“‘I recollect when Daddy made a gritter from a board and piece of metal.  After he gritted the corn, Mom made such good gritted corn bread, crackling’ bread also.’  Editor’s Note…I had never heard of “gritted corn bread” so I asked my parents about it.  They knew what I was talking about immediately.  They said that in the fall, when the corn was beyond ripe, but not yet dried completely, the ears of corn would be pulled and grated and made into something between a bread and a pudding in texture.  They said people used to make their own “gritters”…

SONG OF THE NEW YEAR I heard the bells at midnight Ring in the dawning year; And above the clanging chorus Of the song, I seemed to hear A choir of mystic voices Flinging echoes, ringing clear, From a band of angels winging Through the haunted atmosphere; “Ring out the shame and sorrow, And the misery and sin, That the dawning of the morrow May in peace be ushered in.” – James  Whitcomb Riley (The Complete Poetical Works of James Whitcomb Riley, Indiana University Press,  1993) AMEN HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!