Part 6 (1/2)

One special use of corn should be noted. By order of the government of Ma.s.sachusetts Bay in 1623, it was used as ballots in public voting. At annual elections of the governors' a.s.sistants in each town, a kernel of corn was deposited to signify a favorable vote upon the nominee, while a bean signified a negative vote; ”and if any free-man shall put in more than one Indian corn or bean he shall forfeit for every such offence Ten Pounds.”

The choice of a national flower or plant is much talked about to-day.

Aside from the beauty of maize when growing and its wonderful adaptability in every part for decoration, would not the n.o.ble and useful part played by Indian corn in our early history ent.i.tle it to be our first choice?

CHAPTER VII

MEAT AND DRINK

The food brought in s.h.i.+ps from Europe to the colonists was naturally limited by the imperfect methods of transportation which then existed.

Nothing like refrigerators were known; no tinned foods were even thought of; ways of packing were very crude and careless; so the kinds of provisions which would stand the long voyage on a slow sailing-vessel were very few. The settlers turned at once, as all settlers in a new land should, to the food-supplies found in the new home; of these the three most important ones were corn, fish, and game. I have told of their plenty, their value, and their use. There were many other bountiful and good foods, among them pumpkins or pompions, as they were at first called.

The pumpkin has st.u.r.dily kept its own place on the New England farm, varying in popularity and use, but always of value as easy of growth, easy of cooking, and easy to keep in a dried form. Yet the colonists did not welcome the pumpkin with eagerness, even in times of great want.

They were justly rebuked for their indifference and dislike by Johnson in his _Wonder-working Providence_, who called the pumpkin ”a fruit which the Lord fed his people with till corn and cattle increased”; and another pumpkin-lover referred to ”the times wherein old Pompion was a saint.” One colonial poet gives the golden vegetable this tribute:--

”We have pumpkins at morning and pumpkins at noon, If it were not for pumpkins we should be undone.”

I am very sure were I living on dried corn and scant sh.e.l.l-fish, as the Pilgrims were forced to do, I should have turned with delight to ”pompion-sause” as a change of diet. Stewed pumpkins and pumpkin bread were coa.r.s.e ways of using the fruit for food. Pumpkin bread--made of half Indian meal--was not very pleasing in appearance. A traveller in 1704 called it an ”awkward food.” It is eaten in Connecticut to this day. The Indians dried pumpkins and strung them for winter use, and the colonists followed the Indian custom.

In Virginia pumpkins were equally plentiful and useful. Ralph Hamor, in his _True Discourse_, says they grew in such abundance that a hundred were often observed to spring from one seed. The Virginia Indians boiled beans, peas, corn, and pumpkins together, and the colonists liked the dish. In the trying times at ”James-Citty,” the plentiful pumpkins played a great part in providing food-supplies for the starving Virginians.

Squashes were also native vegetables. The name is Indian. To show the wonderful and varied way in which the English spelt Indian names let me tell you that Roger Williams called them askutasquashes; the Puritan minister Higginson, squantersquashes; the traveller Josselyn, squontorsquashes, and the historian Wood, isquoukersquashes.

Potatoes were known to New Englanders, but were rare and when referred to were probably sweet potatoes. It was a long time before they were much liked. A farmer at Hadley, Ma.s.sachusetts, had what he thought a very large crop in 1763--it was eight bushels. It was believed by many persons that if a man ate them every day, he could not live seven years.

In the spring all that were left on hand were carefully burned, for many believed that if cattle or horses ate these potatoes they would die.

They were first called, when carried to England, Virginia potatoes; then they became much liked and grown in Ireland; then the Irish settlers in New Hamps.h.i.+re brought them back to this continent, and now they are called, very senselessly, Irish potatoes. Many persons fancied the b.a.l.l.s were what should be eaten, and said they ”did not much desire them.” A fas.h.i.+onable way of cooking them was with b.u.t.ter, sugar, and grape-juice; this was mixed with dates, lemons, and mace; seasoned with cinnamon, nutmeg, and pepper; then covered with a frosting of sugar--and you had to hunt well to find the potato among all these other things.

In the Carolinas the change in English diet was effected by the sweet potato. This root was cooked in various ways: it was roasted in the ashes, boiled, made into puddings, used as a subst.i.tute for bread, made into pancakes which a foreigner said tasted as though composed of sweet almonds; and in every way it was liked and was so plentiful that even the slaves fed upon it.

Beans were abundant, and were baked by the Indians in earthen pots just as we bake them to-day. The settlers planted peas, parsnips, turnips, and carrots, which grew and thrived. Huckleberries, blackberries, strawberries, and grapes grew wild. Apple-trees were planted at once, and grew well in New England and the Middle states. Twenty years after the Roman Catholic settlement of Maryland the fruitful orchards were conspicuously flouris.h.i.+ng.

Johnson, writing in 1634, said that all then in New England could have apple, pear, and quince tarts instead of pumpkin-pies. They made apple-slump, apple-mose, apple-crowdy, apple-tarts, mess apple-pies, and puff apple-pies. The Swedish parson, Dr. Acrelius, writing home in 1758 an account of the settlement of Delaware, said:--

”Apple-pie is used through the whole year, and when fresh apples are no longer to be had, dried ones are used. It is the evening meal of children. House-pie, in country places, is made of apples neither peeled nor freed from their cores, and its crust is not broken if a wagon wheel goes over it.”

The making of a portion of the autumn's crop of apples into dried apples, apple-sauce, and apple-b.u.t.ter for winter was preceded in many country homes by an apple-paring. The cheerful kitchen of a farmhouse was set with an array of empty pans, tubs, and baskets; of sharp knives and heaped-up barrels of apples. A circle of laughing faces completed the scene, and the barrels of apples were quickly emptied by the many skilful hands. The apples intended for drying were strung on linen thread and hung on the kitchen and attic rafters. The following day the stout crane in the open fireplace was hung with bra.s.s kettles which were filled with the pared apples, sweet and sour in proper proportions, the sour at the bottom since they required more time to cook. If quinces could be had, they were added to give flavor, and mola.s.ses, or boiled-down pungent ”apple-mola.s.ses,” was added for sweetening. As there was danger that the sauce would burn over the roaring logs, many housewives placed clean straw at the bottom of the kettle to keep the apples from the fiercest heat. Days were spent in preparing the winter's stock of apple-sauce, but when done and placed in barrels in the cellar, it was always ready for use, and when slightly frozen was a keen relish.

Apple-b.u.t.ter was made of the pared apples boiled down with cider.

Wheat did not at first ripen well, so white bread was for a time rarely eaten. Rye grew better, so bread made of ”rye-an'-injun,” which was half rye-meal, half corn-meal, was used instead. Bake-shops were so many in number in all the towns that it is evident that housewives in towns and villages did not make bread in every home as to-day, but bought it at the baker's.

At the time when America was settled, no European peoples drank water as we do to-day, for a constant beverage. The English drank ale, the Dutch beer, the French and Spanish light wines, for every-day use. Hence it seemed to the colonists a great trial and even a very dangerous experiment to drink water in the New World. They were forced to do it, however, in many cases; and to their surprise found that it agreed with them very well, and that their health improved. Governor Winthrop of Ma.s.sachusetts, who was a most sensible and thoughtful man, soon had water used as a constant drink by all in his household.

As cows increased in number and were cared for, milk of course was added to the every-day fare. Rev. Mr. Higginson wrote in 1630 that milk cost in Salem but a penny a quart; while another minister, John Cotton, said that milk and ministers were the only things cheap in New England. At that time milk cost but a penny and a quarter a quart in old England.

Milk became a very important part of the food of families in the eighteenth century. In 1728 a discussion took place in the Boston newspapers as to the expense of keeping a family ”of middling figure.”

These writers all named only bread and milk for breakfast and supper.

Ten years later a minister, calculating the expenses of his family, set down bread and milk for both breakfast and supper. Milk and hasty pudding, milk and stewed pumpkin, milk and baked apples, milk and berries, were variations. In winter, when milk was scarce, sweetened cider diluted with water was used instead. Sometimes bread was soaked with this mixture. It is said that children were usually very fond of it.