Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-11-28
THE CHAFFING DISH

For several moments revolution and anar-
chy reccded, protiteers were tanned, capital
and labor purred together on mattress OF
catnip and the cosmos became a free verse
poem He did not even utter the customary
and ungracious remark of those to whom
cider potations are given: ''That'll be at its
best in about week" We apologized for
the cider being little warmish from stand
ing (discreetly hidden) under our desk.
Douce man, he said 81 think cider, like
ale. ought not to be drunk too cold. like
it just this way He stood for a moment,
filled with theology and metaphysics. by
gracious" he said, sit makes all the other
stuff taste like poison" Still he stood for
brief instant, transfxed with complete bliss.
1t was apparent to us thaG his mind was
busy with apple orchards ami autumn sun
shine Perhaps he was wo .Gering whether
he could make poem out " it. Then he
turned softly and went back to his job in
life insurance office.
A S FOR ourself, We then poured out
"A another tumbler, lit a corncob pipe and
meditated. Falstaff once said that he had
forgotten what the inside of church looked
like. There will come time when many OF
us will perhaps have forgotten what the in
side of saloon looked like, but there will
still be the consolation of the cider jug. Like
InS smell OF roasting CneSluuJS anu lue GULL
Portable equatorial warmth of an oyster stew,
it is consolation hard to put into words. 1t
calls irresistibly for tobacco; in fact the true
cider topper always pulls long puff at his
pipe before each drink and blows some of the
smoke into the glass SO that he gulps down
some of the blue reek with his draught. Just
why this should be, we know not. Also some
enthusiasts insist on having small sugared
cookies with their cider others cry loudly
for Reading pretzels Some have ingenious
theories about letting the jug stand, either
tightly stoppered else unstoppered, until
it becomes "hard." In our experience hard
cider is distressingly like dr:cking vinegar.
We prefer it soft, with all its sweetness and
the transfusing SAVIOR of the fruit animating
it, At the peak of its deliciousness it has
small airy sparkle against the roof of the
mouth, delicate tactile sensation like the
feet of dancing flies. This, we presume, is
the Az to Z per cent of sin with which fer
mented cider is credited by works of refer
ence. There are pedants and bigots who in
sist that the jug must be stoppered with q
corncob. For our own part, the stopper does
not stay in the neck long enough after the
demijohn reaches us to make it worth while
worrying about this matter. Yet nice at
tention to detail may prove that the cob
has some secret affinity with cider, for a
Missouri meerschaum never tastes SO well
as after three glasses Of this rustic elixir.
HNHAT ingenious student of social niceties,
Il John Mistletoe, in his famous Dictionary
of Deplorable Facts--a book which we
heartily commend to the curious, for he in
cludes a long and most informing article on
cider, tracing it's etymology from the old
Hebrew word shalSar meaning ito quaff
deeply'-maintains that cider should only
be drunk beside an open fire Cf applewood
logs:
And preferably on an evening of storm and
wetness when the swish and sudden patter-
ing Of rain against the panes lend an added
agreeable snugness to the cheerful scene
within, where master and dame sit by the
rosy hearth frying sausages in pan laid
on the embers.
This reminds one Of the onecdote related
by ex Senator Beveridge in his Life of John
Marshall. Justice Story told his wife that
the Justices of the Supreme Court were of q
self denying habit, never taking wine ex.
cent in wet weather. 'But it does some
times happen that the Chief Justice will saw
to me, when the cloth is removed Brother
story, step to the window and see if 1t does
not look like rain And if l tell him that
the sun is shining brightly, Judge Marshall
will sometimes reply, AN the better, for
| our jurisdiction extends over so large n
territory that the doctrine of chances makes
it certain that it must be raining some
| where.
Our own theory about cider is that the
| time to drink It is when il reaches YOU: and
| if it halls from Chester county, so much the
socHATEs.