The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1909-02-27

Have YOU ever wandered through
any of the German towns and seen
ont side of some dingy little shops a
swinging sign with the picture or a
horse on it and the legend "Hler list
Rossf1eisch Zu haben?'
WHY horse should be cheaper
dish than a COW, and he is certainty
very much cheaper, Is something Oh
a mystery when one thinks OF MS
cost as a locomotive. And the Ger
man hausfrau insists that good,
young horses as often end their ca
reers prematurely in sausages as old
and weather stained nags. And not
only in sausages.
1t often happens-perhaps one can
safely say it invariably happens
that the woman who stands behind
the counter in one of these stores IS
a we'll established hausfrau herself
and has intimate domestic acquaint-
ance with the choice cuts OF horse
that she sells.
1t was in front of little shop in
Wilhelm Platz in koenigsDerg, way
up northeast, near Russia, that an
american on his way down the crook
ed street from the old schloss recent
ly noticed this same horse sign just
below him-rfor the street is so steep
that what Is below you one minute
is above YOU the next. Overcome
at last by what he considered NOR
bid curiosity, though the word is I'M
pleasant to use in connection with
what one eats, he ventured into the
shop. He had seen the sign all over
Germany, and since so many people
ate horse American tolerance sug-
gested that perhaps horse was good.
The usual German woman with the
familiar German generosity of out
line came out from her bedroom be-
hind the shop and looked expectant-
ly at him. Around the store, on the
racks, hung launches, ribs, legs and
sides of dark red meat, while wooden
dishes of finely chopped hamburger
horse lay on the counters.
will you kindly tell me how
much horse is a pound?" asked the
intruder, trying not to breathe. I'm
fortunately for his efforts to sympa-
thize with horse dinners, the place
smelt like morgue.
Twenty pfennig," she answered.
A rapid passage at mental arith-
metic brought the amount to five
cents American. And, say the horse
weighs eight hundred pounds, he
would bring less than $40 as dish!
Who could buy him for that to ride
on in the park? Relying on the Ger
man good nature and remembering
that everyone about him seemed to
have plenty of time, he explained
he knew something about how horses
were eaten.
Never Eaten a Horse!
81 have never eaten one," he re-
marked with a deprecating smile.
How long since you are in Ger
many?" she asked stolidly.
"Oh, about year." he smiled.
'Theu perhaps often you have eat
en- one" she treasured him.
AS he looked at the blackening
meat and smelt the perfume of the
horse, he shuddered.
How" he asked, quietly.
"There are many sausages," she
responded. But if you have been
only to good restaurants you have
not got them. And if you keep house
you must know when you buy horse
meat because outside the store al
ways must be the sign about it. 1t
is required"
The horse is naturally not an un-
appetizing beast, and the shops in
Berlin where you can buy a pound
of him to take home in paper bag
are quite exquisite. And there are
other aspects of this question of horse
meat in Germany. That it is killed
under government supervision and
at the immaculate abattoirs outside
the city limits, and that it is good
fresh horse-all this is much to its
advantage as healthful eating. In
some of the stores, like the little one
in Koenigsberg, perhaps they keep
him too long; but that is not really
his fault. 1t even happens with COWS
sometimes.
And very truly it should be as
tasty dish as any other of what
Bernard Shaw calls 1.-THE dead an
lmals which we serve at our civilized
tables"
There Is a certain amount of dig
nifty acquired by cooked horse which.
for instance. "hot dog" has not at
tanned to in America. 1t is just pos
sible in this connection that the Ger
mans would take moro soriopalv on6