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A CORNER IN SWEETS
By W. F. FRENCH
C T . MONAHAN served a
boyhood apprenticeship
under his father, a maker of
sweets. And so he learned
to make candy. But he had
other ambitions—he did not believe that
his future lay in the confectionery business.
His ambition was to become a
banker and his father wisely agreed and
educated him for that work.
As long as his parent was actively
engaged in turning out sugar dainties
the young bank clerk was not particularly
interested in candy. But there came
a day when he could no longer draw an
unlimited supply of sweets from his
father's workshop and he became a
patron of the public candy factory. It
was then that he realized the fact that
there was candy and candy. He says:
T really never knew how good Dad's
candy was until I began to eat the stuff
that the other clerks here in the bank
bought—then I began to crave for some
of the sweets I used to have at home.
This desire naturally led me to experiment
in my kitchen one night. My first
batch proved that father had drummed
the art of candy making into me while
I worked with him. It tasted so good
that I just kept right on making it—•
pretty nearly every night. And I did it
just to satisfy my own desire for good
candy."
But somehow his friends feel that his
wife's love for sweets might possibly
have helped him into his apron a couple
of times a week. At any rate that little
woman lost no time in getting into the
candy harness and between them they
kept their friends well supplied with
confectionery. It was inevitable that he
must eventually take a sample of his
"home made" candy to his friends in the
bank and it was also inevitable that they
must clamor for more. So every morning
found C. T. Monahan entering his
bank with a large box of candy under
his arm and every evening found him
more popular with the lady workers of
that institution. Even the officers learned
to smile anticipatingly toward the drawer
in which he kept his candy.
"But", confesses the bank clerk candy
artist, "sugar costs money, chocolate
costs money and flavorings cost money;
and although we enjoyed it we did not
feel that making candy was the grandest
pastime in the world. So we decided
that if our friends were so very fond of
our candy and so anxious to get it they
ought to be willing to pay for it. And
when we gave them a chance they proved
to us that they were. Those who had
been in the habit of getting a few pieces
occasionally from me now calmly ordered
two, three or five pounds at the very
start. In fact it seemed that our proposal
to sell candy was just what they
had been waiting for. We were at first
amazed, then flattered and then dumbfounded.
But my wife was willing and
buckled right down. We started a little
candy business at home in her name and
sold to our friends in the neighborhood
and at the bank. We would go out into
our kitchen together a couple of nights a
week and make a big batch of candy.
We would be rid of this in a very short
time—a day or two.
"It wasn't long before we had to fit up
a room especially for candy-making.
Right then I realized that I had inherited
another feature from my father and that
was an inability to work under any but
the most sanitary conditions. So we set
about to fix up what we thought would
be the right kind of a candy-making
room. First of all we scoured it absolutely
clean and then painted it all white.
My father always said that as long as
you kept a room white it was pretty hard
for any dirt to hide from you. Then we
put in a couple of gas shelves for cooking
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