HOME SUPPLIES. 199 



bit of meat finds its way to the table of the wealthy epi- 

 cure than a nicely roasted 'possum. There is a prejudice 

 abroad against it, and that prejudice is totally unfounded, 

 and, where the Florida settler can capture and use to the 

 benefit of his larder an opossum, Ave advise him not to 

 throw away valuable food for no reason at all. A roasted 

 opossum and a young, savory roasted pig could not be 

 told one from the other, by the taste at least. We know, 

 because once we overcame our own prejudice on this sub- 

 ject and did taste of the despised 'possum ; we had helped 

 to relegate that 'possum to the shades of the past, and we 

 desired to assist at a decent burial also ; if w^e had not seen 

 that our meat was cut from a 'possum, we should have said 

 it was a roast pig. 



Every body knows that the opossums love chickens and 

 eggs, and this is their most heinous crime ; though why w^e 

 should blame a dumb beast for what we account no sin in 

 ourselves is one of the inconsistencies of human nature. 

 We too like chickens and eggs, and eat them whenever we 

 can get them, yet in ourselves we find no sin. But then, 

 perhaps it is not in the liking or the eating, but in the 

 getting, and the manner thereof, that the sin lies ; and in 

 this view the 'possum does certainly deserve some moral 

 lectures, for there is no worse chicken and egg thief to be 

 found, except it may be that popular perfumer, the skunk ; 

 and for obvious reasons we prefer to have an opossum on 

 the premises, if we must have either. It needs but a very 

 little hole, or narrow slit, to be left in the hen-house for 

 the opossum to obtain entrance to the coveted preserves, 

 and then woe to the eggs in the nests under the setting 

 hens, and woe to the chickens themselves. But, smart as 

 the 'possum is, he gets sadly "taken in and done for" 

 sometimes, as was the sad fate of the opossum we have 

 referred to above. 



