The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1897-10-09

MRS. SERENA ELIOT.
"shoe town" about 90 miles out Of
Boston, Mrs. Eliot has turned her hand
to anything by which an honest dollar
can be made in a small place without
capital-dressmaking nursing, running
a machine in the "stitchroom" of q
shoe factory, serving as cashier in the
village fish market, etc.
The cordial making was undertaken
in the first place out of neighborly kind
ness A patient whom Mrs. Eliot was
nursing during one of the long periods
when the shoeshop was "shut down"
needed gentle stimulant. Any of the
ordinary wines was impossible because
of heart trouble. The nurse raked out
of her kitchen closet a book of family
recipes used by her mother and grand
mother before her and sent the children
of the neighborhood out to pick elder
berries. The simple, homemade cordial,
as innocent as new cider, tickled the
palate of the sick man. Some extra bot
ties were given to other invalids, and
the fame of Mrs. Eliot's elderberry
wine spread through the village.
There was no money i'll this or, ex-
cept to a woman of unusual faculty"
any suggestion that there might be,
but when requests for the wine began
to come from distance Mrs. Eliot laid
her plans. 1t was too late to do any
thing more that autumn, but the next
year when elderberries were ripe she
had children gathering the fruit for her
for miles around. The berries were east
ly picked and of no market value, so
they cost her little. She could not af-
ford to lay aside other work for such
an uncertain experiment, and the wine
making went on in the morning and
evening. She bought wild blackberries
and wild grapes as well as elderberries.
Currants she had in her garden. The
result of two months hard work was a
stock of blackberry, currant and elder
berry wines, grape and blackberry jams
and grape, currant and blackberry jel-
lies,
Mrs. Eliot's reputation as nurse
helped her to small market for her
wines and jellies. Her acquaintance i'll
the shoeshops made it possible to sell
jams and jellies to women who were too
busy to make them for themselves. Her
homemade "preserves" and cordials
were placed on sale in the grocery
stores and after a time in stores in
nearby towns. There were few sum-
mer boarders to be reached. The ele-
ments of profit, taken separately, were
small, yet together they were not to be
despised.
Business the second year showed a
substantial increase. Cherries were add
ed to the stock and wild raspberries.
Orange and lemon jellies found sale as
sickroom delicacies, and the distinctly
old time cordials were re-enforced by
gooseberry wine. Mrs. Eliot's daugh-
ter was able to help with the work, and
little by little from being side issue it
became the mainstay of the family.
This season is the fourth of the under
taking. There is no promise of for
tune. Prices have to remain low to suit
the purses of customers, and the field
is limited.
The cordial making is the unique
feature of the business, and, while it is
not the principal source of profit, it
gives Mrs. Eliot reputation and helps
her jams and jellies to compete in a
small way with the factory canned arti-
cles Her success-for it is a real sue
cess-is interesting chiefly as an illus
tration of the fact that simple, homely
ways of turning a penny are sometimes
more effective than ambitious schemes,
the invention of which has cost much
brain thrashing.
Another illustration Of the same fact
is found in the experience of Brooklyn
woman who was thrown OH her own re-
sources with no other outlook toward
independence than that afforded by a
gift for breadmaking. The breadmaker
lacked the vital energy of the New
Highlander and would not have thought
of turning her one accomplishment to
practical use but for the initiative taken
by three or four friends who asked her
to bake for them. They paid her the or
binary bakery prices and took pains to
recommend the bread to acquaintance.
The neighborhood was unusually ia
vorable. 1t included number of fami-
lies drawn together by old friendships
as we'll as one Of those clubs that have
become social features in Brooklyn, TAX
ing in all the residents ON a given block
This solidarity made it comparatively
easy to introduce the bread scheme