Soda Fountains – An American Icon by Linda Hoover

                                                     

When you think of a soda fountain, you might also think of the TV show Happy Days. The fifties were actually the end of the soda fountain golden age. My novella, Heart of Grace, is set in 1890, which, according to one source I read, is considered the beginning of the golden age. At that time, you’d find them in drug stores because the pharmacists promoted the drinks as medicinal. I took a deep dive into the history to see when it became a good idea to drink carbonated water, and was surprised to learn that as far back as 43 AD, people were going to Bath in England to drink or immerse themselves in the mineral waters there.


Fast forward to 1621, and you learn that the British are credited with being the first to bottle water and sell it. A resurgence in visiting spas and undergoing water therapy emerged among Europeans and American colonists in the 17th and 18th centuries. As early as 1767, Americans could purchase bottled water at a spa in Boston. In 1807, Henry Thompson received a patent for a method of infusing water with carbon dioxide. It was commonly called soda water even though it had no sodium carbonate in it.

Soda fountains began in Europe but had their biggest success in the U.S., where a Yale chemistry professor, among others, introduced Americans to soda water. He did such a brisk business in New Haven, CT, that he made bigger fountains and hired help. It didn’t take long for more businessmen to open shops in cities like New York and Philadelphia. Over time, fountains improved, and flavor was added to the water. In the beginning, soda fountains were found primarily in drug stores because pharmacists promoted the drinks as a medicinal. Later, they could be found in ice cream parlors, candy stores, and other locations where people gathered.

Root beer was the first syrup-based soda invented by a pharmacist, with Coca-Cola, Dr. Pepper, and Pepsi coming along later. Different fruit syrups were added to the carbonated water, which made them more popular, but when chemists discovered that the addition of acid phosphates gave the drinks a tangy taste that was what people wanted. A few of the flavors they used were cherry, lemon, orange, pineapple, and chocolate. The drink was even better with a scoop of ice cream.

Even in the late 1800s and early 1900s, businessmen were keeping statistics and making marketing plans. They deduced that the phosphate drinks appealed more to the masculine population, while the feminine side preferred dairy-based drinks. My heroine in Heart of Grace introduces the hero to his first ice cream float, and he’s hooked. Something that appealed to both of them. An interesting side note is their take on a milkshake. To begin with, they put ice cream and milk in a container and shook it. That defines a milkshake, but I have to say I prefer the way it’s done now.

Linda lives in west central Ohio with her husband and grandson. She earned a degree in psychology from Anderson University, where she learned that the voices in her head were actually characters from stories waiting to be told.

Linda has been writing since childhood, but her publishing career started with writing columns and a middle-grade serial for the South Charleston Spectator. A retired librarian, she now enjoys being a full-time author in her home office. She writes not only to entertain but to encourage readers with God’s faithfulness.


Please visit her website, Linda Hoover Books, to learn more about her and her books. You can stay in touch when you subscribe to her newsletter, and as a thank you, you’ll receive a novella, Joel & Ella.

https://www.lindahooverbooks.com

This link will take you to all the places you can find Linda on the web: https://linktr.ee/lindahooverbooks

As children, Adam Johnson wanted nothing to do with Lydia Bailey. When they meet again as adults, Adam’s opinion hasn’t changed. In the years apart, circumstances have caused Lydia’s faith to waver. It will take a touch from God to heal their hearts and open their eyes to see each other for who they are.



Heart of Grace can be purchased here: http://amazon.com/dp/B0DDJ59BD8

 

Church History - John Wesley and His Methods - Part Three

We’ve all heard that history repeats itself. Last month, I wrote about the first two “Great Awakenings” and specific to them, revivals.

This month, I’d like to look at the history of the Methodist, originally known as the Methodist Episcopal Church. The largest denomination of the nineteenth century, the men leading the movement and its circuit riders have fascinated me. 

John Wesley, renown as founder of Methodists

I think most people associate John Wesley with starting the movement to Methodism; his brother Charles played a part as well. 

One of eight living siblings, the Englishman received his education at Oxford and was ordained in the Anglican Church but began seeing the church didn’t call its parishioners to repentance.

John Wesley preaching to Native American Indians 

Because of his beliefs, he was forbidden to preach and accepted an invitation for him and his brother to go to America. 

They sailed in 1735 for Savannah in the Province of Georgia. On the way, he met and was very impressed by a group of Moravian settlers. He arrived but rather than evangelizing the indigenous native, he preached mostly to colonials.

Serving there as the parish priest two years, he fell in love but broke it off so as not to be distracted for serving God. The young woman married another soon then because Wesley refused her communion—because she hadn’t told him ahead of time, she would ask him for it—and was sued over it. He fled back to England feeling like a failure.

John Wesley preaching outside a church

Blocked from preaching in Bristol, he sought out the Moravians and went to Germany to study with them. On his return to England, he got together with George Whitfield, an old Oxford friend. Neither was allowed to preach in the churches, so Whitfield preached in the fields and encouraged Wesley to as well. He did but wrote in his journal:

I could scarce reconcile myself to this strange way of preaching in the fields, of which he [Whitefield] set me an example on Sunday; having been all my life till very lately so tenacious of every point relating to decency and order, that I should have thought the saving of souls almost a sin if it had not been done in a church.

Do you know what the Wesleys' ‘method’ was? In a nutshell, to be saved by faith. He proposed that all men were born dead in their sin and needed to be saved by God’s grace, justified only by their faith in God that brought about both inward and outward holiness.    

The Church of England decided who could preach and where, setting the boundaries of the parishes, but Wesley paid them little attention, setting up new societies (churches) all around England and placing a follower in charge though they were not ordained by the Anglicans. 

Those in charge considered him dangerous for his ‘methods’ and dissed him and his teachings in sermons and in print—sometimes mobs physically attacked Wesley and his followers, but the churches he established grew. Very quickly, his clergymen became popular, attracting large congregations. 

His friend George Whitfield crossed the ocean and preached up and down through the colonies of America in the 1740s, and in 1766, the England settlers who followed the Wesley brothers' teachings carried their newfound religion to America. 

By 1794, the new preachers founded the Methodist Episcopal Church in America, ordaining deacons, elders, and bishops. The new way, ‘methods’ brought a new passion to the church. People got involved and started Bible study groups, no longer sitting in the pews board and barely listening.

The Circuit Rider: A Tale of the Heroic Age
by Edward Eggleston 

As the churches sent out layman to go out, riding horses, and preach in the new communities popping up all over the west, more churches were established.

And these churches grew to spread Wesley’s methods and Whitfield’s more Calvinistic teachings across America.

They and their followers became known as Methodists.

In my Texas Romance Family Saga series---ten full-length novels and six 'Companion Books' strong, I love to mention my families' outings to church. They're Baptists, Methodists, Church of Christ, and Holiness, and they even attend tent revivals!

I hope you'll enjoy reading them as much as I enjoy the research to make sure I take you back to the 19th century! My motto is "Praying my story gives God glory!" BLESSINGS, Y'ALL!

Award-winning hybrid author Caryl McAdoo prays her story brings God glory. Her best-selling novels have garnered over 1000 5-Star reviews, attesting to the Father’s favor. 

Readers love her Historical Christian romance family sagas best, but she also writes Christian contemporary romance, Biblical fiction, and for young adults and mid-grade booklovers. They count Caryl’s characters as family or very close friends.

The prolific writer loves singing the new songs He gives her almost as much as penning tales—hear a few at YouTube! Married to Ron over fifty years, she shares four children and eighteen grandsugars. The McAdoos live in the woods south of Clarksville, seat of Red River County in far Northeast Texas, waiting expectantly for God to open the next door. 

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