be safely matched
with anything in the fried-pie line to be
! found in this or any other country. When
| the conductors cry Of "All aboard" is
| heard that procession Of determined. look
! ing men marching toward the cars, each
/ with fried pie under his arm and DIRE in
| his eye, is indeed an impressive sight.
| And no man who engages with one of
/ these self-cocking, freproof, patent-lever
! fried pies, with extra half sole and pneu-
matte tire, ever forgets it. The thing sure
ly makes dent on his memory.
1t is not always given to men to know
their own greatest achievements. The
Bellows Falls restaurant keeper is building
a pie reputation mightier than he knows.