Evening star., 1925-09-12
Come again, Mr.. Popcorn Man.

Come again, Mr.. Popcorn Man!
He came along our street that hot
afternoon when the crickets begar
to sing out of their due season, and
he brought to us touch of older
times, when we were kids with grand
.appetites for such buttered ware.
Hot buttered popcorn!
What mouth does not water, nc
matter it's age, at the sight, and espe
cially at the smell, of this delicacyi
Race and creed vanish at the odor
and we are all children again, but this
time with plenty of nickels in our
pockets to trade for the buttery bags
handed over by the vender.
Methinks Omar must have had but
tered popcorn In mind when he wrote
his immortal lines about IT wonder
what 1t is the vintner buys one-half 50
precious as the thing he sells"
This is the truth, and nothing but
the truth, about hot buttered pop
corn. For the small sum of cents
half a dime, we secure a bag OF
haVory puffed grains, warm. satiny
sending up the mingled odor of melted
butter and salt, deftly combined with
their own inimitable smell.
Surely the odor of popped corn is
unique, most unique" as some IN
sist on saying. and I am not sure but
that in relation to popcorn the
statement is quite grammatical.
There is nothing luxurious about
popped corn. There is no nourish.
ment in barrel of it, or precious
little. but, ah! That tastel That taste
II we live to be a million years
old, and have partaken of all the eat
ables gathered from pole TO pole. and
at the end are confronted with a
steaming dish Of freshly popped corn
we will arise in our long white whis.
kers and say, Gimme
X
Yes. that is just how much we thinl,
of hot buttered popcorn. Notice we
do not leave out a single word. II
must be hot, and it must be buttered
and, of course, it must be popped
Popcorn, before 1t is popped, is the
most unromantic looking thing in ex
istence.
1t looks utterly good for nothing in
this world of ours but to be fed to
horses. But, like so many other ugly
ducklings, 1t has possibilities.
My. what possibilities!
DO you recall. as a youth, the first
time you were invited over to grand
mas to your first popcorn party, in
all the dignity OF your 6 years?
Popcorn was one of the articles
that small-town folk could afford
somewhat freely. Popcorn did not
cost very much, and 1t did turn into
a great deal. as you shortly were to
see. First 1t had to be shelled. Then
the pepper was gotten out.
The pepper in those days was a
wire mouse cage-or so 1t seemed to
you--on the end of a long stick II
had a hinged lid, that caught at the
open end with a little hook that
seemed to you to be the height Of in.
geniousness
Grandma put a handful of the corn
into the pepper, then deftly lifted the
invention out over the flaming logs
in the fireplace. Yes, they had real
fireplaces in those days Chey didn't
have anything else)
Back and forth jiggled the pepper,
held at the proper distance. Pop.
Pop! Pop! The corn began to live up
to it's name. Pop. Pop! Pop, AS If
eager to burst forth from the cage,
the white butterflies that previously
had been little yellow things leaped
against the wires.
Fuller and fuller got the pepper,
until very soon there was no room left
for movement, and the pepper had
taken on the appearance Of a cage of
snow.
The catch was Tipped open, the de-
licious corn tumbled forth into a
great bowl on the table there beside
the coal oil lamp. We could scarcely
wait, the aroma was so enticing, but
it was necessary to hold our horses y
as grandpa said, until the bowl was
nearly full.
All this time some butter-real