Waterbury Democrat., 1901-01-18
WHY THE MlNCE PIES WERE FAILURES
DAPA HUDGENs says that he ap'

preciates the beauties of the fall of the year about as much as the next one. It does him good, he says, to see the woods in their expiring blaze of crimson and gold, to walk through the rustling leaves, to inhaie the bracing freshness of the air, with now and then a whiff of burning brush, or to tramp through the stubble with a gun and 8 dog that knows his business, but that which he chiefly delights in is the ad- vent of mince pie.
 The mince-pie season opens in the Hudgens family about the first of De- tober, sometimes a week or two later. but never a day before; Mrs. Hudgens is infleNible on this point, one reason being that in her fine judgment the apples have to attain certain degree e of mellovnes. on the hay before they are fit to be used in the meat. Then a mince pie must be served hot; not merely warm, but so that it is necessary to raise the upper crust to allow the escape of the aromatic steam, thus agreeably tintillating the olfac- tories and exciting the salivary glands for the reception of the first norsel. Also. Mrs. Hudgens says, if she did not put time limit somewhere they would have her making nince1neat the year around; which is not i'm obable, for the children all take after their father in their fondness for this deli cacy. Buckingham Hubbard, the young man who is domesticated with the family by virtue of friendly fnan- cial arrangement and a distant rela- tionship, is the worst one of the lot. None of them could be blamed, for Mrs. Hudgen's mincemeat was some thing to wonder at and remember 1: was her speciality, and there was nott- ing in the culinary line she ever att tempted that did not impress he1. guests as a chef d'oeuvre. And it was an event in the household when she began to make her u,incemeat. Every body was anxious to help. Hudgens, who had previously selected the beef, pared the apples, which he did very neatly; Clinton stoned the raisins, fer raisins ready-stonsd were disapprovsd cf Ethelinda sliced the citron and Buckingham offered suggestions un- til driven away. Under less con- petent overseer this division of labor might have resulted disastrously, but there had been only one failure in the family annals, net counting the pres- ent season.
 That was last year. Apparently ev- erything had been done as usual, and the jars were filled and put away with a promise of pies on the Sunday follow ing The Sunday came at last, and the family gathered around the tab.e, glad and gluttonous anticipation gleasu-
 
 larly prime and juicy sirloiE of beef for dinner, with accomplishments of roasted potatoes, Brussels sprouts and Yorkshire pudding, but nobody msde any more than a pretense of eating any of these, and Mr. Hudgens' exhor- tation to the mpan yin general to save a cofner for piece of pie was received with shouts of eerisive laughter.
 MT. Hudgens got the first piece, and his face beamed as he raised the upper crust with his fork./ Cautiously he severed a small piece and put it in his mouth; then his brows grew together in a frown.
 'Pour your father glass of milk. Ethelnda; he's burned his mouth" :" said Mrs. Hudgens. who had been watching him snxiously.
 No, haven't" said Hudgens. 'I-'' He stopped and took another mouthful and his expression of pain deepened. "What is this you've got in the pie, mother? It doesn't seem right, some how"
 Ut doesn't, does it ?" remarked Buck ingham, who had tasted his.
 Tt ain't at all like the mincemeat that mother used to make" said Clin- ton. Mrs. Hudgens, tasting the pie her. self, was forced to admit it.
 A careful analysis was made. but all the component parts or rne real thing appeared to be there. Discussion fol- lowed, but for some time the something lacking was unaccounted for, until Hudgens suddenly smote the table with his palm and said: T know what's the matter. There isn't any brandy in it.''
 Not as much as usual" owned Mrs. Hudgehs. There wasn't much left in the bottle, and didn't want to wait until your father got some, but I'm cure that isn't what is the matter with. E !. beeene4 J have alwafa dis1iksd tho