|
|
MICHIGAN FOOD & BEES BY A. D. P. VAN BUREN
The first settlers may be said to have fared like the Indians for the first year or two after they pitched their tents here, and hence got their appetites and a little more; for, as the rude phrase had it, the pioneers were usually hungry enough to eat a biled Indian. " We had no cases of dyspesia—our digestion was as sound as our sleep. The dyspepsia was with the rich and dainty dishes east.
One Sabbath morning I was at home alone. The rest of the family had gone to hear Rev. Levi Vedder preach in the log school-house by Dea. Case's. Always hungry, as soon as I found myself alone I bethought me of getting something to eat. Luckily I found some flour, lard, and salt. I was delighted, and went to work to make a short-cake. I had seen my mother and sister make this cake often enough to have learned, as I thought, to make one myself. So, rolling up my sleeves, I went to work. I mixed up the flour and water awhile, then put in the "shortening" and added a little salt, and then kneaded and kneaded it with my fists till I considered it ready for the spider. But had you seen my hands! Didn't the dough
Stick—stick—stick, To fingers and knuckles and palm;
Stick—stick—stick, To palm and knuckles and fingers?
It hung in strings from my hands, and just as I rolled out my cake and put it in the spider and placed that over some live coals to have the bottom bake, I heard a rap at the door. Frightened, and with the dough stringing from my hand, I opened the door, when Uriah Herson—a settler's son—presented himself with the accustomed "good morning, " and offered me his gloved hand. I did not accept it, but rather confusedly excused myself by saying my hands were too doughy, as I had been mixing up feed for the chickens.
Michigan
Page 5
|
|
|
|
|
|