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THE JASPER. 247
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son
in the family John. The said nursery rhyme used to be immensely popular
among the people of Somerset. Talking of the traditional pie into which
little Jack Horner thrust his inquisitive pollex, Cornwall is
deservedly sung about as the county of pasties, and cream; this latter
luxury being indeed an article of daily sustenance with a majority of
the people. Working girls take cream at their midday meal instead of
drinking beer, or other alcoholic beverage. And the cream-eaters are
popularly known to be good-tempered, as well as capital workers. In the
farmhouses cream is brought to table at every meal. Then, during the
fruit season, pasties and cream become united in a happy union. But the
pasty is much more than a summer indulgence. It forms a solid,
substantial, standing food with Cornish folk all the year round. The
real veritable pasty is to be known by its pointed ends, its
cable-twist, and its crust of tender brown, unwrinkled and unbroken.
Every Cornish maiden worth her salt can make a pasty. " It may be her
only accomplishment ; but this she can do deftly, deliciouslv,
and beyond imitation." Well may one say, " a pasty, with its
cable-twist perfect from end to end, is a work of art to look at." A
Cornishman seldom travels without a pasty in his bag ; the working man
has one in his pocket. No knife and fork are needed for discussing the
meal; which may be eaten without constraint whilst standing, sitting,
or walking. It is to be noted {vide Meals Medicinal), that "
The pasty, or turn-over, a Cornish device, originated in a need by the
miners of some portable form of food which they might carry with them
to the mines for their dinner, and might eat without incurring harm by
handling the same with
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