The Florida agriculturist., 1907-09-25
THE STORY OF ONE FAMILY OF REFUGEES WHO
WENT TO TEXAS DURING THE WAR

By this time the day was too far
spent to travel but few miles; SO the
Brinkleys were compelled to camp
within the Federal lines that night at
an abandoned stage stand. Mrs. Brink
ley was a past master in the art OF
making cornbread, especially the
kind known as "three brothers" bread
Did you ever eat any Of the "plain'
cornbread the good old ladies Of the
Southland used to make? If you never
did, you have missed one Of the best
things in life.
"Three brothers" cornbread was one
of the simplest, most wholesome and
most delicious morsels hungry man
ever masticated. It was made Of sifted
cornmea1 and cold water-nothlng else
at ALL unless pinch Of salt was added,
as was sometimes done. This batter
was stirred to the proper consistency
and then nodded into "pOnes." The
good woman's hand being the molds:
her finger prints showed plainly upon
each pone. Three of these plump
pones filled an old-time spider or
three-legged skillet, with long han
die and an iron lid After the "three
brothers," "pones" or "johnny cakes"
as they were various1y called, were put
into the spider, this utensil was set
upon bed Of hot Goals. The lid also
received a shovelful of living Goals,
thus giving heat both below and above.
In few minutes the three brothers"
were baked to a beautiful and most
appetizing brown color. A piece OF
''three brothers. bread, hot from the
spider in the wide stone hearth Of an
o1d-fashion Southern kitchen, with an
accompaniment of fried hOme-cured
bacon, was ga dainty dish to set before
king" 1t was just as tempting and
toothsome if cooked upon a campfire,
as Mrs. Brink1ey cooked those 'three
brothers" at the old Arkansas stage
stand on the autumn night in 1868.
An army officer passing the camp Of
the Brinkley's observed the culinary
operations in progress. The delicious
odors from the good woman's spider
and frying pan carried his mind back
to his own home for his wife, too, was
an expert at making "three-b brothers"
Johnny cakes Almost tearful1y he
begged Mrs. Brink1ey for a piece Of
her cornbread She gave him a whole
pOne Full of emotion, the bluecOat
exclaimed:
"GOd bless you, madam! God bless
those dear finger prints upon this
bread! If I could be at my old Ken
tucky home tonight, my wife would
bake a spider full of three brothers
for me. They, too, would have the
same kind of dear finger prints upon
them as this has. and would smell and
taste just like this"
So de1ighted was the officer with
Mrs. Brink1ey's 'three brothers" that
he begged her to cook up lot for him,
he to furnish the cOrnmeal and to pay
her for the cooking Accordingly
sack of meal was brought and Mrs.
Rrink1ev went to work on it. The
of fence rails for fuel and keep I'D the
fire. Seated upon a small box she
mixed and baked three brothers" TN
til nearly midnight. When her "army
contract as she jesting1y styled it,
was finished, the officer paid her five
silver dollars. AS the pones were
turned out of the hot spider he had put
them into a -four sack When the sack
was full he gave Mrs, Brink1ey the un-
used meal and departed for his tent,
the happiest man, apparently in the
whole State of Arkansas.
That -four sack full of ''three broth
ers" must have had most benign eff
ect upon the entire mess, for before the
Brinkleys struck camp the next morn
ing one officer presented Mr.. Brink1ey
with good military overcoat, while