The dress of the pioneer long remained a curious cross between
that of the Indians and that of the white people of the older
sections. In earlier times the hunting-shirt--made of linsey,
coarse nettle-bark linen, buffalo-hair, or even dressed
deerskins--was universally worn by the men, together with
breeches, leggings, and moccasins. The women and children were
dressed in simple garments of linsey. In warm weather they went
barefooted; in cold, they wore moccasins or coarse shoes.
Rarely was there lack of food for these pioneer families. The
soil was prodigal, and the forests abounded in game. The piece de
resistance of the backwoods menu was "hog an' hominy"; that is to
say, pork served with Indian corn which, after being boiled in
lye to remove the hulls, had been soaked in clear water and
cooked soft. "Johnny cake" and "pone"--two varieties of
cornbread--were regularly eaten at breakfast and dinner. The
standard dish for supper was cornmeal mush and milk. As cattle
were not numerous, the housewife often lacked milk, in which case
she fell back on her one never-failing resource--hominy; or she
served the mush with sweetened water, molasses, the gravy of
fried meat, or even bear's oil.
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