The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1913-01-12
GOSSIP ON SUBJECTS OF
~. INTEREST IN TWO CONTINENTS

The British need not envy their fore
fathers the lordly splendor of the boar $
head. sweet rosemary and bays around
1t spread" the gilt-beaked peacock. food
for lovers and meat for gods" or the
lavish display Of capons and pheasant
and pies of carp tongues which made
their Christmas dinner a banquet for
the gods" For the sdaintiest epicure
among them never knew the delights that
are enshrined In such a plum pudding
for instance, as George Eliot placed be-
fore Tom and Maggie in THE Mil of
the Floss" which was of the same
roundness as usual and came in with
the symbolic blue flames around il as
II II had been heroically snatched from
the neither flames by dyspeptic Puritans."
The plum porridge," which was good
enough for the squire of the eighteenth
century and which made its ignominious
appearance In a tureen as the first
course of his Christmas dinner. after all
was but a mockery Of its succulent sue
cessor of to-day; for be il confessed. il
was made from beef or mutton. boiled
with broth. and thickened with brown
bread. to which were added raisins, cur
rents. prunes. cloves, mace, and ginger
A mere recital OF the ingredients is
SUFFICIENT to make us thank our stars"
the peacock and boars head, We have
splendid compensation in the greatest of
all Yuletide deliCacies. the plum pudding.
which not only counts its millions of
devotees wherever the sun shines, but to
which all the world contributes its IN
gradients. When It's blue flames shoot
and flicker on our table it stands a proud
epitome of all the continents. Greece
and Turkey. in this season of peace. join
70 Mt MI 70
grown for 1t in Morocco. Southern
France, Spain, or Italy: the Straits set
Elements yield their tribute of nutmeg;
the ginger comes all the way from India
or West Africa: the cinnamon from Cey-
lon. and other spices from Zanzibar.
Hongkong. or the Indies.
British Guiana provide the sugar.
Queensland links hands with New Zea-
land and Argentina to supply the suet
Russia vies with Denmark and Canada
in furnishing the eggs, and so on through
the long list of tributary lands to Egypt.
which. with India and the United States,
grows the cotton for the cloth in which
the pudding is enveloped for the cooking
Then in the Yuletide pudding We have
an emblem of good will from the entire
world, which. at this season OF the
year, links the earth In bonds of kin
ship; and It is only fitting that the
emblem should be as universal as its
genesis. London is the capital of his
majesty. the plum pudding, from which
he sends his largesse to every land on
the face of the globe to be enjoyed
equally on the toTvid planes of India
and among the SHOWS of Canada. There
is one firm in London which dispatches
every year 5000 buildings TO every point
of the compass. About sixty tons go to
France, thirty to Germany, and forty TO
other European countries. More than $50
tons go to India, Australia. and Africa
These puddings vary in price from shil-
lngs pence TO guineas each, and there
are larger puddings, some of them con-
tanning articles of jewelry which cost
anything up to 10 guineas
How the good British housewife of a
century ago would have opened her eyes |
in amazement at the very suggestion that
a plum pudding could be made for shil- |
lings. In those miscalled good old days" |
she had to pay shillings a pound for
currants and more than a shilling
pound for sugar. French ''plumbs," as
they were called. cost 10 pence a pound. |
Almonds were three times their present |
price. and spices were ten times. |
while ~ shillings was asked for bottle
of French brandy, One can thus easily |
that Is shillings was consid-
cred cheap for a family pudding in the
days Of Good King George H.
And yet so high In favor stood tie
plum pudding that in the year of 1873 the
good folk Of Paignton, in Devonshire,
Toasted on one SO colossal that
1t turned the scale at 800 pounds and re-
quired three days and as'many nights to
boil In a brewers copper van. But the
Paignton pudding was mere infant
compared with that leviathan which
made glad the hearts of the small Lam
cashire village of.-Aughton some years
eariier-a pudding which counted its hun
ten villagers could lift an inch from the
That Paignton, however. was not TO
be beaten by her north country rival, she
showed In the year 1855, when. to cele-
brate the opening of her railway. she
oanqueted on pudding which weighed
! good ton and a half and cost % golden
sovereigns to make. The list of its In
gradients suggests feast OF giants,
ranging as II does from 537 pounds OF
-four and $50 pounds Of raisins to $50
quarts of milk and IA nutmegs.
1t is. however, when one comes to con-
;ider John Bulls aggregate" plum pud-
ling that we reach truly staggering. II
appetizing. figures. Picture for a mo-
nent its stupendous proportions as 1t
makes its stately progress in the wake
II a procession Of 5000 straining horses.
Or drawn by a score of painting locomo-
tives-for nothing less will sufiice to
transport its total of 5000 tons OF sue
,ulence.
Fashioned in the shape of sphere. It
would tower TO a height OF ninety feet,
md its circumference would be so capa-.
,ious that fifty soldiers with outstretchedI
lands barely could clasp hands around