The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-09-24

a surprise that stuns the appetite. So
/ took with me to the greatest cask
ever built a good, healthy hunger that
/ only lost after the splendid spread
prepared for the especially invited
guests who were admitted to the in
terror of the monster cask had been
done full justice to.
The great tun, which is to be one Of
the sights of the Paris exposition. was
made to the order of NJ. Fruehinsholz.
wealthy wine merchant of this city.
Its construction occupied the entire
working time of 1874 men for a whole
year. 1t is twice the size of the famous
tun in the cellar of the castle of Heidel-
berg, which is SO feet long and "a feet
high, and holds upwards of $4,000 gal
Ions. Some idea of the size of this tun
ar Nancy can be gathered when l state
that l found on my arrival covers laid
for 154 guests who had been invited to
i the feast.
To reach the interior of the great
cask the guests walked up a shallow
fight of stairs extending from a plat
, form. AT the bottom of the cask a floor
had been laid, and the interior looked
/ very little different to the interior of an
ordinary building, except for the curv-
ms formation of the roof and sides.
: rabies were laid down the length of the
floor, the big cask was electrically light
ed and the walters were busily moving
among the tables getting everything in
readiness for the guests
Cay bunting and ilaCs of all nations
decorated the walls and waved from
the roof and the scene was certainly
no. lacking in brightness when the
guests had all assembled and the pre-
siding chairman of the occasion, NJ.
Frrehinsholz, our host, made a little
speech of welcome, ending by inviting
the guests to lose sight of their queer
surroundings for the time being and
concentrate their attention on the
viands. The dinner was an excellent
one. wine flowed freely, as it should do
when a dinner party is given in a wine
cask, and the odd nature Of the feast
kept everyone in a continual flow of
good spirits.
Then came the speeches. NJ. Frue-
hinsholZ did me the honor to observe in
the course of his remarks that my
countrymen who visit the Paris EXPOSE
ton would be forced to acknowledge
when they saw the greatest wine casH
ever built that America had not a mo-
ncpoly of the biggest things on earth,
as was popularity supposed in Europe.
So far as my knowledge goes, there is
rothjng to equal this cask in the United
States, SO / was forced to acknowledge
that for once France had distanced us.
JSut the admission of the justice If
Americas claim on the biggest things
of earth was fiattering to my patriotic
pride.
Speeches were made by the president
of the local chamber of commerce and
others and Nancy patted herself on the
back for that she possessed among her
citizens so public spirited a man as NJ.
Fruehinsholz, the wine merchant. who
had, at his own expense, built a tun in
which 154 guests could sit down to din
ner.
To what use the tun could be put ex-
cept to be used as an attraction at the
Paris exposition / failed to gather from
the speeches. Subsequent inquiry of NJ
Fruehinsholz showed that it was not
intended to be put to any practical use.
So | had my OnnnrtnnitN to make the