The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1874-05-07
How Maple Sugar is Madel
And What Happened in the
Sugar Camps of the Ma
hOning Valley.
BY W. T. THOMPSON, IN APPLEroN's
JOURNAL, FOR APRIL.


"Maple-sugarI what is maple-su-
gar ?" asked my little grandson, whose
attention had been attracted by pla-
card in shop window bearing these
words.
at is a kind of sugar, said 1, ''made
from the sap of the maple-tree."
Trees, grandpa How can the peo-
pie grind the trees ?"
g They don't grind the trees as we
do the cane," l replied, they tap
them."
.Tap them /" he repeated. "How
tap them, grandpa? What for ?"
''To obtain the sap from which the
sugar is made"
But this explanation did not satisfy
the curiosity which the placard had
excited. and, after had procured for
him a few small cakes of the maple
sugar." which he declared was sas
sweet as candy" was compelled to
go into a long explanation of the
manner in which maple-sugar is OBJ
tanned from the sap of the maple tree,
so different from the process by which
cane-sngar is made.
And this explanation carried me
back half century TO the days of my
boyhood, and brought up reccllections
of some of the happiest hours of my
life spent in the sugar-camps near my
native village in Ohio. How strange
thatia trivial circumstance should have
awakened in my mind the recollection
of scenes and occurrences of early
childhood, as viyidly as if they were
of yesterday But SO it is. As we
advance in life, daily passing events
fade from our recollection almost
with their occurrence, seemingly
crowding each other from eur thoughts
while the Impressions Of our youth
ful days remain indellibly impressed
upon the tablets of our memory
While / write, the scenes, incidents,
and pleasures of my experience in the
ugar-camps of the Mahening Valley,
more than fifty years ago, are fresher
in my recollection than many of the
most important events of my life that
have occurred within the few years
past.
"Sugar-making time r. How many
pleasant memories are associated with
these words-memories of boyhood,
of parents, family, home in the
wild west, long, long ago! But |
must not indulge the reflections which
these memories inspire. ! have some
thing to say about maple-sugar max
ing, and a little story, true story,
connected Herewith, to relate; and to
this task l address myself, before my
thoughts are driven into another, per-
haps a neutralizing channel.
What is now the flourishing city of
Ravenna, at the time of which write,
about the year 1916, might have been
very appropriately called a Western
white-oak opening" 1t was, however,
called a town, and, though comprising
only some twenty or thirty families,
with as many hewn log aud frame
houses, two taverns. three or four
stores, school-house, blacksmith's
shop, two doctors and two or three
lawyers Offices, shoemaker and tailor
shops, claimed some importance in the
new world of the Western Reserve
as the county-seat of Portage County.
AS such, of course, it had courthouse
and jail-the former rather pre-
tentious, two-stoFy, frame building,
which served also for church ; the
latter substantial structure of hewn
logs. The town occupied the crown
of a gentle eminenee. the main streets
square in the center at right angles, in
strict conformity with the points OF
the compass-the courthouse being
in the center of the square, and so ex-
actly ON the summit that the water
which fell from the caves on the south
side flowed. through various channels
into the Atlantic Ocean, while that
which fell from the north side found
its way into the Gulf of Mexico. This
is a notorious and not uninteresting
fact, and if the levels have not chang
ed with every thing else since that
day, the rains of summer, and the dis
solving SHOWS of winter take tho same
directions from the roof of the grander
edifce which now occupies the site of
the courthouse of my boyhood days.
This portion of the Western Re-
serve, or the 'NeW-England Western
Reserve" as it was called, had received
its pioneer settlers only a year or two
before the breaking out of the War OF
1872. Up to within very short peri
cd before the war, the country had
been occupied almost exclusively by
the Indians (the name of the tribe |
torge), who had, however, entirely
disappeared after the close of the war,
in which they had engaged as allies OF
the British. The surrounding forrest
still contained the traces of them.suc
as ruined huts, mounds and graves
and the nursery was entertained with
stories of their savage cruelty, while
the walls of the taverns,and other pub.
lie places, and some private houses
were adorned with Fudely drawn and