From Hell to Breakfast Page: 68

                                
68

FROM HELL TO BREAKFAST

And those who marvel at the Dionne quintuplets should
read the early papers when people were both hardy and pro-
lific. An 1851 Texas paper tells of a woman who had given
birth to quintuplets only eighteen months after having twins.
The Leon Pioneer of October 11, 1854, has the following:
A Litter of Babies.--A German woman passed through Dayton,
Ohio, on the 1st, having with her six children, all born at the same
time. They were six months old, small but sprightly. It is supposed
that this case is almost if not quite unprecedented.
Boasters didn't always get away with their stories. Here
is one example:
"I once saw a line of crows a mile wide, 25 miles long, and they
was so thick you couldn't see the sun."
"How long did you say that flight of crows was?" asked an un-
believer, very broad shouldered and pugnacious looking.
"Twenty-five miles, sir."
"Don't believe it."
"Well, now, look here," said the crow man, as he looked at the
huge proportions of the unbeliever, "you're a stranger here, and I
don't want to quarrel, so rather than fight, if you are satisfied, I'll
take off half a mile from the thinness pint."
Some of the tall tales had practical uses. This way to
catch mice is one of them:
The Galveston Times says: to catch mice swallow a large piece
of cheese, just at bed time, and go to bed with your mouth open.
Soon the mouse you wish to catch, finding you asleep, will venture
down your throat and feast on the cheese. When full he will be too
bulky to get out without crowding, which will cause you to wake
up in time to catch it with your teeth.
And some of them are informational:
The Star says that the Monitor has a notice of a Mexican woman
being fried by some Americans, and afterwards eaten. This is said
to have taken place in Tacubayo, from which place the head was
sent to the Governor of the District. The Star is enquired of for
information in relation to the matter; the editor says, "we cannot
say that any Mexican woman has been fried, but we have incontestible
proof that unos Americanos have been burnt."
People who laughed like this and drank so heartily, could
be expected to fight in the same way. Expressed in poetry,
though it is, here is a typical fight: