The Potter journal. [volume] (Coudersport, Pa.) 1857-1872, 1860-11-08

maturity, in others, they are removed
from the tree full two weeks before the
close of the season. Most of the Winter
varieties of pears and apples are furnish
ed with a thick foliage which adheres
longer than the Sumner varieties, to az
ford perfection to the fruit The picking,
storing, and ripening of Winter fuit is
an art that cannot be learned in single
season.
With the harvest moon, come apple
parIngs, and huskings, words full of
meaning to the old men, if not to the
boys. We see now the ample farmers
kitchen, and the bushel baskets heaped
with apples, and the merry group Of lads
and lassics, seated for their work: There
were at least a dozen of them gathered
from the neighbors to lend a helping
hand in preparing "the apple sass" 1t
is now called apple butter, and by some
very proper people sauce" A barrel,
at least was to be prepared from the
green. or rather fresh-pared sweet apples
and large stores of drisd apples were to
be laid up for Winter use. The head of
the household, as was meet, used the
pairing machine with three-tine fork, and
knife that cut the skin as thin as wafer
The pared apples fell with wonderful
rapidity into a large tub, and were thence
distributed among the young folks, to be
halved, Quartcred, cored, and strung up
on twine about two yards in length, for
drying. The strings Of apples, as they
were finished, were put upon hooks in
the ceiling, ar upon poles ready to be re,
moved in the morning to the sunny side
of the house, where they hung in grace
full festoons, the special delight Of wasps
and flies. With huge pan of apples
between young couple, the work went
on merrily, if not rapidly; jokes few back
and forth, sometimes emphasized with
apple seeds, and sometimes with some
thing softer Rustic awkardness IN com
pany was happily overcome, for there
was a place for the hands, AMI the
hands had something to do. The ton
CUES were unloosed, first about the
work and the company, and then about
something that might have been very
hard work under other circumstances
Wholes in the pen were halved, and dis
consotate halves, out of it, were eventual
ly made whole. Work and wooing went
together in those good old times, when
the kitchen was better known than the
parlor, and the presence Of the cold folks
at home" did rot spoil the freedom and
frolics of their children.
The last apple being pared, and the
last festoon hung up duly in its place,
there was a resort to fortune telling. The
rind of the apple being passed three
times round the head and dropped, in
variably gave the first letter in the name
of the successful lover. As the coil of
rind almost always made an S, or some
thing that squinted that way, it was easy
TO worm the secret out of the most BASH
full swain, and point out to him his in
tended Sarah or Sophia These prophe-
cies of the farmers freside sometimes
turned out aIarmingly correct, and were
followed by wedding occasions and new
homes.
The huskings in the long evenings Of
the harvest moon were larger gatherings,
and not unusually cheered by the pres
epce Of the fair, until supper time.
"From many a brown old farm house,
And hamlet without name,
Their milking and their home tasks done,
The merry huskers came.
Swung Ger the heaped up harvest
From pitchforkS in the NOW,
Shone dimly down the lanterns
On the pleasant scene below;
The growing pile Of husks behind
The golden ears before,
And laughing eyes, and busy hands
And brown cheeks glimmerng DER.
Half hid in a quiet nook,
Serene of look and heart,
Talking their old times over,
The old men sat apart;
While up and down the unhusked pile,
Or nesting in its shade,
At ide-and-seek, with laugh and shout,
The happy children played"
In the warm frostless evenings, such
as we often have in this month, the scene
was not laid npon the barn floor, but un-
der the open sky, the full moon giving
plenty of light for the huskers. When
the work was done, the company ad-
to the house. and tea. coffee. !