The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1919-03-12
..gHEtsAp IS RUNNING.
Editorial From Recent Issue of Los
Angeles Daily Times.

ming recently appeared in the Los Angeles
Daily Times, and it has the earmarks OF
having been written by a former Yer.
monter. 1t is reprinted herewith:
The clock of springs glory hour hasl
struck high noon in Vermont and Ohio.
The maple sugar season is on The sap
is running
Dance, We eulprit fays, in honor of the
annual event; let fairies attend the cele-
hration of the great feast furnished bv
the naples. The revels are about to be-
GIN
The alternate freezing and thaWNing BY
the frost and soft winds of the early
spring are releasing the nectar; the bend
ing naples that cover thousand hills,
that bow their daily obeisanee to the
vagrom winds and offer to man the most
delicious and appetizing sweetness known
on the footstool of God, arr giving down
the sugary, honeyed, redolent and fra:
grant fluid that goes to make up the feast |
that Lucullus might have envied.
All during the icy winter the sap has
been locked in the kindly embrace OF the
/ wood, only to be released when the sun
smiles from an early spring sky; when
the ice begins to melt and the snow IS
resolving itself back into the chilly water /
when the dandelion begins to spring from
under the grass and the hminary of the
day lodges in and out from behind the
clouds like game of peek-a-boo-the
the maple sap begins to rum
| February and March are the months
for the harvest, and from the lakes to
the river every maple grove sets out to
break record And after the harvest il
gathered few there be among the good
farmers wives who do not take goodly
portion OF the product of molasses and
sugar to friends and neighbors, something
as in the butchering time in the fall.
when they carry enough sausage, spare
ribs, etc, to last family week.
Heigho, those happy times! Don't the
lold-fashioned folk remember when mother
used to be able to turn buckwheat cake
on the griddle on the stove without get
ting out o. her seat, and the singing OF
the teakettle drowned out the discussion
whether the family should say them"
or those" molasses? The question has
never yet been settled. And the buck.
wheat cakes with the hilloeks OF yellow
butter that beckoned hungry man to
joys eternal, and an irrigation OF pure
maple molasses that can be tasted yeti
What excitement there was on the farm
when the sap began to run! It always
happened before the spring blowing and
when the boys were busy getting the
crieks out of their back caused by trying
to get on their snow soaked boots by kick
! ing the counters up against the door lamb
. and walking like man with foot full
Of cerns the balance OF the day. Then it
was that jocund spring stood tiptoe on
the misty hills on the horizons rim, but
bent itself to coaxing the sap down the
maple trees For. Ike a COW before civ
ing down its milk through the udder,
the tree had to be coaxed.
Oh, yes, and there were the spigots to
carry the sweet waters to the troughs
/ and the Maynard boys who used to get
: in the grove and steal enough of the sap
/ To float Il battleship; the buckets tina;
+ served to convey the fluid to the bic
S kettles where the boiling took place: the
1 'susaring oft, the maple wax we used tc
make and finally the sugar with the fla
Q vor that would tempt the jaded palat.
Of an epieure.
5 1t was in old-fashioned days, To b,
e sure; but the food Of recollcctions that
). crowd in review only strengthen tn,
z thought that those old times were oul
; best 1t was a homely enjoyment. but
0 were none quite so satisfactory as thos,
> OF the maple-sugar season.
The boys Of that day arc among th,
It captains of industry now The girls VIII,
5 tantaized us with their ro.ulish curh
= and dancing eyes are the mothers OF TIN
4 day aud generation The fathers Of tha
hour sleep in the ride village hainlets o.
; the country burying ground, where i
u-aG al .bc 10, al
!, ers back to the home of the dead person
: for big country dinner after the burial
ii How things have changed since then
+ The pure maple molasses or syrup o
Y the stores is a delusion and snare. an,
d the maple sugar is the greatest ineen
it tive to profanity OF which we have an,
r knowledge Both are put up in package
J. designed to deceive the very elect, bu
d the taste, aye there's the rub; it is an
$ abomination; there is nothing like il un
, der the sun
d What graceful thing a maple tree is
There is no more beautiful creation at tin
= hands of Benefecnt Being. and it i
y always useful. When Young, before i
!. begins to feel the JOY of lie in tie sal
N that courses through its veins and fiber
9 it serves as material for whistles for tn
e boys on the place. Later on il blossom
], out into a sap-produeer and, like an hon
e est ultimate consumer is always on tn
It lob. To be sure a maple tree does no
II live forever, but it grows old GRACEFUL,
IS Ike King Lear before lis hair had brei
lie turned gray by his distraught daughters
Regan, Goneril and Cordelia.
Isl 4 maple tree never complains of how
It the war was fought, or whether we sboul,
is accept the fourteen principles OF ON nobl
d President. Ii never spends any time a
Of the Dutchman's around the corner discus
" sing tie Balkan war cloud while mothe
le takes in washing Unlike some men 0
ID which we wot. it never slops over and,
IN ever tempted to run foi Office, would no
X have the crust to claim that it was force,
into the fight by its friends. 1t stand