Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1902-11-20
The Cider Mill OF Our arandfathers.

IL Is e0metlmes DOtn pleasant ano
profitable to contrast the present with
the past, to call up the days of our
grandfathers and learn how they lived
and labored in the times when this
country was comparatively Lew and
before the march of Improvement had
come alcng and driven out so much
that was dear to our sires, but which
their descendants have forgotten and
of which come of them never knew or
heard.
Nowhere is the line between the old
and the new SO sharply drawn as in
all kinds of labor-saviDg machinery.
Time was not 30 valuable then as now,
and men were not 80 much in hurry.
If thing could not be done today,
there was still the morrow in which
it could be done, and men and women
|
did not worry over the brief delay.
We cannot afford to go slowly today.
We must rush. We can't wait until
tomorrow or next week. "Now, and
not "manana," is the word. We are
living in the nineteenth century; not
the eighteenth.
When the farmer wants to make
cider in these times he fills up his big
wagon bed and drives TO the new steam
cider press that is short distance
away, and, after a few hours wait,
returns with his barrels filled with
the refreshing juice which his orchard
so beautifully provides. Once it was
not so. The orchards were larger and
the steam cider press unknown. In
it's stead we had "the old cider mill,
very different affair, as those who
made cider fifty years ago very well
remember. What that was, and how
it was operated, is told infinitely and
attractively by DR.. S. P. Heilman in
his well-printed and handsOmely-illus'
trated pamphlet, descriptive of "The
Old Cider Mill" From the shaking
of the apple tree in the orchard tc
the filled cider barrels the details o.
the old-time cider press aud cider
making are fully told, and a most
readable story it is.
But that is not the whole Of it
Along with it went the apple-buttel
making, which affords our author
still wider field from which to recall
old-time memories, and the parinl
and shifting bee, to which all thu
neighboring lads and lassies were in
vitsd. 1t beat cuttings and corr
huskings out of sight. After tina
came the apple-butter boiling, ten o.
twelve hours task. Talk about you
pink teas and such other modern tom
fooleriesl They are not to be compared
with the butter-boiling and its &C
compartments.
"They pared apples and snitzec
them; they told stories and dranl
the sweet cider; they danced, playec
games, songs Of hope and love, while
the young lovers stroVe to get to the
great wooden stirrer in company ant
agitate the boiling mass.
All this, and much more, is told IL
this unique cider-mill story. The old
time songs pertinent to the occasion
are given. Soon they will be entirely
forgotten. They were both quaint
and humorous. The illustrations are
numerous and excellent, showing moi
only the old-time cider press in all itf
parts, the apple-parers and comforta'
BILE kitchens, but the boys and girls al
their work and amusements. 1t IL
pleasant to read about such things
To those who have seen and been part
of all this it will recall many pleasant
memories. But such booklets possess
a higher value, one that can hardly be
measured in words, for they transmit
to the generations yet to come the
work, the amusements and the pleas
ures of their ancestors a century anc
more ago. 1t is species OF FOLKLORE
that has an historical value even now
and must continue to increase as the
generations of the future come and GO
A Thanksgiving Dinner.
Heavy eating is usually the first cause
OF Indigestion Repeated attacks in
fame the mucous membranes liningth'
stomach, exposes the nerves ofthe stom
ach, producing a swelling after eating
heartburn, headache, sour risings anC