AMERICAN DAIRYING, 
469 
they wended their way to the general rendezvous, all exuberant 
with the spirit of the occasion. It was not only a great glad gath¬ 
ering of all the people of the town, but of half of their yoked oxen 
and family horses, and these stepped off in the march with the ani¬ 
mation of a holiday. 
An enormous hoop had been prepared, placed upon the bed of the 
cider press, which had been well purified for the work, and covered 
with a false bottom of the purest material. The hoop resting on 
this formed a huge cheese box or segment of a cistern, and was 
placed directly under three powerful wooden screws which turned 
up the massive head block above. 
A committee of arrangements met the contributors as they ar¬ 
rived and conducted them to the great, white, shallow vat into which 
they poured their contingents of curd, from the large tubs of well- 
to-do dairymen to the six quart pail of the poor owner of a single 
cow. When th'e last contribution was given in, a select committee 
of the town addressed themselves to the nice and delicate task of 
mixing and flavoring and tinting such a mass of curd as was never 
brought to press before. But the farmers’ wives of Cheshire were 
equal to the duty and responsibility of the office. 
All was now ready for the coup de grace of the operation. The 
signal was given; the ponderous screws twisted themselves out 
from the huge beam overhead with even thread and line. And now 
the whev ran around the circular channels of the board bed in little 
foamy, bubbling rivers. The machinery worked to a charm. The 
stout young farmers manned the long levers; the screws crer.ked, 
and posts and beams responded to the pressure with a sound be¬ 
tween a puff and a groan. It was a complete success. The young 
men in their shirt sleeves, and with flushed and moistened faces, 
rested at the levers, for they had moved them to the last inch of 
their force. All the congregation, with the children in the middle, 
stood in a compact circle around this great press. The June sun 
brightened their faces with its most genial beams, and brought into 
the happiest illumination the thoughts that beat in their hearts. 
Then Elder Leland, standing up on a block of wood, and with his 
deep-lined face overlooking the whole assembly, spread out his 
great toil-hardened hands, and looking steadfastly with open eyes 
heavenward, as if to see the pathway of his thanksgiving to God 
and the return blessing on its descent, offered up the gladness and 
