The Somerset press. [volume] (Somerset, Ohio) 1873-1977, 1880-12-23
NUMBER 3S.
Saving the Cider.

zone thing is certain, said MIR. Hath
away, emphatically, ''forty gallons OF
cider won't keep while we're drinking it.
There must be something put in it to
keep it from spelling, and I've heard
that mustard-seed is the article"
81 agree with you" observed Mr. Lef-
fingwell. eff we don't take care of it,
the cider will sour; but I incline to the
idea that horseradish is the best Put
in horseradish and your cider will keep
all winter
''Let me remark, gentlemen said
Mr.. Anderson, laying down a chicken
wing and wiping his mustache, "that
raisins are what you want. Dump in
plenty of raisins, and you've got your
cider where you want it. Think SO, MI.
Sherwood?"
81 can't say I do" rejoined Mr.. Sher-
wood "There is no doubt but that the
cider will spoil unless you put in some
thing, but what you want is borax. A
pound of borax will keep that barrel OF
cider until spring."
Each gentleman sustained his view
with potent arguments, but the dinner
was finished before any conclusion was
arrived at, and the party separated.
'They can talk about their borax, and
raisins, and horseradish till they're
gray" said Mr.. Hathaway, as he Topped
out of bed at daylight the next morning,
''but I'll have my mustard seed in before
they roll over," and cautiously stepping
down stairs, he extracted the bung and
poured liberal dose of the seeds into
the barrel ''That will keep, he NUT
! bung home, he went back to bed.
| a. 10, mind fhof Loft no
is trying to save that cider by faith,
as he groped around for his clothes.
Mustard seed! Why, he might just as
well put in squash rind. Tn going to
fill that barrel with horseradish before
he's up, and show him how to keep
cider. Mustard seed! I'll head sub
scription with S. to test his sanity.
And Mr. Leffingwell shivered down to
the cellar and cracked away with ham,
mer until the bung flew out like bullet.
'sThere!' he calculated as he poked
the horseradish in with his thumb,
ssthat'u do the business" and with chat
tering teeth he prowled back to his
room.
zone would think to hear these people
talk that they'd been brought up in an
orch9rd," said Mr. Andersen to himself
as he jabbed the right foot into the wrong
slipper. 'Borax! Horseradish! Mus
tard What that cider wants is raisins,
and that's what it's going to get" Upon
which Mr.. Anderson crept down into the
cellar, and inoculated the barrel with a
couple of pounds of raisins ''Its be-
ginning tospoil already he soliloquized,
eying the floating seeds and radish sus-
piciously, but without identifying them.
eff hadn't been lightning quick we'd
have been drinking vinegar by dinner
time" And, satisfied that he had saved
the beverage, he went back to the
sheets.
'sWhat I'm afraid Of, remarked Mr..
Sherwood, as he opened his door care
fully and slipped down stairs, ''what I'm
afraid of is that those fellows will begin
to tinker with that barrel before can
get there. If they manage to stick thei1
foolishness in first I'm gone, but if / can
empty this borax before they're around,
there's so much cider saved" Mr.. Sher-
wood belted away at the barrel until the
bung toppled out, and in went his borax
"That's the business" he observed with
great satisfaction, as he replaced the
bung. cit will teach them boys not tc
be so dogmatic with their remedies here.
after"
''I don't believe that cider was very
gvod in the first place" said Mr.. Ander.
son, as he pushed his glass from Linn that
night at dinner. ''We got swindled Oh
that cider
81 think SO, said Mr.. Sherwood. 'It
had a bad taste when we tapped it. II
isn't fit to drink now.'
''Id head subscription with $5 te
send that cider man to the Penitentiary,
observed Mr.. Leffingwell, severely. s'It
is not good cider. We could not have
put anything in to keep it. What dc
you think, Mr.. Hathaway"
81 had my suspicious of it from the
first" replied Mr.. Hathaway. 'It's ole
stock, and I think we had better give il
away"
And then there was silence, and eacl
gentleman wondered if it wouldn't have
been better to let the other gentlemen
! try their various recipes before Jealous
ly administering his own.-Brooky,
: Eagle.