The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1907-11-01
THAT prD CONTROVERSY.

AS flI1e IlHIes-l1lspdeSu Htto uiNHys
been, when rnisinforred or malicious
contemporaries have assailed the emin-
ence OF Virginia in the arts Of gastror.
oiny, we have not thought II nppro-
pirate or seemly to remuln longer
silent Kindly. yet with the ilrmness
OF conscious superiority we have SGT
them, Alright. Their flimsy rejoinders.
Of late centering about the champion
ship pie-belt Of tile world. have been
from time to time reprinted on tits
page In order that our readers, be-
guiled from tile stress OF finance,
might smile Mt the unconscious huTor
which has ever been their chief char
actertstic.
or the two such paragraphs repro.
duced here to-day. that from the
Montgomery Advertiser requires no
comment. 1t is simply n vague general
denial OF the pie supremacy OF Viz
GINA. and its signal dearth OF arsu-
ment shows too plainly that the writer
of these defiant lines was conscious.
as he penned them. that he had not a
leg to stand on. With the article from
the Norfolk virsiniar.P Pilot, 1t IS
somewhat different. This is. in sense.
a wound received in the house of our
friends: we had expected better things
OF the press OF Virginia. These com
ments. however, betray so much
bigotry and animosity, as well as
transformation, that they be safely
dismissed as OF no Importance. The
author OF them, evidently. is an en-
Filtered dyspeptic, whose interior ar.
rangements are so rudlmentery that
they cannot pleasurably receive even
the glorious, gentlemanly and all but
self-digested pies that grandly grow
along the shores Of the Potomac.
The bombnstic claims of Boston.
Nashville and Houston are OF little
more moment Every child who has
ever looked once at map knows that
Nashville Is out OF the pie zone by
hundreds OF miles. and the nrrosations
OF the American OF that city conse-
quently excite only the good-natured
ha-ha OF pity. Bostons aspirations to
the pie-pennant seem at first glance
more reasonable to the uninitiated.
But when it Is remembered that
quality, and not quantity, Is the true
criterion in .dietetic rivalry. Boston's
aspirations fall with a thud at which
the old South meeting house rocks
upon its foundations. Boston is a tow,
where pie has supplanted beefsteak as
routine and humdrum nourisher. In
Virginia, pie-eating is the treat OF
the connoisseur. In Boston 1t Is the
duty OF the proletariat Delicacy OF
taste Is long dead in that town. They
cannot tell mince from apple without
prying up the ktver.
AS for the ludicrous contentious OF
the Houston Post, the less said the
better. Not merely has the Texas pie
never been officially recognized; it has
long been Stunned as a desperate out
| With a solitary exception, no one bu
a native Texan has ever eaten on
| OF these astonishing concoctions. Thu
| exception we speak OF is no longe,
able to mako his defense. He lies a
rest in Hollywood Cemetery. Informa'
ton regarding the pies OF Texas Il
therefore meagre, particularly as thu
natives are all sworn to secrecy b.
what appears to be the pie branch Of
the Black Hand. Travellers who have
returned alive from those grizzly
parts tell us. however. that these pies
or piettes, as they are generally term
ed. are usually packed in pill-boxe!
for the local market, one dozen to
| box, and that these boxes not infre
quently explode with terrific din
| devast ating whole blocks and assassi
! mating more or less innocent by
ISLANDERS for miles.
The pies Of old Virginia need, an,
will receive, no exploitation here. The.
| have stood for centuries in class al
1 together by themselves. The magni
| icent tributes paid them by DR.. Wiley
1 President Roosevelt, Mrs. Rorer an
other famous authorities are in tn
1 textbooks. where any ono may rca
them. Pie-connoisseurs. casually pass
Ing through this State, after taking
one delighted bite. have always tele
graphed for their wives and children
and have thereafter made their home
with u.s. Even pie-amateurs from Bos
ton. Nashville. Norfolk. Montgomer
and Houston. stepping into the Rich
nond restaurants to scoh. have in
variably remained to pay.
THE grATE,S OySTTcR uE,rEy1rSr