The Savannah morning news., 1904-07-25
THE MANY SIDED MELON.

Poets innumerable have sung the
praises of the watermelon. But their
songs have invariably had reference to
the nectarine juice and the fakey red
meat, fit to tickle the palates of all the
gods and goddesses of Olympus. And
not one word. or line, or stanza, of real
praise has ever been said amiss-if
it was "a Georgia watermelon that in
spired the muse. In all the catalogue
of delectable fruits of the earth the
Georgia watermelon occupies a unique
place. 1t is the delight and solace Of
the poor and lowly, and the tit-bit of
the high and mighty. 1t cheers, but
does not inebriate; it fills without Civ
ing one "a head" in the morning. But
it is not with respect to the poetic
side of the watermelon that we pro-
pose to speak now. 1t has also a
unitarian side, which is probably not
appreciated at its full worth.
1t has lately been announced that a
process has been brought into use for
the extraction of sugar from water
melon juice. That the juice contains
ohBdi 10 wen hilONAly NllOu6h Tic pei
centage is so small that heretofore it
has been regarded as impracticable to
extract it for commercial purposes.
Along with this announcement is an
other, that a fine table syrup can be
made from the juice. 1t does not keep
readily in bulk, it is said, but when
bottled and Theoretically sealed, may
no kent for nnfhG in fnp condition
Formerly the rinds We're thrown away
or sent to feed the stock. Now each
year economical housewives utilize in
creasing quantities of rinds for pre-
serving and picking. There is no more
delicious preserve made than the wat
ermelon rind preserve, when the
maker knows how to cook it right;
nor is the citron of italy better for
frutcake. And in pickles, too, the mel
onrind is capable of treatment that
makes it delicious.
But did it ever occur to the reader
that melonrinds might be used as a
weapon of offense in breaking a strike ?
That is what occurred in Newburg, N.
Y, a few days ago. And the melon
rind forces won. There was a strike
of motormen and conductors on the
trolley lines in the city named. The
company undertook to run the cars
with non-union labor. The strikers
accompanied by their sisters and their
cousins and their aunts, and about all
the small boys i'm town, gathered along
the lines and cut watermelons. When
they had eaten the meat out of the
melons they carefully laid the rinds
upon the rails-that is, most of them
A good many of the thicker and more
solid kind they reserved TO he used
in pelting the men on the cars. Well
the cars came bowling along, struck
the melonrinds. skidded for a space
and stopped. The brakes wouldn't
work. There was no getting along over
the rinds. 1t would have taken a large
force of men to keep the tracks clear
so many melons had been cut and sc
many were the willing hands to replace
on rails rinds that had been removed
And when a car stopped, a pelting fire
OF watermelon rinds assailed the mo.
torman and conductor. A piece of rind
will not cripple a man. but il will give
a sound thump If we'll thrown.
To cut the story short, when the
company found itself up against d
watermelon rind warfare, It capitulat.
ed. 1t might have held out against
/ dynamite, but to be attacked with
watermelon weapons was too much
for it.