The Washington herald., 1907-03-24

cheer often reminds the veteran BY force
| OF contrast OF the many times during the
civil war. when the plainest food had for
/ him zest that no present holiday can
| impart, says the Magazine OF History.
One Of these veterans, a Tennessee colo
mel who served with Forests cavalry,
became reminiscent the other day.
"A good dinner was as strange 20 our
camp as a $ gold piece he remarked
as he stroked his gray beard, "and I re-
member well how eager we were for per
simmon time Then It often happened
that we get good, fat 'possum out OF
one Of the trees. We'd skin him and
leave him hung up over night for the
frost to touch him just once. Next day
we'd roast him in the ashes with plenty
Of yellow yams so sugaTy that the sirup
would ooze out Of them ike resin out OF
pitch pine tree.
Talk about terrapin and canvasbaeki
Why. man alive. 'possum and 'taters is
the thing that makes you truly thank
God for the space there is within you
such sweet meat and so fat and juicy.
And when the last morsel has gone down
how calm and contented you feel, how
much at peace with all mankind!
Cows Head for Dinner.
Il reckon the best dinner We had in
our camp was one fail day in 81. when We
were hanging on the flank OF sherman's
army as it marched through Georgia.
One of our foraging parties brought Il
COW into camp and the head feH 10 my
share.
Il had my man wash and clean Il; then
I set him to digging a pit in the clay
soil about yard square. In it he bui.L
a fire and heaped it way, way up SO
/ that after il had burned for an hour and
! been cleaned out that pit was pretty near
as hot as Topfet. Then it was ready for
/ business.
I'VE put the head. skin, and all on the
bottom, with plenty OF those sugary
vans alongside. over the top we put
some oak planks We borrowed from d
neighboring farmhouse and covered them
over with earth. You can imagine how
| perfectly everything was cooked in that
( ready-made oven
Meantime. I sent out invitations to
/ Gen. Pat Cleburne OF Arkansas, Gen
/ Brown, OF Tennessee, my own State (he
/ was afterwaTd governor; Col. Moses
! Wiekes, and other army men stationed
near US. There's no need 20 say that ali
| responded, for. let me tell you. the Fed
/ erals had swept the country almost bare
and il had been short commons with
| Bragg's army for several weeks.
Banquet an Oak Grove.
| "Our table was made Of three oak
planks, held up by erotched tree branch
es; our dining-room was the scrub oak
/ grove whore We had pitched our camp.
/ with the wild birds singing and chirpins
IN the leaves; the fresh smell Of the earth
was in the air, and what more did We
want?
/ The cows head was served on a hot
/ log plank for trencheT, with the vans
/ cuddled alongside Our hunger was cur
/ sauce, our condiments were plain salt ami
/ pepper. But how it made you smack
your lips, Our mouths were watering all
/ the time We were skinning that savory.
/ smoking headpiece with our 'frOgstickers.-
/ Each man stepped up to the table and
/ cut OF a slice with the same handy
weapon, pared of the hard-baked rind OF
a yam and sat down on 2 nearby log to
chew and chat
We would shake our heads at each
other and smile in a knowing fashion. and
/ then shake our heads and smile again.
/ like schoolboys out for a frolc Take it
/ altogether, We ate yes, sir We really ate
/ with a relish and gust0 Deimonico's OF
/ Chamberlin's never saw.
I Everybody agreed that the melting
/ tongue OF that COW was the most respon-
sible eating they mad ever enjoyed
/ All that Is needed TO make this aus
/ piciOus banquet complete remarked Gen.
1 Brown, as he cut ont q second section Of
tongue. Is good big snifter of old Ken
1 tucky bourbea. But. then, as we all know.
/ there are spots on the sun. We handed
/ over the bones and what meat there was
! left to a poor widow, whose husband
/ died fighting for the Confederacy. and
whose son was also in the army / fed
/ the roasted skin TO my horse ard he ate
| 1t in double-quick time.
| Gen. sIagruder's Dinner.
This reminds me Of a favorite story
| Gen. Bankhead Magruder used TO tell
about a dinner he had while he was serv-
/ ing in the army Of Northern Virginia.
/ That army was not much more than 90
| 600 strqSg. I reckon and it had to do
some right sharp work 20 stand of three
welI-fed well-equipped Federal armies,
each OF them nearly twice as large.
/ Well. one day Magruder was out recon
Eoitering with his staff in the Shenandoah
/ Valley. and he stumbled across a likely
! looking plantation. He sent his orderly
off on the jump to present his comDli-
ments to the mistress of the mansion and
/ tell her that he and his officers were pow
erfui hungry.
Would she be kind enough to give
them some dinner? OF course. she sent
/ back word shed 90 her best Along comes
/ yellow-haired young soldier right after
that and he tells her the same thing. Il
seems he was on his way TO join his regi-
ment and was covered with dEst and
looking tired 10 death.
" My young friend. I'm doing my best
/ to get up a good dinner for Gen Magru-
der and his staff Get down and come IN
and if there is anything left after they
get through YOU shall have it, said this
hospitahle lady.
Not SO Particular Then.
The young chap was hardly out of his
/ teens and II happened that he came
/ from one of the finest families in Vir-
ginia. lie dismoGnted and went into the
house Just naturally he knew how az
fairs were conducted in the old planta-
/ tion households, and when Magruder and
/ his staff arrived he did some pretty tall
scouting around the dining room.
"As soon as dinner Was announced he
marched in at the head Of the process
sion and took seat next to MagrudeT.
| The general looked at him pretty savage
for a minute and said:
" Sir do you know with whom you are
diningY
mo. sir: / don't Before joined the
army I was mighty careful who ate a
meal of victuals with, but now I make
no distinction whatever
/ That settled it. Aagruder looked net
tied for a minute and then burst out