Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1916-06-17
Great Grandmoth-
er's Biscuit Party

Grandmother you said you'd tell mo
story" Beata patted great grand
mothers hand persuasively. Please'
grandmother, tell me about the ola Try
ing pan l found in the attic YESTERDAY
and-O, wait minute; let's measure IT,
WHY, grandmother. its most as big as
I the top of mothers stove, and the hanole
Is taller than you are when you're s'-
ting down."
1T certainly is huge pan" laugneG,
grandmother. when I was llttie siii
like YOU there were no stoves IN TINS
part of the country. and my Hio..ei :,
your great great grandmother-dld al,
her cooking with this frying pan Ah0
| a teakettle In big fireplace.
! '.Th'~ old frying pan was kept pretty
| busy . on was a child. ana m soiis
; to tell you how it once neipeo save TIC
material for a dress for me. r.
"The first winter after we came 10
Ohio was very cold. Our house was q
log cabin with only one room: ACROSS
, one end of the room were two BEDS cur.
tanned with sheets; at the other emo
was a big fireplace. We had no trouble
keeping warm. but sometimes we mao
very little to eat. All winter we had TOY
| bread ONLY corn meal mush or johnny
cake, and frequently very little OF that
Our neighbors were no better OF tnatl
we were. Father had little wheat tnat
he brough from the east. so, IN ' he
| spring. when the heavy snow melteo' ne
| took It to the nearest mill-flfteen miles
away-and had 1t ground.
I'm those days people shared their
good things with their neighbors. ANY
kind of bread made from white fioui
was a great luxury, so mother 1nvlteo
the nearest family to spend the evening
and eat biscuits with u.s.
| Grandmother" cried Beata. with
much concern, didn't you have any
thing to eat but biscuits?'
J Yes dear, we had bear meat roasted
before the fire and potatoes baked II
the ashes and hickory nuts and wal.
nuts in place of fruit. We thought tna'
was quite a spread. You may De sure
that it was an event for us youngsters
Biscuits were as great a treat TO US d.
candy or icre cream is to children now;
and we could hardly wait until they
were ready 1t was slow work too. fol
we had only this frying pan to BAKE
them in. A few biscuits were put into
| the pan and placed before the nre; al
! soon as they were baked, another patcf
was put in, and so on until enough were
| baked to serve the company. we Gnu
dren had to wait until the second table
and while the grown people were eat
ing. Sister Sarah baked biscuits FOR US
| I was the youngest Of the children ant
although I was very hungry, was als'
very sleep; so l quietly slipped over t.
one Of the beds, crawled behind tn
curtains and went sound asleep.
when the children's supper wa
| ready 7 was nowhere to be found. W.
had no candles then; our lights Wer'
sticks of hickory bark. Mother PICKED
up one Of these sticks and came to TN
bed--I think she knew where to NM
me. Just above the bed hung a head
or bunch of flax ready to weave TO
dresses for sister and me. Mother hell
the torch a little too high. and in an In
slant the flax was ablaze. Then tner
was plenty Of excitement. l got out o
that bed in hurry. Father grabbed tn
burning flax and threw it outdoors, an
Sarah, who had just finished the las
batch of biscuits ran out with the Try
ing pan in her hand and began to bea
the blaze with all her might. sendin
the biscuits flying in every direction.
Beata's eyes were dark with sym
pathy. TN sorry you lost those DIS
cults, grandmother"
Well" replied grandmother, 1T wa
loss. but Sarah saved the flax an
we thought we were very lucky to hav
that, even If we did lose a few biscuits