“The Blue Key”
Some fifty years since, there was at Bolton a little club of manufacturers, all of them old men, who met regularly in the forenoon at the “Millstone Inn,” to drink their single glass of ale and compare notes on the news of the day. They established this curious custom among themselves. There was no great number of clerks and assistants in those days, and when a manufacturer left his counting-room, or warehouse, he locked the door and carried off the key, generally a pretty large one. Now, this Millstone Club preferred in cold weather to have their ale with the chill off. To effect this, each member put the bow of his warehouse-key into the fire, and when sufficiently warm, plunged it into his glass of ale. A long continuance of this custom caused the handle of each key to acquire a dark blue colour, and this “blue key” became a kind of emblem or talisman of the club friends.—French’s Life of Samuel Crompton.