The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1917-07-06
CORN DoDGER, AND SUCH LIKE

To the grandfathers and grand
mothers, yes, even to the mothers and
fathers, of millions of people in the
United States, this patent-four- and
whitehead business would have been
an affection, an absurd reaching after
luxury, a putting on of airs. Perhaps
it would be well to explain that Indian
corn, or maize, is differentiated, in
the United States, from all other ce-
reals by the simple name of corn"
| Wheat, oats, barley and rye are
known by these names, or, collective
ly, as grain" Corn meal, then, and
the things that were made from it, as
we were about to say, were good
enough for Americans of other days.
Times have changed, of course, but
it remains true that the population
west of the Alleghenies, and south of
Mason and Dixon's line, used to think
itself pretty well provided for, in the
old days, when it had corn pone, corn
mullins, or ordinary griddle-baked
corn bread.
1t was all very well, just for varie-
ty, or so as to be able to speak of it
outside, to have white flour biscuits,
or white bread, once in a while, but
regularly, no! Some times city rel
alive would come out, or the pastor
or the member of Congress would
call; then it was, perhaps, thought ad-
visable to have light biscuits, or white
bread, on the table, to show that you
could have either or both, if and
when you liked; but the guest almost
invariably, and as a matter of course
and courtesy, would say to the host
ess, "You don't mean to tell me that
| am to be deprived of the corn bread
have been looking forward to ever
since l thought of making you this
visit? Why, my dear madam, have
been dreaming of -" and the
thoughtful guest was invariably inter-
rupted with, "Here, Sukey, bring in
that pan of corn bread; l felt certain
Mr.. Blank would call for it. How any
body can get used to eating white
bread is beyond me-"
Corn bread has gone out of use in
the United States, in the last quar-
ter of century, for no other reason in
the world than because it has gone out
of style. Yet a Northerner will go
down to Atlanta, or Charleston, or
Savannah, or New Orleans, or Jack
sonville; or an fastener will go to
st. Louis, or Kansas City, or Omaha,
and beam like schoolboy with a new
ball when he finds corn pone or corn
mullins or corn bread on the hotel
menu. He might have had it in the
North, or East, just as we'll, but it
would not occur to him to look for it
at home. =
In the long ago, when scholoboys
in the United States wore belted
jackets, there was always a place,
above the belt and between the shirt
and the outer garment, for the stor-
age of nuts, crab apples, marbles,
balls, tops, strings, and corn dodgers,
"a specially designed and incrusted
bun, in the interior of which a low
ing hand would deposit just enough
butter to take away the dryness with
tout soaking through. These were
sometimes eaten, sometimes traded,
and sometimes thrown with remarka-
BILE velocity and precision, when the
teachers back was turned, across the
schoolroom. Persons in the line of the
projectile's course, and for whom they
were not intended, lodged them, a
fact that may be of value to the phil
,ologist. In time any Chunk" of corn
bread came to be known, in familiar
language, as "dodger".
But prosperity, and desire for So
cial standing, operated toward the de-