The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1907-11-26
UNCLE REMUS AND TTiANKSGIN-
ING DIETETICS.

INC DIEIEIlCS.
Joel Chandler Harris recently gave
added violence of the fact that he is a
valuable national asset by some com
forting remarks on dietary subjects,
peculiarly applicable at this season of
the year, when the tradition of a good
dinner is apt to be complicated by the
new conditions of the dinners cost.
Time was when Thanksgiving day. IN
voIving no expense save that of a spe-
ciaIlv rich and ornate dinner, was the
Ieas Ct extensive Of those seasons when
happiness is to be we'll fed and duty
to feed we'll with trust in the out
come. Now the orthodox turkey, the
good old-fashioned a%djuncts, the pies
and sweeties and all the pastry trim
mfngs that go to make the luscious
feast of the last Thursday in NoVem-
Der involve an outlay that has begun
to temper the enjoyment with the
hough of the cost to middle class
cke Turkey. that even in a wild
state, has to get a running start to
fly. scars in price; pig, that used to be
a of the poor and that sa-
vorily thanked the dish in chief, has
become a luxury. Everything that goes
into the making of a dinner has gone
I'D in price. until, when they are all
combined in one dinner, the resulting
total is an alarming item to the head
of the family.
In which disconcerting reflection, we
are rescued by the talk of Uncle Re
$1,000 t,.+ ro+,r,,oI FROM, 81 oa,rca of
the best in indigestibles and cookery
that the White House could afford,
who gives as the deliberate choice of
a discriminating epicure what many
of US have been in the habit of silently
longing for the while we refrained
from expressing a preference that
might be misunderstood. There is no
misunderstanding Uncle Remus. how
ever, for when he was asked to talk
about the historical novel he replied:
Now, if you had asked me some
thing about the different brands of pot
liquor, whether that made from col
lardS has a finer flavor than that mad
from c~abbages, or whether the addi-
ton of dumplings is calculated to take
away all degrees of comparison, YOU
would have found me at home. Why,
| can sit and discourse with you by the
hour on such matters as pot liquor and
dumplings and fatty bread"
All, Uncle Remus. now you have
said it, indeed, Pot liquor and dump
lings Do yOu want a ricn Tnanksgiv-
ing, and are you poor? Does the price
of the turkey alarm you and do YOU
lack the kings ransom necessary for
h purchase of the lordly r
Here Is your receipt,-simple, and saw
DRY and luscious; greasy and black and
sustaining: juicy and favored with a
strengthening, and yet delicate and
wholly appetizing aroma a pot in
which to boil, collards or cabbage as
the fancy dictates. a lowly piece of
Baltimore meat meal dumpllngs
steaming in the brew-and snere is
produced a dish that LuculIus might
have lone into a sonnet for remem-
brance.
Mr., Harris endorsement. coming at
this time, IS but another mark of his
genius, the genius of the simple and
wholesome things. in life and in living.
We are apt to forget these real bless
ings of the simple life. to strain a point
after things that are not worth the
half of what might be had almost for
nothing, and to lose in an embittered
attainment the things which kindly
nature and humble art combine for
any mans table for the comfort of all
and the JOY of the few who are wise
enough to use them. at next to no cost
at all The age is so fast that it fire.
quently runs over the scent-even the
scent of pot liquor. the nectar on
which aforetime babies were raised
into red checked fairness: on which
children stuffed themselves and grew
happy; on which the whole family
health. How many nave forgotten pot
liquor in the rush for wealth? Who
has recently seen q meal dumnling2
Where are the old appetite. the lin
gering memory of the fragrance of
the pot finding their equivalent in the
new anatomy of the feast that breaks
US to buy. disappoints us to taste and
well nigh kills us to eat,
Uncle Remus' novels are not of the
"historical' sort. They make history.
But Uncle Remus' appetite is histor-
teal. r~eVerential, cconomical-and
pitched toward those Things which are
easily come by and that satisfy with
cut safety.