[jjo. XL.]
THE TABLE T. No. XL.
ii Jn ill disposed citizen can do no gr-at harm, ex
cept in an ill difpofcd city."
MOST of the good or evil which happens
in society is ascribed to the agency of" ve
rVfe\v individuals. From this cause partial and
inadequate remedies are applied for the removal
ofdiforders which are general and permanent.
]n any community where enormous vices, or a
handoned characters exilt, it argues some radical
defect of institutions.
The natural indolence of the human mind
makes men contented with a flight and fuperfici
al view of things. It therefore happens that a
jew characters are apt to be marked out, as the
only instruments of the happinel's or misery of
which the world participates.
If the bulk of the inhabitants are inspired with
(rood principles, and formed into good habits,
they may be almost certain of prosperity. The
means are commensurate to the end. Those very
people however may select foine confpicu
ousindividuals as objects of adoration, and idol
ize them as the authors of those bleflings, which
result from the well ordered conduct of the so
c iety at large. On the other hand, in a very
loose, depraved state of morals, the most eminent
talents and uncorrupted integrity of a few men,
may not be fufficient to save a country from de
ftruftion ; and they may he charged with want of
wisdom or virtue,for not warding off evils, which
inevitably flowed from fucli general depravity.
Toiniitateand applaud such diltinguifhed virtues
has a good effect, whether "they are crowned
with the popular approbation or not. By over
awing; the good qualities of any individuals, it
llimulates others to pratftife similar virtues, and
aim at similar a tain meats.
The weakness of heaping too profufe encotni
umsupon illustrious talents and patriotifin, is not
so inconvenient as a miflake of a contrary nature.
Great inconvenience may attend the extremes of
acenforious temper. It may single out particu
larmen as victims to popular resentment, and
doom them a facrifice for evils which happen
through the general depravity of the times. An
ingenious writer, observing upon the complaints
of afa&ious felfilh people against their men in
office,draws a comparison between tliein and some
Carthagenian armies : Who being-at once cow
ardly and in lolent, ran away at the light of an
enemy, and then crucified their Generals for not
gaining the victory.
Few men have either disposition or talents to
attend to a minute investigation of causes. When
erroror calamity prevails, it is a much easier fo
lutio.i of the matter to charge them upon some
fatflts of individuals than to search out a cause in
the general temper and conduct of the mass of
thepeople. Men feel a certain pride in being
free,and lo >k upon their privileges too important
to lie still and nnexerted. They wish to give
frequent demonstrations that they are not igno
rant ofwhatthey poflefs. The more busy, active
spirits feel an impatience to display their rights,
and suppose they can only shew a commendable
care and vigilance over the liberties of the com
munity, in proportion as they reprobate the con
daft of men in administration.
Theliberty of a country cannot be destroyed
by the blunders or by the intrigues of small coin
binations. No people can lose their freedom
while they deserve to poflefs it. The occasional
mistakes of a few men produce no permanent
disasters. While the principles exifl which made
apeoplc free,they cannot be duped or forced in
to slavery: When those principles are loft, the
people may retain the name of freedom, but they
ire in reality Haves "In the reign of James
the second, Great Britain was free, though a
nefpotic prince was on the throne : At the time
when Cafar fell, Rome was still enslaved though
the tyrant was no more."
I will close this number with an extract from a
friiiih'e author. It is designed to illustrate the
a that the duration and prosperity of states de
pend on general and permanent causes.
Our manners depend upon our notions and
"pinions ; and our opinions and notions are the
feiult of education. There need not examples
„ rom hiflory to prove that the well-being of a
Jjte depends upon the education of theiryouth.
re cannot be a good and wife community made
J'Pof foolifh and vicious individuals ; and indi
•"•uaU cannot be made wife or cood, but by edu
ction.
'" all well regulated states the two principal
. oi.i'S in wiew in the education of youth ought
c ; firft to make them good men, good mem
, eis of the universal society of mankind ; and
" ,= riext place, to frame their minds in such a
SATURDAY, August 29, 1739.
manner, as to make them most nfeful to that so
ciety to which they belong ; and to (hapc their
talents in such a way as will render them most
serviceable to the support of that government un
der which they were born, and upon the strength
and vigor of which, the well-being of everyin
diuiclual must in some measure depend. If nei
ther of these points are provided for in our fy
item, I cannot fee how we are to expedt good
men or good fubjeifts. Naythe contrary must in
general be the consequence ; for tlje mind of man
jeing active will neceflarily find itfelf employ
ment. If our youth are not trained up in the
"ight way, they will probably go wrong ; if they
ire not taught to do good, they will be likely to
commit evil."
AMERICAN SUGAR.
IN the Pennsylvania Gazette of the 22a of
Dclober, there is a receipt for making sugar from
he fapof the maple tree,from wheiice I conclude it
is deemed a matter of some importance,both to the
country and those who have a great many of tliofe
trees 011 their land. I therefore think it would
be advifeable for two or three people in a neigh
bourhood, where theri* is a fulficient number of
trees, to engage a person who understands boil
ing sugar, to boil a season for them. He should
be under obligation to instruCt his employers,
or such persons as they fhuold think proper, how
lo do the business ; ' by this means, a greater
knowledge in the art of boiling might be acquir
ed, than by thebeft treatise that could be wrote
on the fubjecft; but as it is probable that few, if
any, of the inhabitants of those parts where the
trees grow, would go to the expence of employ
ing a man to boil for them, I shall make some
obi'ervations on making sugar from the sap of the
maple, that may po:iibly be ufeful to such as
engage in this business.
If the sap is drawn into wooden vefl'els, care
should be taken that they are made of such wood
is will not give the liquor a bad taste. Some ma
ple sugar has a disagreeable taste, occafioned,as I
lave been informed,by the sap having been put into
:rays made of white walnut. If the moulds are
made of wood, theyalfo should be made of some
kind of tree that will give no taste. The great
sftpart of the maple sugar I have seen has too small
a grain ; which is owing to two causes, one is,
the makers do not use lime or ley, or any thing
to make it granulate; the other is, that they
boil the sugar too much. The quantity of lime
neceflary to answer the purpose 1 cannot exactly
ascertain, but I suppose a heaped fpoonful of
fiacked lime would be fufficient for about fix gal
lons of sap. A judicious person, after a few tri
als, would be able to fix what would be the due
proportion. It may however be proper to men
tion, that if the quantity of lime is too final],
the sugar will not be fufficiently grained; if too
much, it will give the sugar a reddish cast. I
have observed, that the sugar should not be
boiled so much as is the common pracfiice. That
vhich runs from one sixth of its weight 111 molartcs
t O
in 24 hours after it is put to drain, I think has
been boiled properly ; perhaps in three or four
weeks afterwards, it will run the like quantity
□f molafies, making the whole of the running
about one third of the weight of the green su
gar. It is most probable that those who have
been accustomed to high boiling, in order to get
as much sugar as pofhble from the firft procels,
will not approve of this method, but perhaps
may be better reconciled to it, when they are in
formed, that if they boil this -molafles or sirup
witliftrong lime-water, one third of the latter to
two thirds of molasses, there is reason to expedl
it will make good sugar, although not equal to
the firft fort.
I lhall now give some Directions for the
making of Maple Sugar.
Let all the sap that has been collecfred in one
day be boiled the day folio wing,left it should fer
ment,in which cafe the sugar will be less in quan
tity and worse in quality. To carry on the bu
siness to the greatest advantage, there should be
at least three kettles of different dimensions ; per
haps such as would contain 50, 60, and 70 gal
lons, would be large enough to make the trial
with. These kettles should be fixed in a row,
the smallest at one end, the middle-sized next,
and the largest al the other end. When there
is a quantity of sap collected, put as much in the
largest kettle as can be conveniently boiled iu it,
then throw in as much lime or ley as may be deem
ed neceilary to make the liquor granulate, keep
a moderate fire for some time, and as the scum
rises take it off with a skimmer ; after the liquor
is pretty clear increase the fire and boil it brisk
ly till so much is evaporated as that which re-
r Published o>i Wedtufday and Saturday.']
mains may be boiled in the middle kettle ; * into
which it mull be drained through a blanket ; un
der this kettle keep a good fire, and take off the
scum as it rises. As soon as the liquor is taken
from the large and put into the middle kettle,
frefh sap mult be put into the former and treated
as before directed, and so on till all the sap is
boiled. When the liquor is fufticiently evaporat
ed in the middle kettle, to admit its being boiled
in the smallest, it must be put into thelaft, where
itmuft be boiled until it gets to a proper consis
tency to make sugar. When the liquor is taken
from the middle kettle into the smallest, the
former mult be supplied as before directed
from the largest, and the largest with frefh
sap. The liquor in the smallest kettle must
be boiled briskly until it gets pretty thick/when
:he fire should be leflened to prevent its bur
ning,—when the liquor riles in the kettle, a
piece of butter or fat, the bigness of a hazle
nut, may be thrown in; if this quantity does
not make it boil flat, more should be added until
it answers the purpose, and this must be repeat
ed as often as the liquor rises* When it is boil
ed enough, which may bt known fioin the man
ner f of its roping between the thumb and finger,
it must be put into'a cooler or tub,, when the
[mail kettle must be supplied with liquor from
:he middle sized one, that with more from the
largelt, and that wich freih sap as is before di
rected. When one third of the sap that has been
:ollecfted is boiled and put into the cooler, it rjiuft
be stirred about briskly with a stirring flick
(which may be made like a finall paddle) "until
it grains, when it may be left (if the buiinefs has
been well done) until another third of the liquor
lias been boiled and put into the cooler, it must
then be moved about with the stirring stick un
til the whole is well mixed ; when itmuft be put
into moulds, earthen would be best. but wooden
moulds may be made to answer the purpose, by
nailing or pinning four boards together, so shap
ed as to make the mould one inch diameter at
bottom, and ten or twelve inches at top ; the
length may be two feet or two feet and a half, —
these moulds must be clofelv flopped at the finall
ends with old coarse linen or some such
and set up with some thing to flay them ; the su
gar must then be taken from the cooler and pour
ed into the moulds—next morning the stoppers
must be taken out and the moulds put on troughs
or some veflel to drain their molalfes.—ln the e
vening the loaves must be pierced at the finall
ends, to make them run their sirup freely—this
may be done by driving a wooden pin (shaped
like amarling-fpike) three or four inches up the
loaf ; after which they must be left to drain their
molafles, which will be done in a longer orfhortr
er time according as the sugar has been boiled.
No part of the business requires greater atten
tion than granulating or grainingthe sugar in the
cooler, and afterwards frequently observing the
state it is in. If too thick, it may be etnedied
by boiling the remaining liquor lov:e! than that
which was boiled before : if too thin, by stirring
the cooler again, and boiling the remainder of
the liquor higher or more.
A SUGAR BOILER.
Philadelphia, August 21, 1789.
* Some liquor should be left in the large kettle, if
an iron one, otherwise there mould be danger of its
fpHtting upon putting in cold liquor.
f Dip a flick into the liquor, apply the thumb to it,
and take part of'juhat adheres to the flick, then draw
it tiuo or three times between the thumb and finger.
Anecdote of RICHARD 111.
From the Northern Tour of the Scv'd'W. Gilpin.
IN the town of Leicester, the lioufe is still shewn
where Richard palled the night before the bat
tle of Bofworth ; and there is a story of him,
still preserved in the Corporation Records, which
illullrates the caution and darkness of that Prin
ce's character. It was his custom to carry, among
the baggage of his camp, a cumbersome wooden
bed, which he pretended was the only bed he could
sleep on. Here he contrived a secret receptacle
for his treasure, which lay concealed under a
weight of timber. After the fatal day on which
Richard fell, the Earl of Richmond entered Leices
ter with his victorious troops—the friends of
Richard were pillaged ; but the bed was neglec
ted by every plunderer, as useless lumber. The
owner of the house afterwards dilcovering the
hoard, became suddenly rich,without any visible
canfe. He bought lands, and at length arrived
arthe dignity of being Mayor of Leicester. Many
years afterwards his widow,who had been left in
great affluence, was murdered for her wealth by
a servant maid, who had been privy to the affair ;
and at the trial of this woman and her nccomplices,
the whole tranfadtion catue to light.