Some Crackers can also be downright ornery on occasion. When they are riled up over something, they can be as cantankerous as a bobcat with a thorn stuck in its paw. When you come across one in this kind of a mood, tread lightly, and cut a wide path.
And make no mistake - not all Crackers are "Pore folks." Some own land as far as the eye can see and further. A dusty pickup truck and a shiny Cadillac might sit side by side in a double garage. But spend an hour in a room full of Crackers and you can't tell which ones "have it" and which ones don't. They all act alike.
So you see, it takes a lot of ingredients to make a true Florida Cracker. A little of this and a pinch of that, and the portions must be right. Shake well, and what comes out is what I said in the beginning: "My kind of folks."
PatrickSmithOnline.com is a great source of information about Patrick D. Smith.
You can spot a true Cracker woman a mile away. she looks both tough and gentle at the same time, and she smiles a lot. Her head is crammed with passed-down recipes, and she can still make lye soap if she has to. She is as fiercely protective of her children as a mother panther - and you best take note of this. When tragedy strikes a neighbor's family, she is there in an instant with food and moral support.
Most Crackers prefer "homemade" to "store-bought stuff." They bake scratch biscuits and chocolate cakes and sweet-tater pies and have even been known to churn their own buttermilk. Look in a Cracker's freezer and you won't find TV dinners. It's crammed with pork chops and stew meat and dressed chickens and fish and corn on the cob and okra and better beans and blackeyed peas. You might even spot a shank of venison.
Although I am not native born (I am a 40-year Floridian from Mississippi), I always feel comfortable among Crackers. Our paths have crossed all over the state, and in many places I have been accepted an an "Honorary Cracker" - a label I wear with pride.
Crackers often do strange things that might seem archaic to others. They salute the American flag when it passes by, and they stand at attention when the National Anthem is played. They join such mundane things as P.T.A. and Band Boosters and Friends of the Library. They love church socials and ice cold lemonade and football games and the smell of horses. When emergency blood is needed, they are the first in line to donate. They have even been known to give money to total strangers who are temporarily down on their luck.
About the Author
Smith has been nominated three times for the Pulitzer Prize, in 1973 for Forever Island, which was a 1974 selection of the Reader's Digest Condensed Book Club and has been published in 46 countries; in 1978 for Angel City, which was produced as a "Movie of the Week" for the CBS television network and has aired worldwide; and in 1984 for A Land Remembered, which was an Editors' Choice selection of the New York Times Book Review. patricksmithonline.com
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