Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1900-03-16
STRANGE EATING CUSTOMS.
Long and short sweetcninE as an
Adlunct 60 Coffec.

Long and short Swecfcnint. a. an
Adjunct GO CoGcee.
Talk about strange eating customs
In strange lands" said Promoter PIN
ley, IN bet a hat L can pick up as
many uncanny table habits between
here and the Mississippi river as you
can find in China and the Malay archi-
pelago put together. When say that.
I'm not thinking of naked, grasshopper
eating Digger Indians, IL there are any
Digger Indians east of the Mississippi.
but OF respectable. God fearing partici-
pants in what's called our glorious
American civilization.
Last month. for instance. I had n
deal on that took me TO southern Ten
nessee to look nj some land, and Mrs.
Pimlcy went with me for the sake OF
the trip. The man who owned the land
turned out 10 be woman, n widow.
who besides the 1900 acres L was look
ing ut was reputed TO own some 10000
more and to be worth i'm the neighbor-
hood of 100000 But she wasn't n
proud woman. We stopped at her
house the first night we were i'm the
town. 1t was two story farmhouse
that hadn't been painted for hun
dred years. and what furniture there
was in it had come over at some period
between the May6ower and the Santa
Maria and wasn't worth its transporta-
ton at that. We removed the traces of
travel from our faces and HANDS with
the aid of n tin basin and soft soap out
behind the house, but we didn't stop TO
find fault with our toilet accommoda-
tons with supper ahead of us. We
hadn't seen dining car since break
fast and were as hungry as wolves.
THE widow had evidently laid her
self out on that supper. She'd got some
fresh beef, which we knew was n
rarity in those parts. 1t was n steak,
and she'd fried it. Did you ever taste
fried steak? Don't. And there were
saleratus biscuits as/big as grape fruit
and as yellow and boiled potatoes and
plate in the middle OF the table con.
tanning what we decided was cake.
This last and ourselves divided the
awed attention of the eight children at
the table. 1t was the coffee, however.
that was our downfall.
Miss Pimley, d'you take long or
short sweetening in your coffeeP our
hostess inquired as she was about to
fill my wife's cup.
NOW two marked characteristics of
Mrs. Pimley are a disinclinatiop To
haunt her ignorance and a fondness for
plenty Of sugar in her coffee. She con-
sidercd for a moment and said:
Long sweetenlng, If you please s
thougn shed been accustomed to the
expression from her earliest youth.
Our hostess took down q sticky
looking jug from an adjoining shelf
and poured n quantity Of very black
molasses into the steaming cup. There
were several flies In the moIasses and
two or three other insects whose iden-
uty could not be determined, and when
they rose to the surface she carefully
SKINNED them of with a spoon.
didn't wait to be asked. IL long
sweetening' meant molasses, short
sweetening' might mean plain sugar
or 1t might mean no sweetening at ~
looked ut Mrs. FINLEY, who was Civ
ing correct Imitation of Lots wife.
Perhaps also she was waiting for more
Insects 10 come up.
Short sweetening for me, IL you'll
be so kind said. smiling delightfully.
Our complaisant hostess rose from
the table and set the molasscs lug back
on the shelf. Then she took down n
large cake OF maple sugar, bit OFF a
lump and dropped 1t in my cup OF cof-
fee.
somehow both Mrs. Pimley and my
self entirely forgot our coffee until II
was too cold 20 drink, aud we declined
TO think of putting our hostess 10 the
trouble OF refilling our cups. And for
breakfast we drank milk. And during
the rest Of our short stay in Tennessee
we stuck to diet Of fresh eggs ut the
local hoteL"-New York Sun.