John Brown Kin: Some Things Never Change

"The American of this great state do not “dig their graves with their teeth[i]”. They part with their teeth before they get out of their “teens”. It is not uncommon now to find persons between fifteen and twenty, with false teeth, in this vicinity. One man I know, paid fifty dollars to get his young daughter’s teeth filled. Now what is the cause of this early decay? I think it must be the consumption of so much sweets, candy, etc. We Americans consume more sugar than any other nation, and take more and better care of our teeth (while we have them) than any other people do. Indians, Negros, and nearly all Foreigners have good teeth. Some say that it is caused by the use of too much fine, white flour bread stuffs. We use several preparations of wheat to make mushes, rice, cornstarch, sego[ii], tapioca, cornmeal instead of the national “pie”. I make puddings, and brown bread, and corn bread, for a change from the white."