The Democratic banner. (Mt. Vernon, Ohio) 1898-192?, 1916-03-17
some INTERESTING FACTS
ABOUT MONTH OF MARCH
(Philadelphia Ledger)

erage, for fnstance-for on the authori-
ty of Dumas beverages come into the
category of eats-there's the beverage.
as we started to say, that gave Alice
such curious feeling. Very nice it
was, with sort of mixed flavor, we
are told, of cherry tart, custard, pine
apple, roast turkey coffee and hot
buttered toast Very nice, indeed.
But now it's March. Lots of people
think that March is merely matter
of weather. The old almanac has it,
About this time look out for rain"
and the commentators add, for rob-
bins" The middle.aged inhabitant re-
calls that on March II, 1888, Philadel-
phia was in the grip Of the worst storm
in its history. The military expert re-
marks that the English won at Crecy
because rain wetted the bowstrings
of the Genoese archers, and that Rus
sian SHOWS made Napoleon's campaign
a-what dye call it?--oh, yes, de-
bacle. Now is the time when quoters
quote the line of Shakespeare about
the daffodils "that come before the
swallow dares and takes the winds of
March with beauty" or something like
that. And that quotation is its own ex-
cuse for being quoted. It's all right.
But March isn't wholly a matter of
weather and birds and flowers and bat
ties.
It's eats we're thinking of. And, in
cidentally, of weather, because the
eats we're thinking of aren't availa-
BILE without sugar weather. Maple
sugar! Oh, merry, marvellous month
of March!
Most maple sugar isn't maple sugar
at all. That is, it's just like politicians
who masquerade as Republicans or
Democrats, as the case may be. Not
the genuine article. Commercialized,
so to speak.
'Tis true, 'tis pity,
And pity 'tis, 'tis true.
The pity is that to many of my fell
low men maple sugar must remain for
ever sealed book.
Maple sugar, like poetry and paint
ing, has suffered the tragic fate of
commercialization In these decadent
times baser stuff circulates both in
city and country and men call it maple
sugar, but they know not whereof they
speak So glibly they pronounce the
name, so dispassionately, though re
spectfully and volubly that quite un
Willingly they display their ignorance
and misfortune. No wonder the Eng
lish language has fallen into disrepute
when tongues waggle foolishly over
royal words.
Charles Dudley Warner, lamenting
the vanishment of the true fireplace
was moved to say. "a cynic might sug
gest as the motto of modern life this
simple legend-'Just as good as the
real The essayist's sentiment ap
peals with the force and effect of com
prehension to the man who remembers
maple sugar. have myself watched
the windows of grocery stores at abou
this time of year for the annual dis
play of sugar cakes and against my
better judgment have never failed tt
yield to temptation. / do not advise
others to pass by: am not so bigotet
as that Let who will purchase ant
partake, but let them not lay the flat
tering JUNCTION to their souls that the!
have learned thereby the immorta
taste of maple sugar.
AS an interpreter | can merely sue
gest that amontillado, Mrs. Thrale'
tea, the honey of Hymettus, the am
brosia of the gods--these are as moth
ing, these are bitter and stale com
pared with the incompatible nectar o
the sugar maple. All that the poet
and prosemen have sung and said II
praise of the aforementioned delight
of the palate, If ii were gathered tc
gether, heaped up, pressed down an
running over, would be damning wit
faint praise. Even Lambs disserta
tion would be like sounding brass am
. a tmkling cymbal. Sweeter than roas
1 pig, sweeter far than honey and tn
I honeycomb is the fruit of the suga
D maple. Indeed, here is the one an
only instance in which there can righ
$ ly be no disputing of tastes.
The can be no appreciation of mapl
4 sugar without personal .acquain
D ance with a sugar snow.
$ Forth into the woods we went
: and Tommy Wells and Fred French
+ always some of us together. w
I watched the men boring holes throug
the bark, driving in the metal spout'
$ hanging up the tin buckets. Some
d times we essayed to help. When W
/ helped we helped spasmodically. Their
Q were many things to do. The dept
j of the snow in the hollows had to b
I measured, which didn't help the suga
II | Il o1G