Evening star., 1938-07-17
By MIC. r.


CORRESPONDENT writes as
n follows: II note that in your
"A review Of Jesse Stuart's Be
4 \ yond Dark Hills you say that
you, too, are q hill native. I wonder If
you can tell me what are the ingredients
OF the much-talked-about pot liq-
uor'? I have heard all sorts of
answers to the question. and as near
as can make out there are as many
kinds of pot liquor as there are South
ern story tellers. have never been
South myself, but have . sort Of
hobby for running down curiosities
that appear in books, and there has
Maybe you did not read that delight
fully comic thing, The Affair Jones'
It's hero was cast into French prison
and only escaped . severe sentence by
being able to produce new dish for
the jaded Gallo palates-pot liquor.
So what is it, anyway It seems to
me that book reviewer might know
as we'll as any cook, particularly since
the cooks whom I have asked only
laugh. am beginning to suspect
that it is all a sort OF literary pre-
tense anyway"
Well, well. we'll. Fancy that, now.
So pot liquor is literary pretense.
So pot liquor is a-well, but this
day is as good one as any for doing
a piece of writing The whole mat
ter, OF course, ought by rights to be
referred to the Federal Writer'S Prof.
ect. Pot liquor into notebooks, pot
liquor into folklore. Dear old folk
lore. File 500oxK, Division 7S, Sec
ton II under Americana, under States
(Southern) mountainous, under
Liquor (Pot). But this day is as good
as any other one-so, my kind cor
respondent
PoT LIQUOR, the delicacy about
which you ask in yours of the
inst. Is fluid secreted by the we'll
known and famous breed OF animals
known as the Highland Pot These
pots were once found commonly
throughout the Northern Hemisphere;
indeed. they were reported to have
been domesticated to some degree by
the Indians before the white explor-
ers reached America. They were then,
as today, very fierce and wild and
dangerous to capture and an Indian
tribe which had number of them
considered itself we'll -to-do, and fire.
quently boasted to its enemies of its
large pot herds (not potsherds) One
true. indeed, the Potta- -Wottamies
derives its name from its great wealth
OF domesticated pots.
With the passing of time, however.
and the spread of the white mans
civilization, the number of the wild
here's decreased. and today the ami
NAL Is found only in certain fast
nesses Of the Southeastern mountains.
1t retains its fierce intractable spirit.
however, and in those sections where
1t roams pot hunt is considered the
aristocrat Of all sports.
1t may perhaps be as we'll to de-
scribe the animal before going into
detail concerning its capture and do
mestication. 1t is. then, a small crea-
ture, seldom reaching a height of over
a foot and half; it is black in color
and has three legs on which it moves
with incredible nimbleness and agil-
ity. 1t has a handle, as it is called.
which it uses in lieu of teeth in fight
ing, and small, wide-set ears of ex-
traordinary keenness. Its habitat is
the neighborhood of rocky cliffs, pref
erably dotted with small caves and
subterranean runways. 1t is gregar-
ious, seldom being found except in
small groups.
1t feeds on succulent herbs. and it is
the invariable habit OF the species
that one of group, generally the
Old bull. mounts guard over the other
members while they Craze and root
out the plants which are their favorite
foods.
THE discipline esprit de corps) of
the pot is excellent, and as soon
as the note Of warning is sounded, a
high, angry scream, the other men,
bers Of the herd scatter for cover