My father as previously hinted kept a general country store, and amongst other things bought the customers pigs, and cured his own bacon. Now this pig-killing business was highly diverting. The butcher would have a rope with a slip knot, which he caught in the pig's mouth when it opened it, which invariably happened when the butcher, a stranger, wanted to contact it. Once in its mouth behind 2 prominent teeth, it was pulled tight, so that it could not bite; the cord was bound round its jaws and forefeet, then thrown on to its side and its throat cut; it bled to death in a very few minutes, and was then laid on straw and covered with straw, and set fire to, to burn the hair off. This was instead of scalding, [41] and the custom of the country. By the end of the season we had 50 or 60 sides of bacon hanging up in the bacon house, where it was salted and smoked; the salting was done on the brick floor.
We had a fine garden usually; there were permanent strawberry, raspberry, currant and gooseberry bushes. The land was good and grew potatoes, carrots, parsnips, turnips, cabbage, celery, lettuce, raddishes[sic] etc., but only spring onions - that is the only thing that did not well mature in that garden. We had several apple trees of various kinds, and a rhubarb patch where we have pulled a cartload at a time; and my mother used to send me sometimes to get a stick of rhubarb to make a pie - one stick to make a pie for a family; well, it was some stuff. In addition, my father used to make a barrel of wine from it once a year; [42] the wine made in the Autumn used to get strong after Xmas, so although we were not told not to drink it, we were told not to drink too much, and I only remember one time when that rule was broken. As there was too much drunkenness carried on by other people, we had plenty of warning about it, and so kept within bounds. Also, when the beer went sour in the hot weather at the park, my father used to have a barrel put up in the bacon house, where it was cool in summer, and although we had beer to drink when thirsty we never drank to excess.
Transcriber’s footnotes:
1. Church of England.
2. In those days, Baptist chapels were classified as General, Strict, or Strict and Particular, according to how they viewed the nature of the church; One aspect was church membership (should every member be baptised as a believer), and the other admission to communion – but which of these was “strict” and which “peculiar” I’m unable to say.
3. A road running along the side of the Palace in London.
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