CHAPTER XI.
PICNICS, BURGOOS AND CORN-ROASTS.
TRACES of foreign ancestors are apparent occasionally in most of us, true Americans though we be. It is perhaps a spice of gypsy blood in our veins that sets our pulses throbbing with pleasant excitement when, seated in an old hay-wagon, we go bumping and thumping down the road prepared for a delightful holiday.
With camp-kettle swinging beneath, and coffee-pot stowed safely away within the wagon, do we not feel able to provide as savory dishes for our picnic dinner as any concocted by the gypsies themselves? Surely no coffee is ever so delicious as that cooked over the camp-fire, albeit it tastes somewhat smoky when prepared by hands inexperienced in the art of out-door cooking; but if the fish we broil is a little burned, and the baked potatoes rather hard in the middle, who cares? Hearty, healthy appetites, which the early morning drive through the fresh, exhilarating air has developed, laugh at such trifles and dinner is voted a success in spite of sundry mistakes and mishaps in its preparation.
There are picnics and picnics. When one drives out in a fine carriage to meet a fine company, and partake of a fine lunch prepared by fine servants, is one kind.
When one goes with a large party, on a boat, and takes a lunch of sandwiches, cake, pickles, hard-boiled eggs, etc., which is spread on the grass at the landing and eaten as quickly as possible, is another kind; but the picnic most enjoyed by young people who are not afraid of a little work, which is only play to them, is the one where the raw materials for the dinner are taken and the cooking, or most of it, is done, gypsy fashion, by the picnickers themselves.
A pleasant innovation in the ordinary routine of a picnic is
A Burgoo.
Thirty or forty years ago the men of Kentucky, in celebration of a holiday, would get up what they called a burgoo. In character it was very much like the clam-bake of to-day, but instead of chowder, or baked clams, the company prepared and partook of a soup or stew made of almost everything edible. Early in the morning the party would meet at the appointed place and decide what each should contribute toward the making of this most delectable stew.
Those who were fond of hunting would go forth in search of birds, squirrels, rabbits, and game of all kinds, with which the woods were filled. Some caught fish, and others provided fowl, pork, vegetables, and condiments.