Old Fashioned Apple Pie
President Garfield, our 20th president attacked political corruption and won back for the presidency, a measure of respect it had lost during the Reconstructive period. What was the Reconstructive period? In 1865 through 1877, the southern states were reorganized and reintegrated into the Union, reorganizing the governments of the states which had passed the ordinances of secession and reestablishing their constitutional relations to the national government after the close of the Civil War.
James Garfield was born in Ohio in 1831. He was fatherless at two. Later, when he was old enough, he drove canal boat teams, somehow earning enough money for an education. He elevated himself through study and hard work to the professorship of ancient languages and literature at Western Reserve Eclectic Institude, later renamed Hiram College. Within a year he became president of the college. That is where he met Lucretia Rudolph. She was teaching Latin, French and algebra. She didn’t attract his attention until December 1853 and they didn’t marry until 1858, when he was well established in his career. His service to the Union kept them apart. They finally were reunited in Washington as he served as a freshman Representative and they were able to have a home there and maintain a home in Ohio, also. Their first child, a daughter had died, a two-year-old son died in 1876, but five children grew up healthly with a bright future.
The Garfield life was serious and full of purpose as evidenced at mealtime when he educated and instructed his five children by the Socratic method. What was the Socratic method? Socrates as a philosopher used the method of systematic doubt and questioning of another to elicit a clear expression of a truth supposed to be implicitly known by all rational persons.
He was elected to the Ohio Senate in 1859. During the secession crisis, he advocated coercing the seceding states back into the Union.
When the Union armies weren’t doing well, he successfully led a brigade at Middle Creek, Kentucky against Confederate troops. At 31, Garfield became a brigadier general. He was also elected that year to Congress. President Lincoln persuaded him to resign his commission so he could focus on politics. He repeatedly won re-election for 18 years and became the leading Republican of the House. At the 1880 Republican Convention, he attempted to lobby for his friend, John Sherman but was unsuccessful. Later on he became the “dark horse” nominee and won the election.
In spite of his responsibilities, he found time for his family and became very close to Lucretia. He went with her to literary society meetings, they read together, made social calls together, dined with each other and became nearly inseparable.
As President, he continued the sincere, friendly atmosphere created by the Hayes family, but with far less extravagance. The Century Magazine described his habits and tastes: “His home life was that of the plain New England farmer, broadened and beautified by culture, but taking little note of the fancies of fashion. He liked substantial furniture, good engravings, a big cane-seated chair, an open fire, a simple meal, a wide-brimmed felt hat and easy-fitting clothes. His table was bountifully supplied with plain well-cooked food, but he made his meals such feasts of reason that his guests scarcely noticed what they ate.” After years of emphasis on fashion and fads in food, Garfield surprised everyone by introducing his guests to the word nutrition. The table had an abundance of wholesome, nutritious food as well as a generous supply of milk. He loved milk.
Lucretia approached her role as First Lady with a strong desire to make “the labor happy” just as she had mentioned to her husband in a letter she wrote him about bread making ten years before the election. “Here I am compelled by an inevitable necessity to make our bread this summer. Why not consider it a pleasant occupation, and make it so by trying to see what perfect bread I can make?”
Washington society warmed to her sweet voice and well-informed personality. A cheerful family had come to live at the White House. President Garfield maintained a relaxed manner. He, like John Quincy Adams, enjoyed billiards. The billiard table was brought up from storage and returned to “a place of honor.”
Lucretia was conscientious in her duties and displayed genuine hospitality at her dinners and twice-weekly receptions.
In May of 1881, she became ill with malaria and nervous exhaustion. Everyone was genuinely concerned, especially President Garfield. He had written her seven years earlier when she was ill at that time and said, “When you are sick, I am like the inhabitants of countries visited by earthquakes.” She went to a seaside resort in New Jersey to recuperate.
President Garfield was getting ready for a conference of all American republics to meet in Washington, but the conference never took place. On July 2, 1881 in a Washington railroad station, an embittered attorney shot the President.
When the news reached Lucretia that the President had been shot, she returned to the White House “frail, fatigued and desperate,” During the three months Garfield fought for his life, her grief, devotion and fortitude won the respect of the country.
The Adams Express Co. in Baltimore sent him a cow because they knew he loved milk. He had a weak stomach and taking medication for his wounds made everything worse. He ate the simple foods prepared for him and didn’t complain except for oatmeal. He hated oatmeal. Sitting Bull was in prison starving himself in protest. President Garfield said, “Let him starve.” Then, he thought for a moment and said, “Oh, no, send him my oatmeal.”
Alexander Graham Bell tried unsuccessfully to find the bullet with an induction-balance electrical device which he had designed.
On September 6, Garfield was taken to the New Jersey seaside. For a few days he seemed to be getting better, but on September 19, 1881, he died from an infection and internal bleeding. The nation mourned, deeply.
His broken-hearted family went home to their farm in Ohio. For another 36 years, Lucretia led a private but busy and comfortable life. She dedicated herself to her children and to preserving her husband’s memory and the records of his career. She died on March 14, 1918, in Pasadena, California.
The President’s favorite foods were Inspiration Bread, extra-fluffy mashed potatoes, Parsnips a la Garfield and apple pie.
To remember President Garfield, here is my recipe for Apple Pie.
Apple Pie
Crust
2 cups flour, sifted
1 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup plus 1/4 cup cold Crisco
1/3 cup ice water
Sift flour and salt into a mixing bowl. Add Crisco. Using a food processor or two knives, cut shortening into flour until it is the size of small peas. Add the water and with a fork, bring dough together. Divide in two pieces. Wrap and refrigerate one and roll out the other about 10 inches to fit a 9″ pie shell. Roll dough over rolling pin and unroll into pie plate.
Filling
Peel and core and quarter twelve large or 14 small Golden Delicious apples and place in a large bowl. In a small bowl, combine 3/4 cup sugar, 1 teaspoon nutmeg and 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon. Set aside. Start layering apples in pie crust by slicing the quarters crosswise. For each layer of apples, sprinkle a little of the sugar mixture, about 2-3 tablespoons. Continue layering and adding the sugar mixture until the apples are piled high. Sprinkle the last of the sugar on top. Dot with pieces of butter, about 3 tablespoons. Roll out top crust. Carefully fold in half and make steam slits. Unfold and place on top of apples. Bring crusts around the edges together. Make sure the top crust is folded over the bottom crust, then pinched together. (this is just around the edges) Now, using your thumb or first finger, flute or crimp edges. Place pie on a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake in a preheated 425 degree oven for about one hour. Take a small knife and poke an apple through one of the slits to check for doneness.
Please Be Seated! 