Chapter 9, "Granpa's Trade" Summary

Granpa has never held a job, believing that work for hire uses up time without satisfaction. However, he believes it is good for a man to take pride in a trade. Granpa's trade is whiskey making, handed down on the Scot side of his family for several hundred years. Granpa tells Little Tree about city criminals who make cheap whiskey with potash or lye. They are just in it for the money, without caring about the whiskey itself. Granpa thinks this sort ought to be hung for giving the trade a bad name. He never puts anything in his whiskey, even sugar, which could help produce a bigger volume. He makes pure whiskey, using only corn. Granpa has no understanding of people who age whiskey. If they wanted to the smell a barrel they should stick their head in...