1895. 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



105 



PREPARING A SWEDISH DELICACY. 



•'Yon Yonson" Kocge Describes the Process 

 In "Iiittle Scandinavia." 



"In 'L'ttle Scauc'.I :..>ia, ' which in- 

 cludes two or tlireo of the counties in 

 northern Wisconsiu, where the Swedes. 

 Norwegians and Danes have settled in 

 great unniber;-, " f-ays Gus Heege, the 

 impersonator of Yon Yonson and the 

 •riginator of Swedish dialect comedy 

 on the sta.t^e, "butchering weeli each 

 fall is one of the busiest and merriest 

 times of the whole year. The entire 

 family — mother, father and children — 

 have a hand in the work, and they are 

 frequently assisted by the nearest neigh- 

 bors, who sometinies come three or four 

 miles across the hills. 



"But(ilK:ri'ig with the Scandinavians 

 jneans the saving and utilization of ev- 

 ery part of the beef or hog of the smallest 

 value. Even the blood is preserved, and 

 it appears later in the winter, when the 

 thermometer is down below zero and 

 supplies are short, in tho form of blood 

 pudding or blood cake, both of which are 

 very nouri.^hing as well as toothsome 

 dishes. The preparation of these com- 

 pounds is entirely the work of the wom- 

 en and the smaller children. As soon as 

 the men are ready to begin the work of 

 killing, mother comes out with her 

 hands full of pans and pails, and the 

 boys and girJs follow with little wisps 

 of brooms or twigs bound up in neat 

 bundles. The blood of the animal is 

 caught in the pans, and the children are 

 soon at work stirring it with the twigs 

 in order to keep the fibrin from collect- 

 ing in clots Many a little arm grows 

 weary before the mother says the blond 

 has been sufficiently stirred, and the 

 pans are borne into the house. 



"Here a quantity of ryemeal is add- 

 ed, and the stirring is resumed until 

 the m;issis thoroughly mixed and of tho 

 consistency of dough. Salt, pepper and 

 eage are sprinkled over tho combination, 

 and it is set aside to freeze. In cooking 

 it the cake is sliced up and fried on a 

 hot griddle with ham or pork. In tai-te 

 it resembles sausage, but the flavor is 

 much finer. Sometimes pieces of scrap- 

 meat are mixed in with the blood, and 

 the combination is then called blood 

 sausage. When enough meal has been 

 added, the pudding can be dried until it 

 becomes as hard as stone, and in that 



lorm It will keep in good condition for 

 an almost unlimited time. 



"Blood cake and blood sausage may 

 be bought at almost any Swedish meat 

 market, and its consumption has in- 

 creased to such an extent that some of 

 the packing houses make it as a staple 

 article." — New York Times. 



FALSE DIALECT. 



Oar Negro Stories Are Declared to Be All 

 Wrong. 



The flood of negro talk that has dis- 

 colored our recent literature is not a dia- 

 lect. It consists chiefly of the vulgarism, 

 the niisiironunciation and misuse of 

 words that come of a lack of education 

 and polite association. Hardly any of it 

 is even provincialism, and still less is 

 the survival of old forms and usages. 

 Nor is it due in any appreciable degree 

 to locality. In fact, it ari.ses from con- 

 dition almost wholly and is merely the 

 lingo of our lowest classes, with small 

 distinction on account of race and color. 



-It is kitclien talk, as distinguished 

 from that of the parlor, and, although it 

 may occasionally offer us a word or 

 phrase having some philological or his- 

 torical interest, it does not approach the 

 dignity of a dialect. The bad grammar 

 of illiterate ignorance, without rule or 

 art, it even lacks the consistency in er- 

 ror with which some of our writers seek 

 to invest it, for it recognizes no prece- 

 dent and follows no analogy. 



And yet tho real lingo is not half so 

 bad as it is represented in print, where 

 it is sought to set it before us phonet- 

 ically. It is obvious that the ordinary 

 speech of any of our white communities 

 would look very much like a jargon if 

 subjected to tho same phonetic proeess. 

 In our common conversation very few 

 of us are x)urists, and a precision is gen- 

 erally regarded as affected and preten- 

 tious. — William C. Elam in Lippiu- 

 cott's. 



The Life of a Slioe. 



According to an intelligent and ob- 

 servant member of the trade, the aver- 

 age purchaser of footwear counts the 

 life of a shoe by the number of times it 

 requires resoling and heeling. If a shoe 

 is resoled and heeled twice, the wearer 

 thinks it is a better shoe than tho one 

 which, though giving longer wear, will 



