News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1902-06-25

Finally Hamilton, who felt that as
! commissary sergeant it was his duty
| to study up on cookery, electrified Us
one day by announcing that on the fol-
| lowing Sunday there would be a des-
sert of plum pudding. Up to that time
| about half of the men had called Ham
ilton 'stuck up" Worse still. many had
called attention to the fact that never
once in our many skirmshes and fights
had Hamilton been under fire. Brain
ard had cOmbated this story for the
honor of Summerton, but one day he.
too, learned that Hamilton had a pic
ture of my cousin May. That silenced
him. But the mention of plum pudding
caused the grumblers to recant, Mick
McTwyny going so far as to borrow
pipe of tobacco from Phil. Our gusta
tory anticipations were married only by
Hamilton's statement that the pudding
would be made entirely from army IA
tons.
where will he get the raisins? ask
ed one family man.
"And the suetP' said another.
"And the havoring" suggested a
third.
Docs the quartermaster issue pud-
ding bags" another wanted to know.
Nevertheless the pudding was an alb
solute success. The flour came from
the commissary stock; finely chopped
fat pork, well soaked, answered for
suet; dried apples, partly boiled and
then candied in boiling strip made
from sugar, took the place of raisns.
The sauce looked as if it were only
strip of sugar, some of which had been
carameled to give it special flavor and
color. There rose from the sauce, how
ever, an odor which caused Mick Nc
Twyny to utter an ecstatic "Whoor-
roow and CIoyne to ask:
us brandy an army ration. PHILIP
yes" said Hamilton-"that is tits
hospital ration, and got half pint
from the hospital steward by promis-
ing a small pudding in eXchange-for
the sick, you know" ~r-s,~-.- ~
There's just one thing | want to
ask" mum bled an eX-truct driver
through a mouthful of hot pudding.
docs the government issue pudding
bags?" .-s9- -.as"'.. ..
THE quartermaster issues cotton
drawers" Phil replied, land you'll
learn, if you choose to ask, that he
charged two new pairs to my personal
clothing account this morning. The
buildings were boiled in the legs of
them"
BE hivin," said Mick McTwyny,
with an approving shoulder slap that
nearly knocked our enterptising com
missary sergeant into the cooks fire,
1.-THE likes of yez nlver was born, and
the fust money the paymaster gives
me yez shall git that drunk wild me
that yez won't know yer mout' from a
hole in the ground"'
Thanks, sergeant" said Hamilton,
rubbing his shoulder. II assure you
that you're the first man who ever was
thoughtful enough to make me so hand
some al Offer"
But grander feast was enjoyed one
cool evening after Phil had announced
late in the afternoon that there would
be pancakes for supper and asked that
each man would take knife and fork as
well as plaJe when he went for rations |
Hamilton had found some soda and |
cream of tartar in the village He |
made the batter in half barrel, and |
his griddles were an odd collection of |
frying pans, plowshares, flattened sides |
of camp kettles the bottoms of which |
had rusted or burned through, stove |
lid and some tin plates. AS we hur-
ried to the cookhouse when the bugle |
blew supper call We saw all these irons |
on a glowing mass of Goals and the |
cook lifting large cakes from them
with a wooden turner made from a |
barrel stave while Phil himself, with |
a huge bit Of fat pork on q stick in one |
hand and q great cup in the other, was
greasing the pan and pouring more bat
ter AS the cook placed a huge cake |
and spoonful OF sugar on each plate
Hamilton said that if we would be
patient and stand around as we ate
each could get a fresh cake every two
or three minutes.
"Ahr' "Um!' "Myw "Ohr' "Gollyr
GOSH" were some of the expressions
men began their supper, some using
spoons instead of knives and forks
heard, however, was, "This
me of home" or Doesn't it re-
mind you of home" Had l ever be-
fore been asked to name our national
dish I would have hesitated between
pie and pork and beans, but since
that great evening l have believed that
in a competitive contest the pancake
would receive more votes than beans
and pie combined, besides being pre-
eminent among eatables as "the tie
that binds" "a touch of nature" and
more Of that sort of thing. AS we ate
those cakes everybody began to talk
of home. Even big Pat Callahan be-
came SO absorbed in home reminis-
cences that he forgot to curse the gov
for not giving us butter to eat
on our cakes.
Continued next week
1--WE.