Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 39, Number 37, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 January 1907 — TYLER’S FEASTS. [ARTICLE]

TYLER’S FEASTS.

Vlr*tnlan’s Dinners Were Fit .for m ■ , King. President Tyler’s dinners were, on a large scale, tho.se of a wealthy Virginia planter, and as the greater part of the provisions came from his own plantation at Greenway Court, they tickled the palates of the most exacting epicure. He employed a negro cook from his old home, one who knew how to do to a -turn fried chicken and to shave off the delicious pink slices of baked ham. These hams, says the Home Magazine, were considered the, finest that ever graced a table, and the' Virginia porkers of to-day, famed the world over, might well pride themselvea on their no.ble ancestry, that were as carefully prepared for the table as a thoroughbred horse for a race. For six nfbnths they were let run wild In the oak woods to feed off seems;

supplemented by. a little corn In the morning and evening. When they were in their second autumn they were turned into, the cornfield after the harvest, then let run in the loosely harvested fields of black-eyed peas, after which they were fed on selected com until shortly before the holidays, when they were killed, then smoked for several months by hickory chips, finally rubbed down well with moist brown sugar. Rivals of these hams at the Tyler Table were the fine oysters from around Hampton roads, choice game in season, and all the rich products of tidewater Virginia, the most abundant country on earth. The Tylers were hearty eaters, tlicir breakfasts being as substantial as many others’ dinners, and it was their delight to ask the passing visitor to these 8 o’clock meals.