Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1920-09-05
RHEIMS. August s, 1920.

RHEIMS, August 8. 1SIo.
On invitation Of the municipality
and the Marquis do Polignac have
been seeing everything in this proud
and rich old city Of Champagne. de-
Hberately destroyed by tho Germans.
But beforehand. here is q very
striking fact. It shows what Rheims
was thinking about in June, 1sl4-
when Germany was preparing with
termite and T. N. T.!
In June, 1914. being at Rheims, l
wrote a long, illustrated article. pub
lished in The Star on Sunday, July 5,
1914. entitled:
ITO Celebrate the Pop!
payne. Wine of Kings and Americans.
Grandiose Fetes PREPARING at Rheims
for 1916"
told about the unique and beauti-
full anniversary fair that was to run
all summer in 1916 in Rheims and
Epernay. with pageants and historical
reconstructions. to celebrate Dom
Perignon. cellar master Of Hautevil-
Tiers Abbey. $50 years previously. 1t
was before prohibition had been
leans" was STILL" without a pop or
fzz. BY replacing antique plugs of
fax with wooden corks Dom Perignon
invented latent fermentation-andb be-
came the man who discovered the
pop!
class, but the most hygienic in 1916
would have approved the alive NOV
ing pictures which were to honor a
natural light wine. not fortified"
with alcohol. Pretty girls, under vine
shaded trelnses. were to tell monsieur
a n Yyn0 In hA h NJ Uni n ssfyV
charged with alcohol of the potato.
The wine. perhaps, is not SO bad-but
the potato! Germany alone was con-
cocting 100000 quarts of headachy
stun annually to give a bad name to
the province and bring SORROW to
families. But this is a wine natural,
sparkling Of its own nice little fer
mentation only, barely per cent, not
raised"
A feature Of the jubilee was to have
been the restoration Of Houtevilliers
Abbey. where, a quarter Of a thou
sand years ago. Dom lPerignon dis
covered "the pop"
Could there really be a better
propaganda against dangerous drink,
made strong by doctoring with extra
alcohol. than those moving pictures
Of the old brother strolling through
HIS CeildfS TO inspect the bottles,
slumbering like an army? Neither
champagne nor any other wine had
ever Weakened. up to the time of Dom
Perignon. How did it happen? The
invention Of the cork was the prime
element. but the deep cellars Of the
abbey favored it, and he may have
checked active fermentation and con-
verted it into latent by a chance re-
nova! of casks to q cold temperature.
Suddenly the old Dom thrills. Be-
fore his eyes a cork jumps from its
bottle Then another, and another.
and wine gushes, flowing on the cell
lar floor! Stupefied, he seizes a bottle.
Extraordinary phenomenon! From its
mouth a strange foam trembles, I'M
known. golden. and Dom tries a little
OF the effervescing liquid in his little
silver goblet He tastes, in-breathes
the fragrant gases. He sniffs down
the winged perfumes to the depths of
his lungs. mixes them with the oxy-
gen of his life, with the reddest Of
his blood! He takes a first gulp of
the liquid-the first swallow of spark
ling champagne in the world, com
posed Of grace, force, gayety-and
made by God. without the chemist
Il am drinking stars" exclaims
Dom Perignon. He wonders to watch
the meteor shower of laughing bub-
bles dancing up continuously. He
kneels to thank God for a miracle.