The Washington times., 1922-10-01
EASTERN SH0REIS
IL N N Ed BY
MISS KERR
.''One Thing Is Certain" Faith
fui Portrait of Men and Man
ners the Other Side Chesa-
peake Bay.
By AMES KENDRICK.

- Chesapeake bay, known
- hereabouts as the Eastern
Shore, is the scene of Sophie
Kerr's very good novel which
bears the exceptionally unin-
formative title "One Thing Is
Certain" Doran). Miss Kerr, we
understand is a native Of the
region. and her work is rich in the
picturesque phraseology current
in those parts. And certainly
none but a native could have
given us the description Of Louel-
lens wedding dinner. which. as
Miss Kerr remarks. "in those days
was a dinner, and not plateful Of
salad and sandwiches with a cup Of
fruit punch and a lady finger
passed by a man hired from the
caterer"
Though we are a native OF
Maryland, we have never been
given overmuch to Dragging about
It except in this matter Of cookery.
30 we are going to set down a de-
soription Of Louellen's wedding
spread as an example Of what we
Marylanders are accustomed to In
the way Of food:
Fruit cakes. made six weeks
ahead Of time. to mellow and ripen
in big stone crock. a rosy apple
or two keeping them company and
aiding in the process. From time
to time a small glass Of brandy
was poured In on their rich dark.
ness. The fruit cake, though i'm
portant, was but the the beginning
- There must be pound cakes,
with white almond icing half an
inch thick, a crisp shell of flavor
Gus sweetness - Four great
Charlotte Polonaises, most tedious
and delicate to bring to perfection.
There must be iellies, syliabubs,
frozen custard. And these were
mere kickshaws and comfits. The
real stability of the dinner would
be it's oyster soup. its hickory
smoked hams that had been
scrubbed and boiled and skinned
and finally baked with a constant
basting of sweet wine until
their clove-patterned, knife-scored
surfaces were all one spicy delight.
There must be young turkeys
stuffed with chestnuts. garlanded
with rings of tiny sausages; there
must be chicken pies with crust
light as a feather; there must be
nodded cranberries. sweet picked
peaches, mustard pickle all yellow
with turmeric; sweet potatoes
glazed with maple sugar and laced
with cider; white potatoes beaten
to a fluff with cream and butter;
squash, and creamed onions; there
must be pies-mince. pumpkin. GUS
tard, apple-and dozens of beaten
biscuit, loaves of white bread"
With the food, however, romance
ends. We can find nothing to say
In extenuation of the characters
OF Miss Kerr's book. They are
only too true. Miss Kerr describes
the characteristics of the people
with remarkable clarity in the fol-
lowing passage:
There were two distinct ele-
ments, present from the first set.
tlement. in which division was
made roughly along religious lines.
THE Catholics and Episcopal.
ians still clung to traditions OF the
old cavalier aristocracy of pala.
tinate days. traditions that had
their keynote in lavishness-lavish
living, lavish spending. lavish hos.
pitality-delegated authority and
responsibility in cultlvating their
fertile holdings, and more or less
Of disinclination to hard manual
labor. The civil war put definite
end to this sort Of existence. but
the type persisted, having I real
vitality. But from the very first
Of Maryland history there had
been another ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
with a powerful flavoring of Puri.
tan. These were mostly small
farmers who would not hold slaves,
deeming II a matter of conscience
not to do so.
I'm the decade and a half that
had passed since the civil war the
aristocratic element had wansd,
the Puritan had been stabilized ana
strengthened"
Mart Bladen and John Henry
Hyde are the embodiments OF the
two pioneer stocks. Mart, finc,
outstanding young man, was given
to hard riding and drinking; he
and his kind found their recreation
in the tournaments" which are
still features of the region. John
Henry took his pleasures more
seriously. He was at his best in
camp meeting, where he ana his
fellow worshipers of dismal
theology wallowed in an ecstasy