320 Singing Valleys 



friendly folks; and the woman was a good cook. She made 

 about the best buckwheat cakes I ever ate anywhere." 



While reflecting on the goodness of those distant cakes 

 Uncle Sam absentmindedly slid the entire stack from the 

 plate Missouri Frances offered onto his own plate. With his 

 knife he deftly separated the cakes, slid butter in between, 

 patted the pile tenderly to squeeze the lumps of butter until 

 it ran out at the sides, and looked about for the syrup jug. 



"Yes, I always looked forward to getting to that house and 

 the breakfast she would give us. Especially when it was winter- 

 time. Well, one morning frosty it was, I remember I hustled 

 into my clothes to get down to the kitchen where 'twould be 

 nice and warm, with breakfast getting ready and smelling 

 good, and all that. 



"Just as I pulled open the door there was the woman stand- 

 ing by the cookstove, and there was the big jug of batter where 

 it always stood to one side of the hearth. And what did she 

 do but lean down and yank a big black cat out of the jug. 

 'There, drat ye/ she said." Dramatically, Uncle Sam went 

 through the hand motions of one holding up an animal by 

 the scruff of the neck and milking the other hand down its 

 back and tail. 



" 'That's the third time you've been in that batter/ 



"Funny." Uncle Sam smiled benignly at the guest's expres- 

 sion of horror. "You know, I just didn't seem to relish any 

 buckwheats that morning. First and only morning in my life, 

 though, that I didn't." 



True johnnycakes, as they make them in Rhode Island, are 

 baked, like buckwheats, on a soapstone griddle. This lets them 

 cook more slowly than they can on a spider. And they should 

 cook for some time because the milk with which the batter 

 is made may be warm, but must not be scalding. 



To one cup of white, water-ground corn meal real Rhode 

 Islanders won't use any other kind, and usually they insist 

 that this shall come from a certain mill in their city of Ports- 



