> "He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored."

I remember as a very young kid asking my father the origin of this phrase. His answer was along these lines:

During the Civil War the North perceived the South as traitors to the Union. They believed that God was on their side in the struggle, hence the literal translation of this phrase is that God is stomping on "a group or collection of persons or things with certain characteristics in common" (one definition of vintage) which held in its bosom a large store of wrath against the United States.


TEd