Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1867-11-08
From Harper's Monthly for November.
AN OLD APPLE-WOMAN.

ALN OG<D IA w ONAAANs
Inever think of the geography of Boston
without being reminded of village to
which l was once directed by a planter
whom met by the roadside in the back
woods of Georgia. "Go street on, he said,
"till We come to o shiDgled house, black
smith-shop and tobacco.barn, standln'
right round puddle of water-thet's the
village" Boston, to be sure, is something
more than shingled house, blacksmith
shop, and tobacco barn; it is, in fact, q
town several times larger than the
Georgia village but, for all that, it stands
Fright round puddle--I beg pardon, a
pool--of water. This pool is known in
history rs the Frog Pond, and 1t probably
derived its name from family OF frogs
who once had there summer residence;
but why 1t retains that name is difficult to
conjecture, since all the Boston croakers
now spend their summers at Newport or
Nahant, and their winters in much drier,
if not more wholesome quarters.
But pool of wit has already been shed
on this pool of water, and it Is not my in
tention to swell small pond into an
ocean. Adler pens than mine have tried
to do that So shall content myself with
emptying my inkstand upon little woman
who, in rain and shine, week In and week
out, for many long year, kept an apple
stand near the margin of that famous pud-
die of water. 1851
She was little, and she was old, and do
think about as ugly as any woman who
has lived since the birth of Eve-that first
of apple-women-bu she loved and served
her country, and 80, in spite of her ugli-
ness, feel bound to give her "half dozen
pages of general history"
At first she served 1t by vending green
apples and striped sticks of stomach ache
to the hungry lawyers and ragged urchins
who congregate about Court Square; and
at the same time was sole mistress of a
peripatetic shop-a huge willow basket,
going about on two legs and open at the
top, except in rainy weather, when it was
rooted in by a big cotton umbrella.
She was meagre anatomy, with sharp
nose, sunken chin, and a Ratchet face,
covered all over by a shriveled skin of the
precise complexion of a peeled potato In
winter she wore faded hood, blanket
shawl, and wooden gown-short enough
to show pair Of corrugated stockings, far
whittier than the snow in the streets of Bos-
ton. In summer she was clad In a dimity
cap, q calico frock, and cotton bandana,
pinnea closely over her bosom but, sum-
mer or winter, she was always elongated
by pair ofstout brogans, with high heels
and thick soles--thick enough, one would
say, to be impervious to all the moisture
that human feet are heir to. But they were
not impervious to the rheumatism That,
one day, got into the legs Of the old wo.
mans apple basket, and forced her, to shut
up her peripatetic shop, and to open one
OF less rowing character. Hs
Then she pitched her tent upon the
Common-or, more literally, she planted.
there three-legged stool, the big umbrel-
la, and a rough pine table, lheaped high
with russets, pippins, and gilly flowers,
which she was ready to dispense to all
corners, at the rate of one cent for one, and
half dime for half dozen--so several
paper placards, floating, like flags of truce,
from as many golden pippins told all and
singular who frequented the Common.
Business here throve with the old wo.
man for, in pleasant weather, the Common
is q great resort for young couples, who
bill and coo under the spreading elms, or
on the iron clad benches land billing and
cooling is d decided sharpener Of the appe-
tite, as Is proved by the lamentable case of
the young, maiden who died Of love and
green apples.
There is no telling the quantity of stom.
ach-ache and cholera-morbus that the old
- woman daily dispensed to hungry lovers /;
but it must have been. large, since it was
often noticed that however high her table
was heaped in the morning 1t was always
low down at night, when, with her basket
loon her arm, she ambled homeward. -.
One evening gentleman passing that
way just at dark found the table almost
untouched and the old woman in a great
deal of trouble. Il had rained all day, and
few lovers had come upon the Common, SO
with apples and clothes weeping in sym!
pathy with her, sorrow, she sat there with
no one to help her home with her basket.
II is said that evil loves the dark but it
Is quite as true that many good things
avoid the daylight. Others eyes are then
Open. and the fear OF what "men may say
often sends us sneaking by on the other
side, like-the Priest and the Levite in the
parable But now it was dark $50 the
gentleman shouldered the apple basket and
went home with the old woman. She liy-
ed in small room, on the top floor of an
z old rickety house at the North End and
as he went up the stairs the gentleman was
in mortal fear of their tumbling down, and
spilling both him and the apples Atlast,
however, he reached the room, and setting
down the basket, sat himself down to rest
- his tired legs and shoulders 1t was mar.
row, mean apartment, and so low that,
when he stood upright, his head almost
hit the ceiling. Two young children, a
boy and girl, who were spreading the
table for the evening meal, and thin,
emaciated woman, with sunken eyes and
pallid features, who was lying on bed in
the corner, were its occupants. The floor
in was bare, the furniture plain and poor, and
every thing indicated that its tenants lived
on the very verge of starvation; but on
Z, all their faces was O cheerful look that
showed that somehow they had imbibed Of
that divine elixir that gives to the most
,aa wrctched comfort and contentment. Gu
rious to get at the secret of their happiness
the stranger asked the old woman abou
her history. o-reTfsEA o'sEsNA
Twenty years before, she said, her tgo
sons and her husband had died, leaving hel
destitute and alone with ono remaining
child--a little daughter. Too weak tc
2 work and unwilling to beg, she then resort.
: ed to street vending, and, by twelve hours
Of daily toll, managed to support herself
~ and bring up her daughter, AT twenty
q the latter married a worthless fellow, who
broke her heart, and then cast her PENN.
6 less upon the world with young son, the
little boy who was then setting the table
The old woman took them in, and about
: this time also adopted the little girl, who
was the orphan child of poor neighbor
And were You able to support them