From 1913:
Put a pound of granulated sugar and a half cup of water together in a clean enamel or porcelain lined saucepan and boil to a sirup; do not stir while it is cooking. Try the sirup from time to time by dropping a little in cold water, and when it is brittle take the saucepan from the fire and set in a pan of boiling water.
Have ready firm, sweet cherries from which the stems have not been removed; dip each cherry quickly into the hot sirup and lay on a waxed paper to dry.
Should the sirup thicken before you have finished, add boiling water to that in the outer vessel or set the saucepan in another vessel just filled from the boiling kettle.
After the cherries are all dipped set them in a dry place until the coating on them is firm.