The Waterbury Democrat., 1940-12-16

Der ISt, the New Y0rk hcraiu- Tribune Book magazine editors came to South Britain for their front cover. A winter scene by. cur Ernest Fiene slaps the reader square in the face. Twin lawns and doe peacefully pose between a sumac bush and an evergreen while underfOOt the wintergreen grows lush through the snow. It's 3 first class job of painting but the artist lacks imagination. What he needed to complete that picture was a Squaw Rock ranger sneaking up on the trio with a puffing game warden top" ping the ridge beyond.
 MT. Fiene has summer home up on the hill near the defective hospital. There has been consid- erable controversy about the clos ing of that highway, with town meetings and milk block debates on the subject. It seems that the State disregarded that road entirely when they got the w. F. A. warmed up on the ditch job and started them seeding down the lawns. Our town officials jockeyed around and bragged but they never plowed up the lawns. Mir. Fiene still gets his tax bills despite the fact that he has but one way to reach his property. The road is just a dead end trail to Fiene's gate.
 Perhaps the way the State in- truded on. town property gave that fellow the idea of building his garage on the abutments of the old bridge at Bridge Plaza? Everybody is pretty certain that the old bridge footing still be- longs to the taxpayers; everybody was just as certain that the closed road past MT. Feine's belonged to the town.
 Several out-of-state readers of this column have expressed quite natural curiosity about the recipe for felt-boot cider. Right here in town, Bill Starcheck asked the Democratic Town Chairman about it only just the other night. Tn response to these queries we have finally decided to unlimber a little backyard chemistry and pass on the recipe to all concerned.
 Felt-boOt cider Is a beverage. Lots of folks turn their backs on the best imported Scotch when felt-boOt cider Is available. It is used straight, with red pepper, beat up with eggs, and sprinkled with nutmeg. You can drink it hot or cold. Aunt Nellies who will turn up their noses at the usual run of liquor lap up felt-bOOt cider like 8 cat tapping ashes and then w0n- der where they catch the rheuma- tism and the gOut. Felt-b0ot cider has to be treated with respect. It's just like ice cream cones If one takes too much.
 Put Smith makes the best felt boot cider and many people be- lieve he originated the drink. Ac- cording to legend, there came a year when the rainfall was so heavy that every apple on thu Purchase was afflicted with drop sy. The cider that Fall was weak, pale, and low powered. Put straiIl- ed his through 8 three-year -old felt boot to improve the flavor and coloring; then he tried it out on the Little York boys to see how it worked in actual practice. It worked. The Little Workers got so cocky that they thought they owned the world. First thing any, body knew, they'd started to build a dam across the Housatonic to create power for 8 bigger cider mill. Nurserymen got postcards from Little York in every mail, or-. dering apple trees by carload lot. It was the traffic on Squeak street when those trees were delivered that started that nudhOle and ruined the road so. that the First SelectInan had to put up that '.5 Miles Unimproyed Road, Travel At Your Own Risk" sign. Felt-boot cider brought a lot of business to Little York. Put