Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-09-20
ON THE PENNY LINE.
A Funny Little shop Which Supplies
the Town with Cheap Candles.

"All those things are on the penny line, - said
the pretty young girl, pointing to a row of big
boxes filled with candy along the other side Of
the shop. ''Of course our business is whole
sale; we sell to the little shops and TO the men
who push candy wagons about the streets.
Most Of what we make sells for penny retail.
Taffy sticks are on the line, and popcorn balls.
and jawbreakers, and sugar kisses, and plain
kisses, and cocoanut balls, and cocoanut puffs,
and rolls of lozenges, and prize popcorn pack
ages, and all sorts OF stick candy"
The pretty girl was out Of breath for a mo-
ment and that gave The STAR reporter a chance
to remark that, in his opinion, the plainest
kisses we're very sugary, but the fair maiden
behind the counter blushingly explained that
all these kisses were of sugar, too, boiled. and
and that the only difference lay in the paper
that wrapped them.
Besides" she continued. ION the penny
line are peanut blocks, good-inck Slices Boston
boomers, jujube paste, chocolate and marsh
maliow pigs, jelly. paste, chewing gum, butter
scotch and new citizens"
Il understand pretty nearly all of il except
the new citizens and the Boston boomers
why, don't you know the boomers are
tubes of candy in round hollow sticks like
these; you close one end with your finger
tightly and whistle into the other. The
children buy great many of them. They are
made OF powdered sugar and gum-arabic
pushed through mold. The new citizens
are these things representing chickens coming
out OF the shells. They are made of sugar and
white OF egg, and the part representing the
chicken is colored with cochineal
HOW THE CANDIES ARE MADE.
"We use cochineal for all red coloring in our
business. Good-luck slices are round disks of
vanilla-favored sugar, with orange-favored
rims and a sugar inscription on them. Butter
fG ma 10 nf mol
gether, with 1avoring of cinnamon, Glove and
nutmeg. For cocoanut balls the cocoanut is
grated and mixed with sugar. then boiled to-
gether and the sugar turned back to sugar
from the taffy by stirring. Jujube paste is
half sugar and half gum arabic boiled together
until thick and then put in molds or sheets.
Peanut candy 10 of boiled molasses with the nuts
thrown in. We get the nuts ready shelled from
Norfolk, where they are shucked by wholesale
in machines and sold clear of shells for 10 cents
pound"
STICK CANDY
Sand how is the round stick candy made?"
'Of the best white sugar, cooked to a crack,
which means until it turns brittle in cold water.
Then the fiavorins is put in, peppermint, lemon
or what not, and the mass is allowed to cool.
As soon as ii is in condition to be handled IL Ia
usually pulled over hook till it is stiff and
white. Finally big lump Of il is laid on
long table and strips of colored candy of the
same material are wound around it in parallel
lines. The workman manipulates the lump SO
as to spin out long tail from it. as one rolls
bit OF dough out into a string with the palms of
the hands, and with a little skill he makes
the spun-out strips Of colored candy follow
continuous corkscrew windings around the lit
tie cylinder he produces. OF course the cylin-
der does not come to an end until the entire
hunk Of candy on the table has been spun out
to the right diameter, stripes and all As soon
as portion is brought down to the desired
thickness it is cut of in stick lengths. and more
is drawn from the lump 1t is a very simple
process, though somewhat difficult to explain
in words. Lemon, chocolate and strawberry
sticks are not pulled at all, but peppermint
cinnamon. wintergreen and sassafras must ali
be pulled"
CANDY DROPS.
81 see that you have candy drops Of all sorts,
too" said the newspaper man.
Lots Of them," responded the pretty girl:
''lemon, strawberry, peppermint, lime and
cough drops. They are all nodded by putting
sheets of candied and favored sugar through q
machine like clothes-wringer, with hollow
depressions in the rollers Just the right shape.
We sell immense quantities of cough drops
made with hoarhound, which, you know is an
herb. A tea is made from il and combined in
that form with the candy. Our popcorn we
manufacture, and the prizes for the penny
bags mostly rings, pins and tin plates, we buy
by wholesale very cheap in New York Chew
ing gum we buy also. And dare say il will
surprise you, sir. to learn that ali these things
for this wholesale shop, which practically sup
plies the city with cheap candies, are made in
a little kitchen feet by 10 in the rear"