Baxter Springs news. [volume] (Baxter Springs, Kan.) 1882-1919, 1895-06-15
AMERICAN ICE CREAM.
Europeans Strive to Initiate u, Hut ThelI
Efforts Have Been Vain.

Europeans Strive to Initiate u, Hut Their
Efforts Have Eeen Vain.
Ice cream Is prominently an Amer
lean speciality. All the Atlantic pas
scnger steamers plying between this
port and Europe take aboard in New
York sufficient supply Of Ice cream
for the voyage back 10 New York as
well rs the outward journey, despite
the fact that the cost of the article
Is greater here than abroad, and that
It isexpensive stuff to keep. The round
trip occupies ut least three weeks. and
the cream has to last that period, one
week OF which the ship Is tied up In
dock, with the cream eating up Ice In
the refrigerator Ut q prodigious rate.
When the autumn rush homeward
sets in and the steamers are
crowded to the limit, the amount
OF leo cream thus carried from this
port and kept at least two weeks for
use on the return voyage Is big item
In the provision account Many kinds
OF provisions and supplies are cheaper
in Europe than here. and Of these the
steamers lay in double stock at the
European ports. Ice cream, too Is
cheaper in Europe, but it has the
fatal disadvantage that 1t is not ice
cream rs the American regards the
article.
Ice has come to be less of novelty
on the table in Europe in recent years,
mainly, doubtless. because OF the re-
sistence Of the thousands of Americans
who make Europe their summer play
ground. Ice cream, too, you can get
in most of the big cities, even in En-
gland. But 1t usually lacks the main,
indefinablc qualities that make 1t so
attractive ut home. Europeans may
talk about the inimitable bouquet of
their wines. but the bouquet of Amer
lean ice cream is beyond them. This
is not n matter OF natural advantages
and facilities, as Is claimed for the
wines and other things, for Switzer-
land is full of ice-topped mountains,
and her valleys filed with cows.
A varied and recent experience with
the ice creams OF Europe induces the
conclusion that the 'sorbetto" one
gets on the Piazza OF ST. Marks in
Venice approaches the delicious per.
lection of the ordinary everyday ice
cream Of America. Perhaps this is be-
cause the Venetans themselves eat ice
cream, whereas in most other European
cities Il is regarded as an outlandish
connection, prepared only for the pc
culiar palate Of the stranger. II is
far cry and strange one, from st.
Marks To Madison square. but the de-
lighted exclamation of group of
American girls, ordering lee cream
there as they had done all the way
down from London: "Ah; this is some
thing like" covered the distance in no
time.
One finds occasionallya solitary soda
fountain in Europe nowadays, but the
soda water, like the cream, is unsatiS-
factory and saddening. Something is
wrong, either with the sirups, the
soda, or the mixing Of them. The
drink is either froth without flavor, or
flavor without fzz. or something else
equally disappointing. II is almost al
ways shadow without substance, and
always n foreign oddity. There is the
consolation in regard to saltwater,
however. that there are substitutes for
it, unsatisfactory, perhaps, but still
wet, while there is no substitute for
ice cream.
There Is nothing like the abundance
Of soft drinks" TO he had in Europe
that one can get in any American town
or village. In England Their, are the
pcppery ginger ale. bottled lemonade,
and various mineral waters, while on
the continent there is the everlasting
shcrbert. In Italy and other southern
countries one can get perhaps half
dozen different fruit sirups, which are
served in small quantities in large
glasses, the waiter filling up the glass
from the water. The country folk of
the north make various sorts of light
beers from roots and herbs. but these
can not be had ut public places in
cities. MS birch beer, root beer, sarsa-
parilla, and the like can be got in the
United States. OF course the univcr-
sal use of beer and wine accounts TO n
great extent for the lack Of variety In
soft" drinks. A more comprehensive
reason, perhaps, is that no other peo-
Pile on earth so persistcnly drench
themselves with drinks, in all seasons
and ut all hours, rs do Americans.
Anything like the scene at n big soda
fountain in any American town on n
summers day, is not to be found in any
other country.-N. Y. sun.