1891 - Another Heartfelt Ode to the Thanksgiving Pumpkin Pie!

I like this!  Of course, I may be partial to a poem the uses the botanical name for the pumpkin :-)

THAT THANKSGIVING DINNER.
How dear to our hearts is the Thanksgiving dinner,
As fond recollections presents it to view,
When father‘d come home from the raffle a winner,
And bring along with him a gobbler or two.
Ah, then in the kitchen was hurry and bustle,
Sis weeping at having the onions to shell,
And mother just making the whole of us hustle
To hasten the dinner that filled us so well;
The Thanksgiving dinner, the gorge‘us old dinner.
The big turkey dinner that filled us so well.

Oh, how can I all the ingredients measure
That dear bill of lading prescribed as our store,
The turk and his mystic abdominal treasure,
The beans and the giblets, the gravy galore,
The cider we brought in a jug from the depot,
The truck agricultural none could excel,
And ah! the lush fruit of Curcurbita pepo—
The dear pumpkin pies that we garnered so well!
Yum, yum, what a dinner! That turk and punk dinner!
That Thanksgiving dinner that crammed us so well!

                                                                                                 —Boston Courier.

I don't know about you, but the line "That turk and punk dinner" surprised me.  I don't know why exactly, but it seemed a more casual playfulness with words than I expected folks in 1891 used!  

1786 - Rudbeckia Engraving - I'm In Love!

This hand tinted engraving from Curtis's Botanical Magazine is my cup of tea! 
                      Have fun eye surfing on the lines.

The first volume's illustrations were mostly by Sydenham Edwards 

who drew and engraved the plates himself until 1792.  

It is a copperplate engraving. 

You can see the plate's impression on the paper all around the edge.

(See the little N0. 2 right below? There is the impression of the corner of the plate.)

1891 - A Recipe in Poetry for Pumpkin Pie (and a photo documentary of a pie)

I had no idea pumpkin pies have been the muse to so many poets! 

Pumpkin pie poems are coming out of the the woodwork it seems.  They each have their charm, and this one gets my applause for trying to put a recipe to verse.  

Published in Good Housekeeping, 1891.

This pumpkin was rescued  from being thrown away at school after the pumpkin season for kindergarten had ended. :-)

PUMPKIN PIES


In the kitchen fair Phyllis, one hand 'neath her chin 

   (Her dear little chin. with the dimple nicked in,) 

And a look on her face that she means to be wise,

  Sits and ponders the question of making some pies.

“Let me see, now! " she says. “there is apple and quince; 

  There is peach, there is cherry, there's lemon and mince;

But I think," here a blush a sweet secret confessed,

  “Of them all Colin’s sure to like pumpkin the best!

And though, oh dear me, they will be lots of bother,

  I know I can make them as good as his mother!

Or, perhaps he may think mine a little the best:

  How I'll smile then and say ‘Surely Colin you jest! '

While he’ll whisper.  'T'is so,’ all unheard by the rest. 

   But before I begin, there's the pumpkin to find;

I shall be sadly misled if it's not to my mind."

  So she hastens away, like the maiden of old,

To the garden, where glimmer the great globes of gold. 

  And selects one with care—quite as large and as mellow 

As once formed the coach of the good Cinderella!

  To the kitchen then back, in delight with her prize, 

And a knife for the wand of the fairy applies, 

  When, presto! the pumpkin is soon changed into pies.


HOW SHE DOES IT.

Cut the pumpkin in half, just as smooth as you can,

   And put it to bake in a clean dripping pan—

When the seeds are removed—with the skin side on top,

  In a very slow oven. ’Twill be time to stop

When you find it will scrape from the rind with a spoon,

   Like a crusty baked loaf ’twill be nicely brown soon.

Mash finely, and to one quart of pumpkin, while hot,

   Stir of butter, a quarter of a pound in the pot;

Let cool, and add to it what sugar you like;

   (Not too much or too little, a medium strike);

Then pour in a quart of milk fresh in the pan,

   ('Tis better to let it be cream if you can);

Then the yolks of four eggs, beaten well to be nice,

   With two tablespoonfuls of ginger as spice,

One of nutmeg, too. If you wish them quite comely,

   Bake in a quick oven with bottom crust only.

Of the whites of the eggs a stiff froth should now rise

   To spread over the tops. Who could wish better pies?

                                                                                 

                                                          —Adelaide Preston  

These photos were taken to show children where pumpkin pies come from.  I should have started with a field though!

1899 - Hurrah! Pumpkin Pie Poems

I didn't know the song that I sang in elementary school every Thanksgiving season was a poem by Lydia Maria Child.  
And I do not think we ever sang the last two verses.  
I would have remembered "Hurrah for the pumpkin pie" !  

Both poems were in Werner's Magazine: A Magazine of Expression in 1899.

A BOY'S THANKSGIVING. 
           By Lydia Maria Child.


OVER the river and through the wood
To grandfather's house we go;
The horse knows the way to carry the sleigh
Through the white and drifted snow.

Over the river and through the wood!
Oh, how the wind does blow!
It stings the toes and bites the nose
As over the ground we go.

Over the river and through the wood,
And straight through the barnyard gate,
We seem to go extremely slow;
It is so hard to wait!


Over the river and through the wood!
Now grandmother's cap I spy!

Hurrah for the fun! Is the pudding done?
Hurrah for the pumpkin pie!




PUMPKIN PIE.

WHEN melancholy days come round and leaves get brown and red;
When corn is shocked, and when you add a blanket to your bed;
When apples, pared and quartered, are set in the sun to dry;
This is the time you smack your lips and think of pumpkin pie.

This pumpkin pie's a tempting dish to almost any fellow;
So sweet and tender, luscious (yum!) and then, withal, so yellow.
You stir up eggs and milk and spice and sugar, O my eye!
And then you add the pumpkin, and that makes the pumpkin pie.

1894 - Mystery of the Huntington Seed Co. Catalogs

When I looked at my first Huntington catalogs in the Biodiversity Heritage Library I got the impression they didn't like color!  Drab, or very conservatively colored, catalogs from 1895 through 1899 were so unexpected given the other seedsmen were reveling in chromoliths.

But, it turned out the Biodiversity Heritage Library simply had an incomplete selection.  The Smithsonian Institute had a jolly colorful one.  Here are a few covers and backs of catalogs.
I think I am doing this overview in lieu of having any information about the men who ran the business!

So, first the nice colorful Smithsonian catalog from 1894.  Following are many drab little poor relatives. 

What happened after 1894!!??

Here they come.  What a let down....

1895

No back cover.

1896

back

1896

I like this cover.  The page design gives it energy.

1897

This is fuddy-duddy, but a sprightly paper color.

Note the transition to Huntington & Page!  Mr. Page continues to be the secretary of the company.

1899

I looked to see if the building was still there, but no. 
There are a few that look remarkably like it down the street, but this building is gone.

Crazy perspective in this cut, but I am a sucker for any proudly presented building engraving.  Do you see how the horses are smaller than the men further away?

1900

1900

Oh, yuck.

 Better...