The Profitable Sausage

1902

For the amount of meat used the sausage is the most profitable legacy of the hog. Fully fifty different kinds of this suspected article are manufactured to suit the taste of many peoples; for Italians, with a dominating measure of garlic; for Germans, hard and fatty; for Frenchmen, dry and well larded; for Americans, well spiced; and all of these several grades.

Whatever meat cannot be used otherwise is consigned to the sausage, although for no other reason than that every diminutive piece is available — ham, head and foot trimmings, and the old remnants from the butcher's block. Potato, flour, spices, and water are mixed with the meat, which has been, finely chopped by rocking-knives, and a steam-driven piston forces the mass into the casings, whereupon it becomes sausage. The casings are the intestines of the hog thoroughly scraped and washed by mechanical process.

The pig's snout does not escape — that would be a gross oversight — so it is trimmed off and sold as a pickling "delicacy" to new Americans with unpronounceable names. — The Century.

No Soda Fountain on U.P. Trains

1911

Recently a story was printed in a number of newspapers to the effect that the Union Pacific would install soda fountains on its passenger trains this summer. Gerrit Fort, Passenger Traffic Manager, has sent out the following slip to all agents denying the story:

"Dear Sir: In response to your inquiry concerning the alleged arrangement to place soda fountains on our trains:

"The story in question is absolutely without foundation, and had its origin in the fertile brain of an Omaha reporter who was short of news on the day in which the story was printed. Yours truly, Gerrit Fort."


Important Things of Life

Holiness is an infinite compassion for others. Greatness is to take the common things of life and walk truly among them. Happiness is a great love and much serving. — Olive Schreiner.


Wifely Devotion

"A man must have so much on his mind," is the belief by which a wife often supports a cheerful face under rough answers and unfeeling words. — George Elliot.


A Cracker Dainty

A friend in the Walton News tells of a visit to Wilkes county, where he was treated to a new dish, "rabbit sausage," which he declared was "simply fine." — Macon Telegraph.

Room Belongs to The Children

1921

Properly Equipped Playroom a Paradise for the Little Ones.

The most interesting feature of a New York home, according to Town and Country, is the "Do Do Room," a completely equipped playroom where the word "don't" is never heard. The idea of this juvenile paradise originated with paterfamilias, whose childhood was marred by continually hearing "Don't do this!" or "Don't break that!"

The room itself is a large sunny place, splendidly ventilated by plenty of windows, which are safely barred. One end of the hardwood floor is uncovered, while the other has a thick woolen rug, fastened down so securely that acrobatic feats or any amount or running or sliding cannot loosen it. The walls, which are deadened, so that noises cannot penetrate to other parts of the house, are covered with blue paper from which finger prints can be easily washed off. The pictures and electric lights are caged, this precaution making possible a mild game of baseball or any amount of handball or bean bag tossing.

The chairs (minus rockers) and the tables are made with rounded corners. The fear of breaking dainty bric-a-brac does not bother the little inmates of the "Do Do Room," and the built-in bookcase, where favorite books and magazines abound, has no glass doors to be kept away from, or silk curtain which must not be touched.


Twenty-One Yards of Sausage

In the rivalry to make the biggest sausage some wonderful specimens are being produced by Germans in Pennsylvania. The latest record-breaker is the work of Jacob Ackerman, of Limeport. It is 64 feet eight inches long.

Hooray, Butcherin' Hez Cum! (poetry)

1912

HOORAY, BUTCHERIN' HEZ CUM!

Murder, hear them hogs a-squealin'!
Butcherin' at last hez cum.
Oh, jist watch the folks a-hustlin'
An' the sassage grinder hum!

There the hog goes in the scald trough.
Off his bristles quickly fly.
Now they're cuttin' him to pieces
As he hangs on stretcher high.

Zip -- the sassage grinder's goin',
Hiss -- the lard's a-billin' too.
Puddin's cookin' in the kittle,
Oh, smell that hog liver stew!

Let's go run the sassage stuffer.
O you sassage ten foot long,
Slick as grease an', oh, so bully,
Spiced with garlic middlin' strong!

See the purty hams an' bacon
An' the lard as white as snow --
But, hello, they're callin' dinner!
Hurry up: we've got to go!

Fur they're havin' sassage, puddin',
Ponhos, pig tongue an pig feet,
An' the folks at the fust table
Allus git the most to eat.

C. M. BARNITZ.

—Bedford Gazette, Bedford, Pennsylvania, January 12, 1912, page 6.