Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1895-05-16
SOUTHERN DRINKS,
Scuppernong Grape Wine and Other
Nice Beverages.

Down in the Mississippi the scupper-
nOng grape finds it's fartheSt southern
foothold | think-at least | have not
found it farther away. Travellers to
Asheville and Florida, will remember
that it is the wine that is served at
| that celebrated restaurant in North
Carolina where the proprietor and
walters vie with one another in fore
ing extras and second portions of the
| incest dishes upon the wayfarers.
! There can scarcely be such another
| restaurant as that do have another
| quail" says the proprietor. LET me
give you more Of this scuppernong
wine. 1t is made near here, and it is
perfectly pure" won't you take an
orange or two into the cars with yOuY'
or Here's bunch of fresh flowers
to give to your ladies'" The scupper-
nOng wine has even more of that pc
culiar ''fruity' flavor than the best
California WineS-a flavor that | am
barbarian enough to prefer to the
quicker" of the imported claret You
may have it with your meals in Biloxi.
And if you are a drinking man, which
heaven fOrfend, you may have "toddy'
in the style that obtains from Virginia
to farthermOst Texas, and that has
been imported to Arkansas, Missouri
and the Indian territory
1t was on the banks of the Arkansas
river in Indian territory, that | made
the acquaintance of this method of-as
a friend of mine would say spelling
champion, Mr.. Boudinot, introduced
me to a planter whose two cabins,
side by side and joined by a single
roof, formed the most picturesque
home that | saw on that splendid
river. | was introduced as plain
mister" but that would not do down
there.
Colonel Ralph" said the planter,
"enjeys this yer boundIess panorama
of nature. Feast you eyes, sah on
on the beautiful river" Then aside:
Wife, set out the mixin's in the back
room. Col. Ralph, you are welcome to
share with us this grand feast Of seem
cry and natures ornaments. But, sab,
| think my wife has set out something
just a little something-in the house.
[ dunno what it is, sab, but if you find
il good l shall be delighted, sab"
Sc we went into the back room with
this other Col. Mulberry Sellers, and
there on the dining table stood a bot
tie, a bowl of sugar, three glasses and
spoons, and glass pitcher full Of
spring water
|'Serve yourself to a toddy, colonel
said my host.
I'll watch you first" said I. Il don't
know what a toddy is"
Don't know what a tOddy is" said
the hCspitabIe man. "Why, sir, that
does seem strange to me. Back in
gran old Virginia, sab, we children
were all brought up on it, sab. Every
morning my reverend father and my
sainted mother began the day with a
toddy, sab, and as we children ap-
peared my mother prepared for each
one an especially tempered drink Of
the same, sab, putting, | regret to say,
a little more water in mine than the
others, because I was the youngest
Of the children"
AS he spoke he dipped some sugar
into his glass, poured in little water,
sufficient to make a syrup when the
two ingredients were stirred with a
spoon, and then emptied in an Arkan-
sas "stiffener' of whfsky-a jorum, as
the English would say. That is the
drink of the south, where drinking,
without being carried to any excess
that | ever witnessed, still remains
genteel accomplishment, as it was held
to be by the English, Scotch and Irish
who were the pro .senitors of nearly all
our southern Observation-Disclosures Mag
azine.