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THIS IS HOW IT WAS THAT I…

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THIS IS HOW IT WAS THAT I HOPKINS' Farm-house Bread WAS FIRST DISCOVERED! JmWAS in March, 18G4, and the place was — Dowlais, and something happened, I forget what, some great man died or was married, however, we were face to faoe with a whole' holiday and we two, Dai and 1, were shop assistants, aetat 22 and 24, the question was what were we to do with ourselves so as to get the greatest amount of pleasure out of an idle day or holiday. I was for a long walk westward over the mountains to Llanwonno Church and public- house, where I remembered a certain vessel made of tin, with a long handle, which held about a quart, usually beer with something in it. It was wide at the top and ran down to nothing on the bottom, or at least to a sliarp point. This sharp point was thrust down into tlie middle of a coal fire, and was called lA MULLER After a ten-mile walk over hill and dale in the windy March weather, most people were glad to meet the Muller AT LLANWONNO. For it had no attraction for Dai, he was for going east as far as Gelligaer, where there was another Church on the top of a mountain too, and a "pub," close by which was a farm as well, and noted for RUM and SHRUB. Gelligaer carried the day, so next morning after breakfast, we left smoky Dowlais, by way of Pwllywhiad and Twyn-y-wain, and made past Cwmbargoed and Cwmfelin towards Gelli- gaer, we met no one but Mary'r Sa'm, whose work all the week was to oil the trams at Rhos Lias, and having a holiday herself thought she could not do better than hunt up lost sprags, a tumbling chain or a missing cast iron double- parting—thus the devoted Mary was, all un- consciously, a link in the happy chain that forged one hundred thousand pounds a year, to be spent in Camford, Dorset, or, failing ability to spend all, to invest in land in the Vale of Glamorgan. At length we arrived at Gelligaer-we should, ho ivever, never have got there had it not been for Dai who knew the lay of the land, he having been born at Cwm Ysgwydd Gwyn, in the same parish—but we were tired and hungry as hunters. In those we were quite independent, having 2s. Id. in cash between us, we treated a collier in the kitchen to a pint of beer, and sat down to rest. It now turned out that Dai knew Mary, the servant at the public, she was from Cilhaul, and was a very pretty neat- handed Phyllis—nothing was now too good for U1 two-we must have some fried bacon and eggs, which was soon brought in, and such a lovely LOAF OF BREAD, off which she cut a thick round. On that day an appetite was found at Gelli- gaer, it may or may not be found there now, I cannot say, but we had walked six or seven miles, were young and strong, and had not called on the way, because there Was nowhere to call, so we cleared the bread and bacon then Dai opened his mouth and said, u Was' did you ever see bread like that ? I was bound to admit I never had, and forthwith began to question Mary as to how it was made, she didn't seem to want to talk about it to me, but wanted to talk to Dai, who was a very handsome young man, and in religion a Latter Day Saint (soon after this he emigrated to near Salt Lake City, where they gave him a square mile of land, he married a wife and increased in flocks and herds, and had sealed on to him four other wives, and as late as 1888 wrote me to get him a tutor for his 21 boys and girls). However, the secret of late as 1888 wrote me to get him a tutor for his 21 boys and girls). However, the secret of that bread I was bound to have. I found it was made from Spiller and Brown's Extras bought at Shop Chain, Caeharris, and raised with barm from Pengam public, where they brewed their own beer (the secret of that barm is now in the keeping of William Pritchard Esq., Rhymney Brewery), the bread was baked in an oven built out of the wall in the back kitchen, and heated with a coal fire lit in the centre, then flashed with sticks and stumps of trees, after the wood had burned itself out, a piece of as old oat sack fastened on to a broom handle was used as a scuffle to clean the bottom, the dough was in a pan before the fire with a snow-white cloth over the top, this was turned out on a clean deal table, cut into four large pieces, moulded up, and put in the oven quick a huge flat stone was put up as a door to the oven, and made fast by a gambrel with a wooden wedge, and a clayey mixture was pasted round the edge of the stone to make it air-tight. Here lies the whole secret of FARM HOUSE BREAD! [.Reverting to our xtory. Dai and I ultimately tried the Rum and Shrub, which had a peculiar effect on us, for on our return we failed to find the road back as we .had come, but instead, strayed in a southerly direction, and after crossing a valley, made our way up a hill overlooking Troedvrhiw here on the top of Heol Mvnach we found a land sur- veyor with a theodolyte, some helpers with chains and pegs, settling a boundary dispute between the Baroness Windsor and Richard Fothergill as to some coal royalties. In our ignorance we thought the instrument was a spying glass, but the genial surveyor explained, 11 c;1 and gave us an interesting lecture on the Ancient Britons, which so set us thinking that we lost our way until we pulled up at Forest Farm, where dear old Mrs. Pritchard gave us some bread and real toasted Caerphilly cheese we then struck for home, past the Danderry Coke Ovens all ablaze. Wo were tired when we got to Troedyrhiw Station, and innocently asked for tickets to Top Dowlais. The booking clerk grinned, but booked us to Merthyr, where we were lucky enough to find Mike the Milk with his mule and cart, who gave us a ride to Geliyfaelog Bridge We then explored Cwm- rhyd-y-bedd, and got home to dream of FARM HOUSE BREAD! I have been dreaming of it ever since, and I now offer it to Cardiff in all its purity.

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