FRIDAY, MAY 21, 1948 PACIFIC GROVE TRIBUNE 1 - PAGE THREE . I . Anonymous Please Conducted by "Tweedy" m . Dear Readers: Do you wish you lived in the days when there was no such thing as a food budget? I have just come home from doing the week's gro- eery shopping, and I'm completely exhausted from spending more money than I could afford on less food than I wanted, or rather, less sumptuous food than I've been used to all my life. For I, dear reader, was born in a day when gracious living centered around a groaning board, with all the leis- ure necessary for planning, pre- paring, consuming and tranquilly digesting fabulous amounts of food. It's fun to let the engine of my mind idle, while the memory cells open up and take me back to that day, less than fifty short years ago when I was in my teens living in Virginia. Would you like to share those memories with me? We were neither rich nor poor, but we adhered to certain unques- tioned standards. One of these was the matter of "small meats." Small meats were steaks and chops, quite suitable for breakfast, but out of the question for dinner. Ah me! How often have I seen a large plat· ter of "small meats" on our break- fast table which would now serve my family handsomely for three or four dinners!! Every summer I visited friends in the charming little town of Smithfield. At that tidle no rail- roads went near there. One had to go to Norfolk or Newport News, board a river boat, and make the leisurely trip down the beautiful James river. Slowly (there was no hurry) we'd pass between its nar- row banks, seeing the pleasant homes with the green lawns stop- ing down to the boat landings, hear- ing the negroes singing as they worked in the vegetable gardens, waving at the small river craft rocking in the waves made by our steamer. At the Smithfield wharf we'd see a group of our friends waving a merry greeting to us, and there would be our hostess, Miss Belle, the merriest of all. The whole group of us would walk up the main street, breathing the warm summer air filled with the seent of lilaes and magnolia, to Miss Belle's big white house that always had room for one more guest. In my big room with its four poster bed and sweet smelling grass matting I'd wash my face from the hand-painted bowl on the marble topped washstand, then ap- ply my makeup, which consisted of patting my tiose with a croeheted bag full of starch lumps. (Better try it. We had lovdly complex- ions.) And so to supper. The big din- ning room would be cool, since the linds had been drawn all after- boon against the heat of the sun. fhe great table would have three large bouquets of fresh flowers in the center, for one bouquet would Rave been lost on that great space. fhe table was very long and very wide, not because there were so many people, but because there was so much food. At a simple supper there would be a huge platter.of fried chicken at one end of the table; at the other end, just as large a platter of soft shell crabs. Each of these platters would be flanked by small er platters containing rosy slices of Smithfield ham. Dotted about the table were numerous covered , dishes of vegetables, certainly no less than five, and innumerable small crystal dishes of pickle, both sweet and sour, relishes, jellies, conserves, preserves which by ac· tual count were no less than twen· ty in number. Besides all this, raised rolls, baking powder biscuits AND waffles would be passed, and there would be pitchers of lemon- ade, ie.ed tea and ice cold milk. We'd be waited on and crooned over by the negro women of all ages, while the children gently waved fly bushes over us. Fly bushes? They were long sticks with streamers of paper on the ends which were waved at flies to courteously inform them that their presence was not desired at table. But do have another biscuit. What! You don't think you care for any dessert? You can't hurt Miss Belle's and "ole Mammy's" feel- ings, and they would be "sure hurt" if you didn't eat lots of the frozen custard with layer cake, at least a bit df each kind of pie, and a few pieces of fhe fruit brought in in beautiful silver baskets at the end of the meal. Rising lightly from the table, we'd walk daintily onto the porch to enjoy the cool air of evening and the smell of the honeysuckle, We could see the colored folks car- rying the still well burdened plat- ters through the portico that con- nected the main house to the kit- chen house, where "ole Mammy" was the boss then she and her help- ers and all the helpers' children and uncles and indigent aunts would sit down to their "supper" in the kitchen house. You see,. there was plenty for all. Dinner? It was served at noon, and it was just like supper except for the addition of a roast and a first course. This sustained us nicely until 4:30, when, after a well deserved siesta, we'd hear a gentle tap on the door, and into the room would come a smiling little pieka- ninny in snowy white dress, bear- ing a silver tray with a crystal pit- cher of lemonade and a milk-glass plate of golden pound cake. Some- times, there might be a dish of fro- zen eustard on the tray, but what- ever it was we were supposed to eat it. And my waist line? It measured a neat eighteen inches! Now I wonder how many of you think I've dreamed up this whole tale, and how many of you are old enough to remember those quiet, bountiful days? Ah well, I'd better return to 1948 and go broil a little hamburger for dinner. Nostalgically yours, TWEEDY RECENTLY IN FAIRMEAD Mr. and Mrs. Audre Carpenter of 640 Eardley street were late April visitors to Fairmead, California. While there they were the guests of Yrirs. Carpenter's parents, Mr. and Mrs. John Moore. ··· · · ..1 4 iI i 111 1 1 A + 4 4, 1 11 11 . . 3 1 r b i A FISH WOULDJUMP FOR JOY-A preview of what the well- dressed fisher maid will wear while beguiling the denizens of the deep is offered by actress Joy Terry, of ABC's "The Listening Post.. Her tailored shorts and high.necked tee *hirt are by Jantzen. Republican Women Busy The executive committee, chair- men of various committees and workers of the Monterey Peninsula Republiean Women met Friday, May 14, in the lovely home of Mrs. W. A. Buckner on Oceanview boulevard, Pacific Grove. The purpose of the meeting was to formulate plans for the regular monthly meeting which will be held on Thursday afternoon, May 27, at 2 p. m. at the Forest Hill hotel. Mrs. Karl W. Hisgen, president of the organization, discussed the campaign to date and called for re- ports from the membership chair- man, 1\