BARBECUES; AND A BARBECUE WEDDING-FEAST IN THE SOUTHWEST.
The barbecue was an established institution in the Southwest. It had in
no other part of the country so many devotees. There was a charm in the
name that would at any time call together a large concourse of people,
on the shortest notice, and for any occasion. And the savory smell
of roasted ox, sheep, shoats, turkeys, rabbits, or whatever else was
prepared to appease the appetite of a crowd, would keep them together
to hear the longest political speeches, listen to the most protracted
school examinations, give their attention to the most elaborate
expositions of the importance of some projected turnpike or railroad,
and secure a patient waiting and an unbroken audience on any occasion
when the _barbecue feast_ was to be the agreeable conclusion.
I have a most distinct and vivid recollection of my first view of the
process of barbecuing a whole ox. At the close of a long, hot day's
ride, I had stopped to spend the night at a small and very inferior
country tavern. On the opposite side of the road, immediately in
front of it, there was a large forest. As I took my accustomed walk
to the stable, to see that my horse was properly fed and cared for,
before retiring for the night, I was attracted by the glimmerings of
a fire among the tall, large forest-trees in the distance; and then
I saw through the darkness the dusky forms of negroes moving among
the trees, and hovering around some strangely concealed fire, only
the gleams of which I could see. Ordinarily such a light in the woods
or at the roadside would not have attracted my attention. The sight
was a matter of daily and nightly occurrence. But it was usually
wagoners, or movers, or travelers of some kind, camping for the night
and cooking their supper. A very large proportion of the people that
one met traveling with their own teams in the Southwest were entirely
independent of all hotels and houses of entertainment. They had a long,
narrow box attached to the hind end of their wagons, that served as a
manger in which to feed their horses. When night overtook them, they
hitched and fed their horses in the rear of their wagons. They then
lighted a fire, and needed little besides a frying-pan and coffee-pot
to prepare a supper of bacon, corn-dodgers, and coffee, to which hunger
and good digestion gave a relish such as pampered and sated epicures
never know. Almost invariably their wagons were covered with coarse
brown duck-cloth or canvas, which was stretched over hoops, and, if
not provided with tents, they made their beds under this covering.
Wagoners who transported goods, flour, and other commodities long
distances, as well as movers and others, usually traveled in company,
so that whenever they camped for the night, which they usually aimed
to do near some spring or brook, they presented a very picturesque and
animated scene. The view which attracted my attention had none of these
accessories and surroundings, and I strolled into the woods to see
what it might be. On arriving at the spot my curiosity was abundantly
gratified and rewarded. I saw for the first time an immense ox in the
process of being barbecued. And this was the process: A large trench
had been dug in the ground, about six or seven feet wide, eight or ten
feet long, and four or five feet deep. This trench had been filled
with the best quality of beech or maple wood from the body of the
trees. This had been set on fire and burned until there was left a bed
of burning coals, some two or three feet deep, that did not emit a
particle of smoke. The slaughtered ox had been laid completely open,
and two large spits, about eight feet long, had been thrust through
each fore and hind leg lengthwise, and four negroes or more, taking
hold of the ends of these spits, had laid the ox over this trench above
this bed of burning coals. There the bovine monarch lay, cooking as
beautifully as in my childhood I had seen many a turkey, suspended by
a long string, swinging before the large wood-fire that was burning
and blazing upon the ample hearth of our family kitchen. And it was
upon the same principle--the juices were all cooked in. The negroes
were gathered around the ox, with large swabs upon long sticks, with
which they incessantly "basted" it, with a liquid prepared for this
purpose and standing in large kettles on either side of the trench.
From time to time the large bed of coals was stirred, and occasionally
they performed the difficult feat of turning over the entire ox, so
that each side might be cooked at an equal rate of progress. This work
they greatly enjoyed. There was enough of the wild and strange about
it to gratify their excitable natures. For the time being they were
supremely happy. The stillness of the night, the surrounding darkness,
and the gleams of that large and brightly burning bed of coals in the
overhanging tree-tops, gave to the whole scene a weird character which
awoke all the enthusiasm of their untutored natures. Through the long
night they cheerfully plied their task, stirring up from the depths the
live burning coals, and "basting" and turning the ox as often as was
necessary. Frequently they sang those strange, wild African songs that
they are accustomed to improvise while at work and upon all kinds of
occasions, and as they echoed among the forest-trees and floated out
upon the night-air, the soft, sweet melody was most enchanting. As I
left to go to my room for the night, and turned to look back upon them
from the darkness, the strange scene seemed not unlike a company of
Druid priests offering a sacrificial victim in some grand old English
forest. In the morning I made them another visit. Many of the coals had
turned to ashes, and the bed was much reduced in depth. But when the
negroes put in their long poles, they stirred up an abundance of bright
coals from the bottom. The ox, which had been placed over the fire at
sundown the night before, was to be cooked until noon, when the grand
barbecue dinner was to be eaten. The smaller animals, such as sheep
and shoats and the various kinds of poultry, were to be placed over
the fire in time to be nicely cooked by this hour. At that time every
portion of the ox would be thoroughly done to the bone; not baked and
burned and dried, but made more juicy and tender and sweet than any one
has ever once dreamed that the best of beef could be who has not eaten
it cooked in this manner. I have never, at the most magnificent hotels,
or the most luxurious private tables, eaten any kind of meat, poultry,
or game that was so rich, tender, and agreeable to the taste as that
barbecued in the manner I have described.
This was a political barbecue, at which several distinguished speakers,
candidates for various offices, were to address the people. But my
engagements for preaching, and other duties connected with my mission
the next day, were such that I was compelled to leave immediately
after breakfast. I could not hear the speeches, see the long tables,
made of rough boards, spread under the forest-trees, participate with
the immense throng in their barbecue dinner, and witness and enjoy
all the strange and varied scenes and incidents inseparably connected
with such a gathering of all the "sovereigns" in the Brush. But what
I have said will suffice to give my readers the _modus operandi_ of
a barbecue. It will be seen that it is the simplest possible manner
of preparing a dinner for a large concourse of people. It requires
neither building, stove, oven, range, nor baking-pans. It involves
no house-cleaning after the feast. It soils and spoils no carpets or
furniture. And in the mild, bountiful region where the ox and all that
is eaten are raised with so little care, the cost of feeding hundreds,
or even thousands, in this manner is merely nominal. Hence barbecues
have been for a long time so common and popular in the Southwest. There
have been unnumbered political barbecues, where the eloquence peculiar
to that region has been developed, and where vast audiences have been
moved by its power, as the trees beneath which they were gathered
have been swayed by the winds. In the published life and speeches of
Henry Clay are several that were delivered at different barbecues,
where he addressed the people on state and national affairs, with an
eloquence and power equal to, if not greater than, that with which he
enchained the Senate. There have been barbecues in connection with
school-examinations, and Sabbath-school celebrations where educational
and religious topics have been discussed. There have been barbecues
in connection with meetings in favor of turn-pikes, railroads,
and all kinds of internal improvements. There have been uncounted
barbecue-dances, and barbecues for more occasions than I can name. But
of all these I will only describe a large wedding, that was succeeded
by a barbecue-supper, that I had the pleasure of attending.
I had spent the Sabbath at a small county-seat village, and on Monday
morning my kind friend and hostess said to me: "We are to have a large
wedding on Thursday night of this week, and, if possible, you must
stay in the county long enough to attend it. Mr. C----'s only daughter
is to be married to Mr. R----, our county clerk, and, as Mr. C---- is
a widower, I leave home this morning to go and assist them in their
preparations."
As I was obliged to visit several persons in different parts of the
county, on business connected with my Bible work, I planned my rides
so as to reach the neighborhood in which Mr. C---- resided on the day
appointed for the wedding. I received a cordial welcome from my lady
friend, who was installed as presiding mistress for the occasion, and
from the father of the bride, to whom she introduced me. He was an old
and highly esteemed citizen of the county, and a warm personal and
political friend of her husband. It was on account of these relations
between the families, and purely as an act of neighborly kindness,
that she had left her own home to take charge of his family, and
direct his servants during this, to them, eventful week. He belonged
to the dominant party, and had represented his fellow-citizens in the
Legislature of the State. Tall in stature, plainly dressed, mostly
in home-made jeans, of simple, unstudied manners, his kind face and
warm heart bespoke a man to be revered and loved by his neighbors and
by all to whom he was known. He was in comfortable but not affluent
circumstances--in the vernacular of the region, "a good liver." His
house was of the prevailing style of architecture for the better class
of plantation-houses in the Southwest and South. It was a two-story
frame, with a wide hall or "passage" through the middle of it, and
a chimney on each end, built outside of the house. In the rear, and
communicating with it, was a log building, which had probably been the
home of his early married life, in which the supper-table was to be
spread for this occasion. Early in the afternoon the guests began to
arrive. A few from adjoining counties, and from the greatest distance,
persons of wealth and high social position, came in carriages; but
by far the greatest number, both of ladies and gentlemen, arrived
on horseback. The ladies almost invariably had a carpet-bag or
sachel hung on the horn of their saddles, in which they brought the
dresses in which they were to grace the occasion. A horseback-ride
over such roads, and through such mud and clay as most of them had
come, would not leave the most becoming wedding attire in a very
presentable condition. Hence these arrangements to "dress" after their
arrival. As they rode up, many of them with calico sun-bonnets and
butternut-colored riding-dresses, such as I have elsewhere described,
and bespattered with mud, they looked more like bands of wandering
gypsies than wedding guests. But the best of colored waiting-maids,
from near and remote plantations, were in attendance, who took charge
of the sachels, and of their young misses, and conducted them to some
capacious dressing-room. Here each maid was anxious that her young
"missus" should eclipse all the others, and under the manipulations of
these ambitious servants they emerged from the room transformed, if not
to wood-nymphs and fairies, at least to a becomingly attired and very
bright and happy throng.
It was often very interesting to me to witness the solicitude and pride
of these family servants in the appearance made and the attentions
received by their young mistresses, and the art which they frequently
displayed in aiding or defeating matrimonial alliances that were
agreeable or otherwise to them. This was often a very important matter
to them, as it involved the question whether they were to have a kind
or an unkind master. If the suitor pleased them, they poured into his
ears the most extravagant praises of their young "missus," and waited
upon him with the most marked attention and delight. But if they knew
that his temper and habits were bad, and thought he would make an
unkind master, they did not fail to repeat, in ears where it would be
most effective, all that they knew to his discredit. In this manner
they have aided in making and defeating many matches.
As the sun declined, the arrivals increased until the numbers swelled
to scores, to fifties, and, when all had assembled, there were in
and around the house more than two hundred. It was a genial, happy
throng. All were in the best possible humor. There were pleasant,
kindly greetings between the old, and frolic and flirtations among the
young. At about nine o'clock the wedding ceremony was announced, and
as many of the guests as possible assembled in the largest room. The
bride and groom, with bridesmaids and groomsmen becomingly attired,
entered the room where we were gathered, and the ceremony was performed
by a clergyman of the neighborhood, which was followed by the usual
congratulations and greetings.
But there had been barbecuing and cooking of all kinds for days
before, and very soon we followed the bride and groom with our ladies
to the supper-room. The tables were arranged diagonally across the
room from corner to corner, in the form of the letter X, so as to
accommodate the largest number. There was the greatest abundance of
barbecued meats, and poultry of different kinds, with a variety of
cakes, pies, and everything else to make a hearty and bountiful feast.
This was enjoyed with the keenest relish by all those who had gained
admittance to the supper-room; and, when their appetites were fully
satisfied, they retired to give place to others. These in turn gave
place to others, and so tableful succeeded tableful for hours. While
the feasting was going on, the others were enjoying themselves in
conversation and general hilarity. Not a few occupied the large porch,
and enjoyed a smoke and social chat. I sat down here and had a long
talk with the father of the bride. He told me that, after inviting his
particular friends, legislators, members of the bar, and others, from
adjoining counties and distant neighborhoods, he had put a negro boy
upon a horse and directed him to go to every family, rich and poor,
within a circle of a few miles around his home, and invite them all to
the wedding. I think that very few that could possibly get there had
remained at home. It was a thoroughly promiscuous crowd. It embraced
all ages and all grades of people that the region produced, and all
seemed equally to enjoy the gathering, as they were free to do in their
own way. Some time after midnight I gratified my curiosity by going
into the supper-room and asking my lady friend, who was the mistress
of ceremonies, if she had any idea how many persons had already taken
supper. She replied:
"I had not thought of that, but I can easily tell. The table has been
set each time with thirty-two plates, and this is the fifth tableful."
And still others were waiting, and after them all the colored servants
were to have their feast--in all, more than two hundred.
Later in the night a gentleman residing in the neighborhood invited
me and several other gentlemen to go home and lodge with him. Before
leaving, my lady friend came to me, and said:
"You must come back here and get your breakfast in the morning."
I replied:
"Is it possible that you will have anything to eat after feeding this
great crowd?"
"Oh, yes," said she, opening a door, and directing me to look into a
room where the provisions were stored; "we have five barbecued shoats
that have not been touched yet."
We mounted our horses, and rode through the darkness to my
lodging-place for the night. Beds were soon divided and scattered
over the floor, making pallets enough for each of us. The wife of my
hospitable friend, with the most of the ladies in attendance, remained
at the house and slept in this same manner, covering the floors of the
different rooms. Husbands and wives were generally separated that
night, the gentlemen going to the different houses in the neighborhood
to sleep, as we had done. When we arose in the morning, my host said:
"We shall all have to go back to get our breakfast. There is not a
knife, fork, or dish in the house. They are all at the wedding."
This was the condition of most of the houses in the neighborhood.
When we returned, we found a large company and an abundant breakfast.
After mingling with the departing guests for a time, I renewed my
congratulations and good wishes for the happy pair, and bade good-by to
my kind friends, greatly pleased with this entirely new experience at a
wedding.
Such is a simple, unadorned narrative of a wedding, with its barbecue
feast, at which I was a guest in the Southwest. How unlike those that I
have attended in our largest cities! But who shall say at which there
was the greatest and most universal happiness, whether where wealth
and fashion held high carnival, or at this more simple and primitive
gathering and feasting of old neighbors and friends in the Southwest?