Bing Cherries in a Sweet Nine day Pickle

Rinse, stem and pit the cherries; you should have about 7 cups. Combine the cherries with the vinegar in a half gallon glass jar or a ceramic or stainless steel bowl, being sure the fruit is covered with vinegar; if necessary, add more. Cover the container tightly and let it stand for 3 days in a cool spot. Drain off the vinegar and, if you like, reserve it for either Cherry Vinegar or Four-Fruit Vinegar, or add another batch of cherries to it for a second round of pickling. Layer half the cherries with half the sugar in each of two sterilize quart sized canning jars, finishing with sugar. Wipe the lips of the jars and cap them with sterilized new two piece canning lids; do not screw the lids down tighly enough to seal them, as you want to remove them later. Set the jars in a cool spot where you'll remember to shake them gently every day of so, inverting them a few times as you shake. At the end of a few days, the sugar will have disappeared into the syrup. Transfer enough cherries and syrup from one jar to fill the other almost to the rim, and transfer the remaining quantity to a sterilized pint canning jar. Cap again, tightly this time, with sterilized new two piece lids; label the jars and store them in a cool, dark spot. The cherries will look shriveled and the syrup will seem far too abundant at this point; just let everything rest for about a month, and the fruit will absorb most of the syrup and plump up considerably. Refrigerate the cherries after a jar is opened.