Mince Meat Pie by, Lillian G. MERKLE HEBERT One of the delicious concoctions we had in the winter was mince meat pie. This was made with green tomatoes, apples, raisins, and spices, and maybe some other things, all ground up together. Ma [Anna Genevieve WALLACE MERKLE] canned it in half gallon jars and when she made the pies, she added a pint of rich Jersey cream. When I worked at the Bear Brand Hosiery Company, one day there were pieces of mince meat pie in the cafeteria. As we sat down everyone compared their menu with the others and when someone asked me what I had I told them "and mince meat pie for dessert." Josephine ZULLO nudged me and said, "It's Friday." I looked at her, puzzled and said, "So what?" "You've got mince meat pie." I laughed and said, "There's no meat in it." "Yes, there is." "It's made with apples, raisins, and green tomatoes." "But there's meat in it." We argued back and forth and finally I said, "Let's go ask the cook." We went up to the counter with the piece of pie and I asked one of the cooks. "Can you settle an argument for us? She's trying to tell me there is meat in this pie." "Of course there is. That's why it's called mince meat pie." I told her what I thought would be in it, and she laughed and said, "That's what is called mock mince meat. This has real meat." So I put that piece back and took another kind. The following week I took a piece of mince meat pie and said I was going to see what the difference was. I couldn't see any at all. I told Josephine that if she had kept her mouth shut, I could have eaten it without knowing I was eating meat on Friday. Black Sheep by, Lillian G. MERKLE HEBERT When I was growing up I knew I had two uncles I had never seen. Uncle Tom WALLACE was in Canada and nobody knew where Uncle Harry WALLACE was. After Grandpa [Peter Hagerty] WALLACE died in the Spring of 1922, Uncle Pete, from Peoria, tried to locate Uncle Harry. By writing to different radio stations, which often had a public service of trying to locate people, and getting letters from all over from men who had worked with a Harry WALLACE railroad building, mining, farming, carpentering, you name it. It took almost two years before they found him at Santa Rosa, New Mexico. He had married an Indian woman and had a small son, Lorenzo. His wife was dead and, when he found out that Grandpa and Grandma [Mary DONOVAN WALLACE] (who had died July 1923) were dead he said he wouldn't try to come back to Illinois again. He wrote now and then and sent pictures, and said he was a photographer, but there was no closer contact than that. Meanwhile, nothing ever seemed to be said about Uncle Tom, and one day, after I was married, I made a remark to Frank that maybe we should invite Uncle Tom to the surprise party we were going to have on Ma and Pa [Christian A. MERKLE & Anna G. WALLACE] for their 35th anniversary for another surprise. Frank [MERKLE] let out a snort, "He wouldn't dare come back to Illinois, he's end up in jail." I didn't say anymore and kept Frank's remarks to myself, but decided lately that it might be a good idea to include even the history of the black sheep in these articles, so I asked Bill [MERKLE] about him. He didn't recall too much and had no knowledge of any law-breaking as such, but did think that maybe Uncle Tom was mixed up in some investment scheme that soured and probably some people lost money on it. So it's a toss up. Was it bad judgement or dishonesty? [contributor's note: If anyone knows anything more about these two fellows, I'd love to hear from them!]