MEMORIES OF THE 



something I never wished to see, and avoided it if possible. It 

 was bloody, wet work, and the very worst and meanest job 

 about the farm. I was very little help and never had anything 

 to do with the killing, although I sometimes assisted after the 

 poor thing was dead. 



Hog butchering was winter work, which required changing 

 work or hiring extra help. It was hard, heavy labor to scald 

 and hang up big, fat hogs with the rude appliances which the 

 average farmer had. When butchering day came, a fire was 

 made in the arch under the big kettle long before daylight, so 

 as to have the scalding-water hot. An old sled was brought 

 up and put in position near the cooper-shop, which was not 

 a great way northeast from the hog-pen. At its hind end a 

 big potash or cauldron kettle was sunk into the ground and 

 filled with hot water for the scalding, the sled making a table 

 upon which the hogs could be dressed. 



They were brought out of the pen, killed and scalded, and 

 the bristles taken off with knives and old iron candlesticks 

 for scrapers, disemboweled, washed out and hung up on poles 

 which were stood up against the cooper-shop. The entrails 

 were taken in large wooden bowls and gone over and " riddled " 

 — that is, the fat was taken from the intestines and tried out by 

 itself, as that kind of lard was inferior. 



Sometimes the pork was sold by the carcass, but if not bringing 

 a satisfactory price it was cut up, salted and packed in barrels, 

 the hams and shoulders being smoked for home use or for sale. 



Father always took great pride in having a good bunch of 

 hogs each year and in making them into nice pork, and some- 

 times would have eight or ten to sell or pack that would weigh 

 from three to five hundred pounds each. The meat brought a 

 good price and was an important part of the income of the farm. 



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