IMH 74:4 p 336-37

"Chronicles of Upper Burnet" (1)

Wednesday October 27th.

Bob Foster was here a short time this morning after some sow-belly. He got some. I hitched up, and
started to town about nine o'clock Alvin helping me to load. I procured a pair of oil-tanned buck-skin
gloves (I believe that is what the clerk called them) and some sugar for Mother and raced home gettting
here before one o'clock. Father helped load after dinner and I went to town again but got back about six.
Father worked most of the time at his cow-stable assisted by Alvin when he was not helping Mother wash
It was a cloudy cool, sour day.

Teaching Notes: Ask the students what they think sow belly is. It is salt cured pork from the sides back or
belly of a pig. It is used for seasoning or sliced and fried. Bacon is cured (smoked or salted sow belly).
One of the reasons for the popularity of pork and pork packing was that the cellular makeup of pork allows
it to absorb salt and thus be preserved. Other meats such as beef or chicken do not have that characteristic.
Those meats were preserved by either drying, jerking, or canning. Cincinnati, Ohio, was a great center
of pork packing and was called  "porkopolis."  As mentioned in the introduction, William Gregory's Uncle Rip
(William Ripley Harrison , the lawyer)  was a partner in a pork packing business in Martinsville.