Rensselaer Republican, Volume 21, Number 36, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 May 1889 — Hard Tack. [ARTICLE]

Hard Tack.

‘Talk of the staff of life,’' said an officer In the provisions and clothing department of the navy yard the other day, “here’s a regular chunk of it” He held up to the reporter’s gaze what looked like a very light brown encaustic tile. “That’s hard tack,” he went pn, “Joy of the sailor'B Jife, the backbone of the navy, the shipboard bread staple for everybody, admirals and marines alik’. What’s it made off Nothing but flour and water, but what can’t be made of it? A good sea cook can turn it into twenty -five different things, and they are all worth knowing. Pound it up, moisten and min - gle with raisins, it becomes the toothsome scouse; toast it brown and suffuse with butter and it will outdo any palate tickler made on shore; soak it in wine, tea of coffee, and it’s a superlative dainty; nibblo it plain on long watch and fiiid sweet comfort. It’s a stay-by that beats all other provisions, It can’t spoil-, salt, water only improves it; weevils can not mar it, qqr time impair. It mitigates salt junk; makes pork palatable. Without it Jack’s bill of fare would be ghastly in its meanness. It’s the soul of the sailor.”