So... what the heck are they???

[Danny Bear Claw]

In the movie, "The Cowboys", where The Duke hires a bunch of boys to move a herd of cows to market, there's a sceene where he hires a black fellow to drive the chuck wagon and be the cook during the cattle drive.  When the new cook finds out the cattle drivers are actually boys he says he'll make up a batch of "sugar-tits".  Now Maggie Three Feathers and I have deduced that this is some kind of home-made candy, but we're wondering exactly what are they and how are they made?

Anybody know?

[22lr]

Ya'll be careful doing a Google search on this one at work! 

[Irish Dave]

My Mom used to say they were simply made of loose sugar poured into a depression in a piece of cloth or napkin and then tied off. Young'uns could suck on them and, as the sugar melted, it permeated the cloth and provided a sweet treat.

[Ol Gabe]

Yep, it is also an old Pediatrics Nurses trick, they used it to administer meds to babies and young kids that wouldn't take a pill or dosage of meds from a spoon. The Nurse would simply take the meds and liquify them, add Sugar and then let it solidify a bit in a piece of muslin cloth, alwasy a standby at any Nurses desk, used for a quick bandage or cover for a burn, etc. Letting the baby or young child suckle on it would get them all the goody from the meds and a dose of 'sweet' from the Sugar, usually Brown Sugar. My wifey's Mom, God bless her soul, told us of this trick when we were new parents. She said they used it during her stint at the U of Iowa Hospital with Little People up through and during WW II. She allowed as how they could usually get Brown Sugar but the White stuff was hard to come by. As an 'Old Wives Tale', she advised us to use the trick on our own boyos when they were wee bairns and wouldn't take a dose of anything. It does work, and NO, they don't really suck all that much Sugar into their system as it is the suckling that calms them down whilst getting the meds.
Doubtful if anybody except old Nurses even use or remember this methodology anymore, but it is an interesting bit of history. In the movie, the Cosie was probably referring to giving them a dose of Castor Oil and that it would go down easier with a 'Sugar Tit', it would and it was probably a good way to administer a Spring Tonic back then.
Best regards and good dosing!
'Ol Gabe

[silvergoat12]

That's ther is a fact "Ol Gabe. That's jus the way it way back then. God Bless and Happy Trails