From MOTHER'S MEMORIES and OTHER TALES

From MOTHER 'S MEMORIES and OTHER TALES by Elsie Hudson THE STACK CAKE It was November 5, 1976, I was making out the store order, when Mother said, "Get molasses and brown sugar and I will make a stack cake today". When I was a little girl, Maw would make stack cakes for church and holidays. She would make Sweet Bread, and take it to church, for the little children to eat. The Meeting would last so long children got hungry. Sometimes it was two or three in the afternoon when it broke up. Then preachers would stand and preach two hours or more. The mothers would seat the children on the bench by their side, and they sat there, unless she took them to the outside toilet. She would give them sweet bread to eat, nothing to drink, unless it was water. Now is so different, services does not hold so long, and the children are running all over the place. "The Stack Cake, in my youth, it was called fruit cake. Mary always had dried or canned apples, mostly dried in those days. She had only a few glass cans. They always kept molasses because they growed cane and made their own, and some to sell. I liked to go to the mill when the molasses was being boiled, and Pa would make a spoon out of cane stalk, dip us out warm foam, in a lid, and we loved it so. Wish I had some now. I will make a stack cake today or soon." And so she did, and it was so good, thought someone else might like to bake one for Christmas. The Old Fashion Dried Apple Fruit Cake Or Stack Cake Two Cups of Flour 1 Teaspoon of Baking Soda 1 Teaspoon of Baking Powder 1 Teaspoon Ginger 1Egg 1 Cup Molasses One half cup of lard, pinch of salt, enough buttermilk to make a soft dough. Mix and knead all these ingredients until dough is stiff, roll out thin, and cut into discs with a pie pan. Makes four layers. Bake at 450 degrees about 15 minutes. Use cooked dried apples or homemade apple butter with 1 teaspoon cinnamon—and eat hearty, it is good! 16 A TALE OF THE BIG ONE, WHO DID NOT GET AWAY The people in our area of Long Fork of Shelby, worked very hard during the week to make ends meet, and Sunday was a day of rest, especially afternoons when dinner was eaten and dishes washed. The children of the neighborhood played along the creek, boys wading, throwing rocks at water snakes which lay on the banks to bask in the warm sun. The girls built sand castles, rock houses and all was happy. The water was not polluted so there was a swimming hole, and a fishing pond. Boys love to fish and swim. On this afternoon, with dinner over, the children had returned to the creek, and all was quiet on the water front, parents resting or visiting, Hiram was taking a nap, Annie just getting the baby to sleep. She was looking forward to a much needed rest, perhaps a nap. The baby was sick the niggh before, so she was tired. Suddenly from the area of the holes of water came a terrific explosion of screams. Parents ran toward the water, sure some one had drowned. The screams were coming closer, and then the procession of children came in to view, all still crying. In the center was Cecil Anderson, holding his fishing pole very carefully, walking close to him Landon Tackett, his brother Vogel holding him steady, and the others just crying. Through the lobe of Tackett's ear was Cecils' fish hook. The parents of both looked them over, and saw it was not serious. Hiram was able to open boils, pull teeth, so he offered to get the hook out, since the doctor was twenty miles away. He could cut it out. This brought new screams from the boys involved. Landon's parents agreed, and they took him home, while Hiram went for his special knife. He kept it razor sharp for things like this. After the ear was...