Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1911-10-12
fro BE
Good Elderberry
Wine
By M. QUAD
Copyright. 1911, by Associated Lit
erary Press.

One summers day in the long ago,
when you could meet a lightning rod
outfit at every five miles on the high
way, II of the craft drove into the
town of Plainteld. In showing off his
fine horses he ran over IA hog. and the
hog imped squealing away. 1t was
nothing to make a fuss over, and none
would have been made if the hog
hadn't belonged to Elder Carpenter.
The elder vas a solemn, severe man.
He happened to be passing at the time
the animal was run over, and he
caught a laugh and an oath from the
lips Of the man Of lightning. What
does he do but go before a justice and
swear out a warrant for malicious in
jury to a hog. An arrest and trial fol-
lowed. Of course the lightning rod
man testified on his W behalf that
no malice existed. He and the elders
hog had never met before. He was
driving up to the hotel in a fancy way
to show off before the loafers sitting
on the veranda, and the hog was I'M
seen until too late.
At the conclusion Of the trial the
lightning rod man told the elder and
about forty others what he thought of
them, their town and their fathers and
mothers before them, and there was q
fight, in which he got badly banged up
and driven out of town. OF course he
wanted to get yer You must know
that there is a fellow feeling between
men who are skinning the public, and
1t was quite natural that the elders
victim should select a tin peddler as
his instrument for carrying out his
plan.
A shallow river runs through Plain
field. At that time it's banks were
lined for a mile up and down with ell
derberry bushes. Toward the last Of
August the clusters Of berries were a
sight to see. One could gather a wag-
onload in half a day. One day a tin
peddler stopped to gather a couple Of
bushels. In answer to inquiries he stat
ed that he was going to make elder
berry wine after a recipe brought from
China by a missionary. Your mother.
If she lived in the country, used to
make wine Of these berries, but only
in limited quantity. 1t isn't the bev-
erage to make one enthuse. There was
considerable talk about the tin ped
dler and his Chinese recipe, and an ex-
element followed. He returned to
Plainfield with a twenty gallon keg Of
new wine, and wanted to form a syn
dictate for gathering the berries and
making the wine. He had with him a
letter purporting to come from a large
wine house and Offering him So a gal
Ion for all the elderberry wine he
could ship.
Six hundred dollars was the cash
capital wanted for a press and build
ing and to pay for the gathering. The
dividends for the season would be 100
per cent. There was no hayseed in the
hair Of the population of Plainfield.
The peddler's talk sounded all right.
but the people said he must show them
before they invested. That was why
that twenty gallon keg was placed on
the tavern yeranda. and the public
asked to help themselves. Elder. Car
penter was n temperance man right
down to refusing ginger beer, but he
saw no hurt In manufacturing a good
brand Of elderberry wine and selling II
for medicinal purposes.
II vas three hours before the keg
was empty. and by that time II was
the universal verdict That the peddler