The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1902-03-08
THE SEDUCTIVE MINT JuLEp.

Do you crush the mint, or don't
your
So far as can be discovered this is
the rock from which the concocters
of the seductive julep stagger apart.
Ask an old Virginian and watch him
bristle.
Darn it, man, don't talk folly.
OF course you don't. The mint is
meant to SMELL Do you think I eat
grass like horse ?"
Then PROFOUND your question to a
member of the advanced school. He
will smile blandly upon you and
smack his lips.
"Of course, those old fellows are
all right, but we move quickly now.
They are to be honored for the dis
covery, but we have improved upon
it. You crush it to get the taste,
then put some choice sprigs in the
top"
These are the two beliefs, and
since that first time in the long ago
when schoolboy discovered the prop
critics of the now famous mint, this
controversy has been waged.
Many are the stories of the discov-
cry, but the only authentic one is
vouched for by half a dozen old South
erners who know whereof they speak.
Near an old school house in Vir-
ginia was famous spring. No one
knew just why the water was cooler,
more pleasant and altogether more
satisfying than the water of other
springs about. The fact, though,
was generally admitted.
The name of the school was "hare
and hound" T" When the youngsters
would come in hot and tired they al
ways rushed for the cool spring. The
last ones there, of course, had to
wait until the others were through
drinking. There was one youngster
not SO fast as the rest, but with bet
ter head. He always went leisurely
to another spring not SO good, but
where he could drink undisturbed.
Finally the teacher noticed the
lads action and asked:
"Tom, why is it you go to that
spring right out in the open where
the water is hot, instead of the cool
one under the willows?"
'tIt all tastes the same to me" an
swered the boy.
THAT is impossible" said the
teacher.
The lad flushed up. "Well,
reckon l drink it," he said. "I
oughter know. I jest get some grass
from around that spring under the
trees and eat it and then the water
out in the sun tastes just as cool as
lhat in the shade. If you don't be-
lieve it, just you try"
His teacher did try and found what
the lad said was true. An that was
the discovery of the mint, for such
was the grass about the shaded
spring. The teacher figured that by
putting some of the cool weed in his
whisky and water the decoction would
be cool. The smell of the plant was
also pleasant to his nostrils.
That teacher is said to have been
Col. Abe Carter, one of the famous
Virginia Carriers, and to him proper
ly belongs the honor of having dis
covered, by accident, the mint julep.
The name of the boy to whom the
credit really belongs has been lost in
oblivion.
A reporter athirst for information
started out to make the rounds in an
endeavor to discover for himself just
what constitutes the perfect julep.
First he sought the old Virginia col
onel. With that courtliness which
cannot now be duplicated, the old
cavalier welcomed his guest. Come
right in, my son. A julep, you say?
Of course" Raising his voice, he
called: Caesar" The old body
servant appeared. Caesar, some
mint and cracked ice."
"Now, now, my boy, don't say
you just wanted to know. That is
impossible. Watch, drink and be
wise"
Watch, said the Colonel.
Into the glass he poured measure
of water. just an ounce, no more, no
less. Then he reflled the measure
with whisky, guaranteed to be 20
years old.
lust smell that, my boy" he
said, lovingly. mot headache in
the barrel"