, 1888-04-12
HABIT OF EATING CANDY.
Its Extension I'm England and in Europe.
American CarameIs.

American
Not only throughout the east, where
indulgence in sweets has been a popular
custom from time immemorial, but in
western and northern lands as well, has
the appetite for goodies assumed formid-
able proportions. Vast quantities of bon
bons are disposed of annually on the m
tinents of Europe and America, chiefly
by the fair sex, although German, Italian
and Spanish men are great eaters of
''pralines, J" chocolates a La creme, sugared
almonds and crystallized fruits.
AS New Year '~'etrennes" and birthday
offerings bonbons are more in vogue han
ever abroad and have become fashion
able on this side of the channel within
the past decade, no gentleman of Latin
or Teutonic origin, being permitted to
escort ladies to a theatre or concert,
would upon any account fail to provide
himself with an elegant bag or decorative
packet of ''douceurs' for their reflection
during the performance, and gorgeous
''sacs de sucreries'' constitute no insig-
nificant item in the budget of a Partisan
golden youth"
In this country the habit of nibbling
chocolate creams and sucking caramels,
formerly confined to those who, as the
good old toast says, "double our joys and
halve our sorrows, " has acquired a consid-
cradle hold upon Englishmen of the upper
and middle classes. 1t came in when af-
ter drinking of port, burgundy and claret
went out of fashion.
The well to do Briton of the present
day, as a rule, is a champagne drinker,
and the consumption of sweets, pro-
nounced by old world connoisseurs of
'tthe wine when it is red'' to be fatal to
anything like just appreciation of the
flavor and bouquet of Oporto and Bor-
deaux vintages, is not held to effect the
taste for those of Rheims and Epernay.
He who restricts his prandial rotations to
Sparkling may, therefore, indulge in
lolipops and cigarettes to his hearts con-
tent, without fear of being denounced as
an outward barbarian, (which" as Mac
beth remarked upon a memorable coca
sion, "was not so before" Consequently
men of good social position, whose fathers
would have shuddered at the mere sight
of a stick of barley sugar or a slab of
taffee, may be seen any day at dessert
time devoting an animated and persever-
ing attention to chunks of nougat and
Rabat Lakoum 'fondants" of a dozen
different stages and c%olors, and candied
mdnuarlnS OF 1anBerlneS.
In a less luxurious stratum of society
the demand for 'butter scotch" and
cakes of chocolate has become so eager
that railway stations and other places of
public resort positively bristle with me-
chanical appliances for conveying these
''lollies' to the fortunate possessor of one
particular denomination of her majesty's
bronze currency. Sweets, in a word, are
become a power in the state, and rule
1.-THE camp, the court, the grove" Even
judges own their dulcet sway; soldiers
suck almond rock while doing ''sentry-
go;" the policeman on his beat has a
bulls eye in his mouth as well as in his
belt, and the British tar chews an Ameri-
can caramel instead of the quid of ''pig-
tail" that used to distend his swarthy
cheek in the good old days of England's
"wooden walls. London Telegraph.