Barbecue in Austin

France's Henry IV, not a bad politician himself, put it neatly: "I wish that every peasant may have a chicken in his pot on Sundays." Governor Wilbert Lee ("Pass the Biscuits, Pappy") O'Daniel of Texas, campaigning for re-election last summer, went way beyond Henry. When he spoke at a crossroads, the melodious and hospitable Governor often wound up: "Come down to dinner at the Governor's mansion some time. . . ." Last week 25,000 Texans took him up on the invitation, trooped to Austin to a barbecue after his inaugural. The inaugural itself was simple--with the Governor requesting more power, fussing about the Legislature as he has for two years, and saluting the heroes of The Alamo as he does well and often in song and speech-- but the barbecue that came after it was the biggest feed in Texas history. The Governor's guests ate 15 steers, one buffalo, several calves and sheep (in all 17,000 lb. of dressed meat) and 12,800 wieners. They also downed 3,200 loaves of bread, 6,500 buns, 1,250 lb. of onions, half a ton of potato chips, 6,000 sour pickles, 500 Ib. of cheese. The lemonade alone took 2,000 dozen lemons; and 900 gallons of coffee went down Texas gullets.

The barbecue pit, 50 feet long, was dug in the yard of the Governor's mansion, in what had once been a rose garden. Sixteen groups dished up the food at the rate of almost 200 plates a minute. The Governor himself had shot the buffalo, from a privately owned Texas herd. (Said he: "... They had the whole county out to watch. . . . They were there to laugh when they thought I would miss my shot as the thundering herd of wild buffalo rushed by ... so they had a crack shots-man there to kill the wild beast in case I only hit him and just antagonized him. ... I think I shot the wrong buffalo . . . but I wanted plenty of meat for all of our friends and therefore just winged the one that had the most meat.")

Over the din of the dinner the Governor's hillbilly band, masters of The Long Ago, The Tramp's Mother, and the classic Beautiful Texas, played on the mansion steps. Fifteen women fainted during the serving. Dinner over, the crowd streamed through the mansion, shook hands with the Governor, who gave each handshaker a big Texas grapefruit. One woman fell down and was tromped on; she became hysterical. Five more women fainted at the reception. Another broke her ankle when she jumped over a hedge. When the barbecue was over, the mansion grounds were covered with a vast litter of gnawed bones, pieces of meat, slices of onion, potato chips, paper napkins, paper plates. Then at night the crowd danced in the street, to the tune of hillbilly bands, by the light of the moon and of colored globes strung across the rear of the Capitol lawn.

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