CHAPTER IX 



THE PECULIAR 'POSSUM 



IF you are a New Englander, or a Northwest- 

 erner, then, probably, you have never pulled a 

 'possum out of his hollow stump or from under 

 some old rail-pile, as I have done, many a time, down 

 in southern New Jersey. And so, probably, you 

 have never made the acquaintance of the most 

 peculiar creature in our American woods. 



Even roast 'possum is peculiar. Up to the time 

 you taste roast 'possum you quite agree with Charles 

 Lamb that roast pig is peculiarly the most delicious 

 delicacy "in the whole modus edibilis" in other 

 words, bill of fare. But once you eat roast 'possum, 

 you will go all over Lamb's tasty " Dissertation upon 

 Roast Pig/' marking out "pig" with your pencil 

 and writing in " 'possum," making the essay read 

 thus : 



" There is no flavor comparable, I will contend, 

 to that of the crisp, tawny, well-watched, not over- 

 roasted, 'possum, as it is called, the very teeth 

 are invited to their share of the pleasure at this ban- 

 quet in overcoming the coy, brittle resistance, 

 with the adhesive oleaginous call it not fat ! 

 but an indefinable sweetness growing up to it the 



