Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1860-12-03
BlifkiHS Che Farmer

to Watertown, last year and had Dragged.
somewhat about his apples II might be he.
BE came IN, q day or two afterwards and,
on our putting the question him, acknowledge
ed the barrel. -.
We thanked MN very cordially, and he
seemed to be a little ashamed that we should
praise his generosity 80 well, a~verring that Il
was nothing at-aTl, and that the gin had no
generosity in it. We began to speak about
fruits, and the pleasure Of seeing things grow
through ones own efforts. p
"Great thing this farming said be- lock-
ing up at the picture Of " The SoWeHl which,
graoes our wall. l,i..0 %
at pays, does il ~ we asked. i..is
"Paysr' be repeated, looking q little un-
happily; well, yes, perhaps 1t does AT any.
rate, tits well to think SOL
"What mean you, oh, BIfkiEs q We cried,
4" has the season failed your Has your crop
diminished where others have proved fruit-
full" 90
"No," said be, STAR from il but farming
is rather uncertain there are plenty OF apples
this year. You see, when l hired my place
at Watertown, my wife said to me, 9 Blitkins,
the apples viii help to pay the rent The
trees then were in blossom, and promised a
bounteous harvest, I hired the house and
went to farming. Ny wife claimed the best
places for flower beds, and left me the ground
beneath the trees for vegetables, which, she
said always grew better in the shade, hired
a man for a week to dig up and prepare my
ground, aud l helped him myself at such
odd times as | could spare. l bought large
quantities ofseads, procured a book on agri-
culture, and went in for raising things gener-
ally. There came rain which rotted every
thing in the ground, and corn, peas, potatoes
squsshes, beats, carrots, watermelons, eante-.
lopes, and onions, and aL,s,went to destruction
drowned in the food. 1 got some more
seed; but, though some Of 1t came up, the
plants grew sickly and slim, the Victims evi-
IDENTIFY, Of weak constitutions, and the weeds
had il all their own way. Such weeds I new
er saw. They couldn't bektleds IpositiYe-
~ believe that, if | had cut themsldown,
before I could turn round they would grow
up again-so ] let them grow. They SEEM
ed providenially sent to redeem the charae-
ter Of my garden, and show The world that.
something would grow in il, ! felt graft
fed. aaila
but the apples they were elegant large
and plenty. None of my %neighbers had any
uHhA a. kOlAT hA1 AuG1 nAAt AE4sEAH hHklNe 4AL
many years. Deacon Sloper looked over my
garden wall and said my apples would take
toe first premium at any agricultural fair in
the country, and Sloper was very conscien-
tious man.
Mrs. Blifkins' said !, the proceeds of
those three trees l shall devote TO the pur-.
chase of new dresses for You and the girls,
and as my coat is a little ~thrcadbare IN spots,
l shall be able to get me & new one
"BGfkins said my wife, you must give
me credit for seeing the advantages Of this
place; you know | spoke about the apples
"'You did indeed, my der said J. and l
felt a glow Of a imiration for the shrewdness
and f~orethought of that astonishing woman.
q had this advantage over ADAM said; he
was tempted by his Eve with one apple; l
was tempted by mine with three trees I
oShe smiled, as though she likedItosb be call
ed Eve, and a little fattery does not cost
much.
"How l watched the growth Of those APP
Piles, and they fairly blushed, though not
naturally blush apples, as l gazed upon them,
At last after consultation with Deacon Sloper
| 1 concluded to have them picked, and hired
two OF my neighbor's boys to do it for me at
fifty cents per day-for I would not have the
trees shaken. l bought them anew ladder
and set them about it. They were bothered
about tie ladder the first day and didn't
make much progress; the second day they
got fairly int, the work, and the third it was
completed. / was on the spot when the last
apple was picked, but just as they were ta-
king down the ladder the foot Of one Of them
slipped and plunged the ladder right into my
bow window, where Mrs. Blifkins' choice
flowers were.
r'You will drive me to distraction, Mr..
Blifkins,' said my wife, appearing at the
You have always had a spite at those flow
ers, now I hope you are. satisfied.
81 assured her that malice was not part
of my nature, and appealed to her as a sensi-
BILE woman to say whether / would be likely
to manifest such a deposition at such expense
as was involved in the destruction of the
window; but she couldn't see through the
argument, though she could easily see through
the broken window. aa Loss B.
'The ladder was likewise broken by the
fall, and the boys, though a little terrified at
first, rather liked it. their fear being forgot
ten in the domestic cloud that had suddenly
come over the landscape.
"The apples were put in the new barrels ]
had bought for them, and thirty cents apiece,
and l sent for a carpenter to come and head
them up, which he did But apples are d
species Of capital Improbable as ~aninvest-
ment unless circulated, and determined t
send three barrels to market after waiting q
day or two to see'if any one wohld apply toi
them. Hound that Deacon Slipper had man
aged to sell all his, though they were MOI
nearly so good as mine. accordingly SEM
three barrels in by express, which costtWenty-
five cents per barrel, and had them LETT at .
friends for sale. The FIRST barrel he opened
revealed a Numerically bruised Appearance
They were as specklsd as though they had
been suddenly struck with some ~'euianeoui
distemper. The second were ditto, the third
ditto. The boys had, indeed, been careful il
picking the apples but they had dropped
them from the tree into the barrel, and thu
effect, unpreoeiyed at first was now yerl
apparent A few days ago I went in to se
if my friendhad sold them. 1iJ .air
"Sold them said be, ~sardonieally, an,
I thought rather unkindly, q couldn't Civ
! EN- sway.
90 fWhatp said IN astonishment with
large discount on the profits looking up il
the distance. a3 70 1-aeJ ,saad .raln} 10
WCouldn't give em away, he repeated
4 managed to get one barrel of at sevent
cents, to a boarding house keeper, but sh
growled like the devil. The other two, I
keep them from spelling altogether / carrie
home, myself, thinking you wouldn't objec
/, to paying half the freight. ] have credite
! you with the amount and allowed itas com
J mission 1 10 - i '4tn' 20.
: ale handed me seventy cents, which
q poeketea in silence and went home
& Mrs. Bhfkins,' said I On my return, it
q all up
) SO you've been saying all election time
2 sai5 she.
tmeaR our apple speculatisn-t won
Z pay.