St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1894-04-12
focal metns-


A correspondent OF the SprlnSHeio
Republican gives an interesting &C
count of the recent "sugar-of" at
the Midwinter Fair on Vermont day.
A 3O-mile ride by rail to Stockton,
a thriving city, but uninteresting,
and we took the boat for San Fran
cisco and commonplace life once
more. We found it raining. That
did not surprise us; we had spent
January here and know the sun
would shine delightfully."- in week or
two, anyway. But it was cold.
Snow fell on the fair grounds that
morning, perhaps as fitting pre-
paration for next day-when the
emigrants and tourists from the
Green Mountain state had planned
a sugar-eat. There was quite a cele-
alton, and l was there, for my
home was on the Green mountains,
though they chose to travel lncognlto
when they strayed south into the old
Bay state. Then, too, there was
that great longing and restless
yearning that is apt to strike IN the
spring those fortunate mOrtals who
spent their youth in land of sugar
eats, and all the fun and joll1ty, the
real good times that keep them COM
panv. Many do not recognize the
feeling or call it by some other name,
but l knew it was not home
sickness or the wish to see familiar
faces that sent me to the Midwlnter
Fair the afternoon of March 3. 1t
was just the annual recurring need
of maple sugar on snow.
The fair is now nearly complete
and well worth seeing, but OF that
another time. The sugar party was
in the colonnade of the agricultural
hall At one end a canvas represent
ed the woods, the snow and scenery
of a maple orchard in spring, and
here the sugar was boiling IN large
pan on the stove with attendants to
explain the process. In the other
longer portion of the arcade three
narrow tables were set out for about
200 people and there they served
the sugar. It was from Morrisville,
VT, and of fine quality. A good
natured crowd wearing Vermont
badges were filling the passage and
pressing against the railing when l
arrived. There were familiar kindly
faces, the fragrance of the boiling
strip filled the air, and in the voices
around me l heard my native dialect
and felt at once at home. We were
a happy family. "Please make way
for the governor, called a guard.
The grave face and fine erect form of
Gov. Fuller of Vermont met our eyes.
He looked little anxious. Perhaps
he had not yet had any sugar, as it
Is early in the season, but we had
waited for him and now went in to
the feast. 1t was a pleasant place
for a sugar-eat, but seemed a little
odd with the sun streaming through
the arches. and view of palms and
across the court the Moorish arch
itecture of Mechanics hall and the
beautiful allegorical fountain and
electric tower. The women of
Almeda county brought over love
ly bunch of almond blossoms to the
governor. It's hard to be inter-
rupted when one is eating the first
maple wax of the season to make a
speech of thanks for flowers, but it
probably won't happen again.
Three tons of snow had been brought
in barrels from the mountains, and |
the mountain breezes, too. The !
wind was cold. They put the snow
IN square shallow tins down the
center of the tables and poured the
hot sugar into small sauce dishes
each side, furnishing spoons to eat
it with. The next delegation served |
was mostly Californians and it was
fun to hear the comments of the |
crowd and explanations given of this /
custom up in Vermont" as they
waited patiently for the sugar to be
ready. And they did not know how
to eat it then. A few poured the hot
sirup evenly from the little dishes
over the snow and ate it in a correct |
manner, but the most put one spoon
full at time, and turned and caress-
ed and patted it with the spoon,
casting sidelong glances at their
neighbors to see if that were right. |
Others poured it all in one place and |
lifted and rolled 1t as one would an
omelet till they had a nice big lump
of wax they did not know how to
eat. A few tried stirring snow with
the little dish of sugar. 1t was more
fun than the Midway to watch them
and it lasted all the afternoon
THE VERMONT METHODIST CON- |