"The Chatham Rabbit" in Poetry. (Rabbit Lore #21, 1912)

As mentioned in Rabbit Lore #20, the Siler City GRIT of the 19-teens, then edited by Chatham RECORD editor Henry A. London's son, Isaac, published a rich body of rabbit-related material. For one thing, the paper compiled figures for exports of rabbits by consulting the local produce merchants on a weekly basis. Week-before-last we posted several examples of the GRIT's boilerplate announcement heralding the open of rabbit season.

The younger London took many approaches to his newspaper that his father did not, and in particular, stressed reader participation in the form of letters and doggerel verse. He featured a few regular correspondents, some of whom we'll be examining soon, but essentially turned the paper's editorial and "LOCALS" pages over to the public as a kind of proto-Chatlist. Reader, belly-up and help yourself to a taste of rabbit-themed poetry in this piece from the

Siler City GRIT, 1912 JAN 10, "'The Chatham Rabbit' in Poetry":

Once again are we permitting our readers the pleasure of scanning 'real poetry.' The following is from the pen of Mr. J.E. Smith. Who will be the next contributor?

"God bless old Chatham county;
God bless her endless bounty;
May her offspring and her sages,
Through endless, countless ages,
Be ever, ever blest.
Of her lads, they know their duty;
From the earth they dig their wealth;
Of her lasses, they have their beauty;
From her springs they drink their health;
None so truthful, none so fair.
Huckleberries and harvest cherries
And a bounteous crop of wheat,
The never-failing blackberries
That makes the pie so sweet;
Though they stain the ladies hand,
Yet there's plenty in the land.
Some are cooked with new-ground wheat
For us and all our hands;
Some by rosy lasses sweet,
For winter's use are canned.
September brings the pumpkin pie,
'Tis mighty hard to beat;
And Uncle Ned's o'possum, why
Is baked so good and sweet.
Of Chatham's greatest blessings,
All these will not compare
To one baked ham of the Chatham Rabbit,
Or dumplings, stew and dressings
Cooked with the Chatham hare.
Cook him as you will
Cook him as you may,
'Tis the same toothsome dish,
It don't matter what you say;
The old-time Chatham hare.
And, when my college life is done,
I'm going to my usual habit;
There to rub my rusty gun
And shoot the Chatham rabbit;
Me and Rattler and Trail.
Prophet, poet and sages
Will sing of them through ages
yet to come.

J.E. SMITH,
Wake Forest, Jan. 2nd.

Rabbit Lore #20 (1913)

The avatar this backwater blogger claims for himself now once practically served as a brand for the county. People inside Chatham county built snares for the rabbits and bred dogs to chase them; people outside the county identified the place and the people with a rare quality of rabbit that tasted particularly sweet and succulent. The Chatham rabbits swam in gravy on the table and converted readily to change for a boy's pocket, yet they remained untamed and elusive, humble but a delicacy on the most discriminating palates. Maybe the rabbit served as mascot for so long because the county was like that as a place, rustic and simple, difficult to get at, yet distinguished by a certain refinement of country living.

Since we began scampering in this blog-space we've taken care to note references to the eponymous bunny as we come upon them. These quotations went into a single ongoing post, "Rabbit Lore", and included items from the Chatham RECORD, but also the Washington Post and a transcript from the Southern Oral History Project. It was a delicious stew full of tasty bits of meat, but the problem was, the tiny link from the sidebar wasn't prominent enough.

I decided for this reason to break "Rabbit Lore" into individual posts. Now "Rabbit Lore" is a blogger label that ties the series together, and new Rabbit Lore items will appear as individual posts. Several were added in the last two days; the reader may notice the use of material from the Siler City GRIT. Chatham RECORD editor Henry A. London's Son Isaac published the GRIT 1904-1920. While reading the GRIT the lore of the Chatham rabbit crops up even more frequently than in the RECORD, including, as a closer to this post, this following advertisement from W.S. Durham, a produce merchant who bought rabbits for export.

Siler City GRIT, 1913 OCT 29:

Rabbit Lore #19 (1915)

Chatham RECORD, 1915 FEB 17, excerpted from "HELPS FOR HOMEMAKERS. Edited by the Extension Department of The State Normal Industrial College. -- Foods Prepared by Miss Minnie L. Jamison, Director Domestic Science Department. II -- CHEAP MEATS. THE CHEAPER CUTS OF MEAT.":

Rabbit Lore #18 (1913)

Siler City GRIT, 1913 OCT 29, "CHATHAM RABBIT.":

The cycle of Time has once again revolved, bringing an expectanct section into its own. Even as the ancients regarded the Ides of a month, so the toothsome Chatham Rabbit, had it the power of human understanding, would with fear and trembling regard the first of November. On that day begins the assault on Bre'er Rabbit, and with dog, gun and gum the prized animal is relentlessly pursued. Even as Kentuckyians think corn in the liquid state is nowhere else as mellow, so Chathamites know that nowhere else are rabbits so prolific or as delicious as in her own confines.

In truth, Siler City is the emproium for the things "of the earth, earthy." The tang of the early mornings are reminders that hair-triggers are springing, and, in two more weeks the b-r-r of the partridge will half scare a fellow to death. But Nov. 1st is here and the rabbits will get it in the neck.

In 1910, 19671 were shipped from Siler City; in 1911, the number was 16,573; in 1912, 26,060; and in 1913, $13,979 were shipped. These figures may appear unreal, but are accurate nevertheless. They were compiled on Tuesday afternoon of each week during the game seasons from the books of the produce dealers by the editor; hence we know whereof we speak.

Rabbit Lore #17 (1912)

Siler City GRIT, 1912 OCT 30, "CHATHAM RABBIT.":

The cycle of Time has once again revolved, bringing an expectanct section into its own. Even as the ancients regarded the Ides of a month, so the toothsome Chatham Rabbit, had it the power of human understanding, would with fear and trembling regard the first of November. On that day begins the assault on Bre'er Rabbit, and with dog, gun and gum the prized animal is relentlessly pursued. Even as Kentuckyians think corn in the liquid state is nowhere else as mellow, so Chathamites know that nowhere else are rabbits so prolific or as delicious as in her own confines.

In truth, Siler City is the emproium for the things "of the earth, earthy." The tang of the early mornings are reminders that hair-triggers are springing, and, in two more weeks the b-r-r of the partridge will half scare a fellow to death. But Nov. 1st is here and the rabbits will get it in the neck.

In 1910, 19671 were shipped from Siler City; in 1911, the number was 16,573; and in 1912, 26,060 were shipped. These figures may appear unreal, but are accurate nevertheless. They were compiled on Tuesday afternoon of each week during the game seasons from the books of the produce dealers by the editor; hence we know whereof we speak.

Rabbit Lore #16 (1913)

Chatham RECORD, 1913 NOV 19, "Chatham's Rabbit Crop":

Editor of The Record:

I noticed in the News and Observer of last week that Mr. Hayes was in Raleigh and was speaking of Chatham’s unusually good crops, and being asked how the rabbit crop was this year, replied: "I think rabbits are scarce 'round Pittsboro as I haven't seen one this season there."

I wish to state that last Tuesday eve Mr. R. B. Bennett, of Baldwin township, "set" a box and upon going to it Wednesday morning found a nice, fat hare. He reset the box and Wednesday p.m., after dark, was near the box getting some wood and found the door down. On looking he found another. He reset again and found still another on Thursday morning—three rabbits in 36 hours. This is true, and we wish to state that we don’t want Chatham to get behind in the "old reliable" crop; neither do we wart to be-excelled in sweet potatoes. There are plenty of rabbits in Baldwin township.

G.G. WARD
Rt 1, Bynum. Nov. 17.

Rabbit Lore #15 (1914)

Chatham RECORD, 1914 NOV 18, "Chatham Rabbits":

From the News and Observer.

The famous Chatham county rabbits are finding their way to Raleigh and a number of the cafes of the city are serving them on their regu!ar bill of fare. Rabbits are one of the chief products of Chatham and have a wide reputation throughout the country. Raleigh people are very fond of the Chatham rabbit and it has been said that they consume so many of them during the fall and winter season that they gradually take on the "rabbit lope" when walking around on the terrestrial sphere.

Rabbit Lore #14 (1909)

Chatham RECORD, 1909 SEP 15, "Rabbits at the North Pole":

From the Asheville Gazette-News.

Tar Heels will recognize a lamentable weakness in Dr. Cook's story. He says the last signs of life he saw was a bunch of rabbits, as they disported themselves about a glacier. As all North Carolinians in general, and the good people of Chatham county in particular, will at once realize, this is a most extraordinary rabbit tale. Your well regulated rabbit is a vegetarian, and as there are no turnips and parsnips in the region of the pole, no rabbit would think for a moment of abiding there. This is a part of Dr. Cook's story that may only be explained upon the theory that they have a carniverous [sic] breed of rabbits up that way, such as the Washington Post is most familiar with.

Rabbit Lore #13 (1910)

Chatham RECORD, 1910 FEB 23, "Chatham Rabbits":

From the News and Observer.

Rabbit is the principal diet of Chatham's connoissuers and epicures. No rabbits are shipped from Pittsboro because the fastidious people of that county seat get their beauty and many other good qualities from a diet of rabbits. The best cooks have ninety-seven different ways of cooking the rabbit, and the animal is so good in each way that when Pittsboro folks go away from home they carry enough rabbits to give them at least one a day while they are gone. They have been known also to carry a broiler and to be found by their hosts broiling a rabbit in their room after they thought everybody else had retired. They do not understand how anybody can prefer canvas-back ducks or Lynnhaven bays to the succulent Chatham rabbit.

Rabbit Lore #12 (1882)

Washington POST, 1882 OCT 18, "Protection in North Carolina" (from ProQuest Historical Newspapers):

John Gubbins in the Raleigh News.

The season is approaching when hares and 'possums will be plentiful, and when large quantities of this species of game will come pouring into Raleigh by the Chatham wagons. Now, I have a splendid 'possum dog, and brother Jim, he has a good dog for rabbits, and his boys are cute, too, in setting rabbit gums. But it is a well-known fact that Wake county rabbits and 'possums are much shyer and harder to catch than Chatham rabbits and 'possums, and besides, they are scarcer here than they are in Chatham.

Now, Mr. Editor, I think these facts will justify me and brother Jim in asking the county commissioners to levy a tariff on Chatham rabbits and 'possums to enable our dogs and Jim's boys' rabbit gums to complete with these foreign rabbits and 'possums, which I think would produce some revenue to the county, if it did not amount to prohibition. At any rate, it would enable us to declare a larger dividend on the products of our dog and rabbit gums. It is true it would raise the price of rabbits and 'possums to the consumers of those delicacies to, perhaps, double what they now have to pay, but it is necessary that individuals must suffer for the general good. Indeed, brother Jim thinks the higher the tariff the commissioners should lay on Chatham 'possums and rabbits the cheaper they would be in the Raleigh market. I don't know how that is but if the argument will hold water, pleaes use it in inducing the county commissioners to grant us the relief asked for.

Rabbit Lore #11 (1913)

Chatham RECORD, 1913 JAN 15, "Chatham Rabbits Electrocuted":

From Raleigh News & Observer,

The electrocution of one hundred rabbits Tuesday morning on the lot of the Buckhorn Power company's property is a Chatham rabbit story that former Representative R.H. Hayes, tells with full comprehension of its astoundingness.

The superintendent of this transmission company has been greatly worried by the Chatham rabbits, which have made depredations upon his cabbage patch and utterly annihlated his prospects for food. Last week set "hollows" for them, but the rabbits demurely dodged the dead fall. It made him mad, and built an expensive barbed wire fence about the patch. The wires pulled together so ingeniously that when Brer Rabbit bounded up he got stuck and when he started to crawl through the barbs harpooned him. The Buckhorn superintendent then threw the electric current into the wires. Tuesday morning the rabbits, making an effort to escape, jumped against the fence and were shocked to death. One hundred were found by the fence that morning.

Rabbit Lore #10 (1914)

From Chatham County, 1771-1971, Chapter IX, "Towns, Communities, Townships and Early Post Offices," section titled "Siler City", pp. 214-5:

1895: W.S. Durham opens business. Mr. Durham was the town's leading dealer in poultry, eggs, and rabbits for many years. His place of business was located on the west side of South Chatham Avenue near the center of the 100 block. Volume of business is reported to have reached a maximum in 1920 when country produce bought totaled $65,000. During the fall of 1914 the following appeared in the Siler City Grit:

"Durham's Rabbitt Letter to the Boys

Dear Boys:--

The rabbit season is here again and I am ready to buy. I want your rabbits and will pay you every cent for them I can afford to pay.

I have a nice present for every boy who sells me his rabbits. Bring them along and I will treat you right.

Yours truly,
W.S. Durham"

Rabbit Lore #9 (1907)

Chatham RECORD, 1907 DEC 19, "Local Records":

Did you ever hear of catching rabbits in a well? Mr. T.M. Bland is having a well dug at his farm, near here, and since it was begun about twenty-five rabbits have been caught in it. They would fall or jump into it at night. Pretty good rabbit trap, isn't it?

Rabbit Lore #8 (1907)

Chatham RECORD, 1907 DEC 5, "Local Records":

Sheriff J.R. Milliken headed a rabbit hunting party on the morning of Thanksgiving Day and bagged 13 of Chatham's celebrated game in a few hours.

Rabbit Lore #7 (1907)

Chatham RECORD, 1907 NOV 21, "Local Records":

Did you ever hear of a cat catching rabbits? Mrs. M.A.Y. Wheeler, who lives near here, has a large Maltese cat which came to the house some days ago dragging a rabbit which it had caught.

Rabbit Lore #6 (1907)

Chatham RECORD, 1907 OCT 31, "Milliken on Rabbits":

The Raleigh Evening Times of last Friday contained an interesting interview with Sheriff Milliken on the quality and quantity of Chatham's crop of rabbits, a large part of which is engaged from year to year by our Raleigh neighbors. The interview, which is really the opinion of an expert on this important topic, is as follows:

"Sheriff J.R. Milliken, of Pittsboro, is in the city today, being on his way home from Goldsboro, where he took a negro to the insane asylum. Sheriff Milliken reports an unprecedented crop of Chatham's chief staple, the rabbit. 'People treat our rabbits as a joke,' laughed the sheriff, 'but really the cotton tail forms a big item in the commerce of the county. Thousands of the things are marketed each year, and they bring from eight to ten cents apiece. One man at Siler City last year sold wagon loads of them.

"'Do you know,' continued Sheriff Milliken, 'on what the rabbit fattens? It's frost. 'Possums eat persimmons, but rabbits love frost, and they are already getting fat. There won't be many 'possums this fall, but we have thousands of big rabbits, and there are plenty of birds, too.'"

Rabbit Lore #5 (1907)

Chatham RECORD, 1907 SEP 26, "Local Records":

What do you think of a rabbit being paid as a marriage fee? Well, that what was paid one of our popular Chatham preachers some time ago by a happy groom as the fee for marrying him.

Rabbit Lore #4 (1906)

Chatham RECORD, 1906 NOV 22, "Chatham Rabbits" (added 2007 AUG 14):

The Industrial News, the Republican daily at Greensboro, humorously accounts for the big Democratic victory in Chatham at the recent election, as follows:

"In the first place Chatham county has a statewide reputation for the number, size and juiciness of its rabbiits [sic]. Nothing that falls a victim to the hunter's gun throughout the entire confines of North Carolina can compare with the Chatham rabbit.

"In the second place, election day was an ideal rabbit-hunting day, and being a general holiday the temptation to go rabbit hunting for a few hours before voting must have been too strong for a number of the Chatham voters. We further conclude that the plentifulness of rabbits and the ideal character of the day must have proved too much for the men who had intended to bring home their bag in time to vote, with the result that the would-be voters upon returning found the polls closed."

Rabbit Lore #3 (1906)

Postcard from "Wm. R." to "Miss Marie Elliot", 1906 NOV 28:

[From the North Carolina Postcard Collection at the North Carolina Collection, UNC-Chapel Hill. Photo postcard shows a young boy holding a rabbit.]

"I am sending for today's express a sample of our favorite game which, I trust will reach you o.k."

Rabbit Lore #2 (1906)

Chatham RECORD, 1906 NOV 29, "Local Records":

One of our townsmen, when at a hotel in another town some days ago, got into conversation with a travelling man from Connecticut, who, when he learned that our townsman was from Chatham county, exclaimed, "Oh yes, that is the county where the Populists wanted to make rabbit skins a legal tender."