Oldfield: A Kentucky Tale of the Last CenturyBanks, Nancy Huston
General
Oldfield: A Kentucky Tale of the Last Century
Banks, Nancy Huston
Kentucky -- Fiction
"Delicate slices of the thinnest, pinkest cold tongue will be the only
meat necessary. Anything more would be less genteel, and I am almost
certain that Mr. Pettus would exchange the half of a beef's tongue for
the other head of early york. Don't you remember, sister Sophia, how
much he liked the other two--the ones he took in exchange for the
sugar?" Miss Judy chirruped on, with growing enthusiasm. "And Merica
could make some of her light rolls, and shape a little pat of butter
like a water-lily, and put it in the smallest tin bucket with the tight
top and let it down in the well by a string, till it got to be real cool
and firm. For dessert we've the tiny jar of pear preserves which we've
been saving so long. Nothing could be more delicate than they are, clear
as amber, with the little rose-geranium leaf at the bottom of the jar,
giving both flavor and perfume, till you can't tell whether it looks
prettiest, tastes nicest, or smells sweetest."
Miss Judy's flax-flower eyes, bright with delightful excitement, were
fixed on Miss Sophia's face, without seeing, as grosser eyes would have
seen, that Miss Sophia's mouth actually watered. There was a momentary
silence; and then an uneasy thought suddenly clouded Miss Judy's
beaming, blushing countenance.
"I had forgotten about that new-fashioned dish. Of course we must have
some of those delicately fried potatoes, some like we had at old lady
Gordon's supper; they are cut very, very thin and browned till they are
crisp and beautiful--dry and rustling, as the golden leaves of the fall.
Yes, I am afraid the tea will not be really complete, will not be quite
up to the latest fashion, unless we have a little dish of those. And we
haven't any potatoes, except the handful of peach-blows that we have
saved for planting." She sighed in perplexity, looking at her sister.
"Just so, sister Judy," responded Miss Sophia, more promptly and more
firmly, if possible, than she had yet spoken.
Miss Judy sat for a moment in dejected silence, turning the matter over
in her mind. Miss Sophia rocked heavily, the sleepy creak of her low
chair mingling pleasantly with the contented murmur of the bees in the
honeysuckle.
"Oh!" exclaimed Miss Judy, her face illuminated by a bright inspiration.
"How dull of me not to think of it before. _Now_ I see how we can eat
the peach-blows and plant them too! We have only to pare them very thin,
being very, very careful to leave all the eyes in the peel. Then we can
plant the peel and fry the inside."
"But they won't grow," protested poor Miss Sophia, almost groaning and
quite desperate, foreseeing the long winter fast which must follow this
short summer feast.
"Oh, but they'll have to, if we plant them in the dark of the moon,"
said Miss Judy, with unabated enthusiasm.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account