Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1867-11-14
Ghnife salisfellaug.
From Hdrpeys' Monthly for November.
i.... AN OLD APPLE WOMAN.


BY EDMUND KIRKE, AUTHOR OF "AMoNG THE
PINES" &C.
!. / never think of the geography of
Boston without being reminded of vii
lage to which L was once directed by
planter whom met by the roadside in
the backwoods of Georgia. "Go stret
on ~ he said, "till We come to shingled
house, a blacksmith-shop, and a tobacco
barn, standin' right round puddle of
water-thet's the village" Boston, to
be sure, issomething more than ashingled
house, a blacksmith-slIop, and a tobacco
barn; it is, in fact, a town several times
larger than the Georgia village; but, for
all that, it stands fright round" pud-
dle-I beg. pardon, pool-of water
This pool is known in history as the
Frog Pond, and it probably derived its
name from family of frogs who once
had there a summer residence but why
it retains that appellaton is difficult to
conjecture, since all the Boston croakers
now spend their summers at Newport or
Nahant, and their wintersin much drier,
if not more wholesome quarters.
But pool of wit asalready been shed
on this pool of water, and it is not my
intention to swell a small pond into an
ocean. Adler pens than mine have tried
to do that. So l shall content myself
with emptying my inlk-standu upon alittle
old woman who, III rain and shine, week
in and week out, for many long year,
kept an apple-stand near the margin of
that famous puddle of water.
She was little, and she was old, and l
do think about as ugly as any woman
who has lived since the birth of Eve
that first of apple-women but she loved,
and served her country, and so, in spite
of her ugliness, l feel bound to give her
"half dozen pages of general history" "*
AT first she served it by vending green
apples and striped sticks of stomach
ache to the hungry lawyers and ragged
urchins who congregate about Court
Square; and at this time was sole mis-
tress of peripatetic shop-a huge will
low basket, going about on TIVE legs and
open at the top, except in rainy weather,
when it was rooted in by a big cotton
umbrella.
She was a meagre anatomy, with a
sharp nose, q sunken chin, and hatchet
face, covered all Overb by shriveled skin
of the precise complexion OF peeled po-
tato. In winter she wore faded hood,
q blanket shawl, and woolen gown
short enough to show pair of corruga-
ted stockings, far whittier than the snow
| in the streets of Boston. In summer she
was clad i'm dimity cap, a calico frOck,
and a cotton bandana, pinned closely
over her bosom; but, summer and win
ter, she was always elongated hy pair
of stout 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 e-basket, and forced her to
shut up her peripatetic shop, and to open
one of less rowing character. -,
Then she pitched her tent upon the
Common-or, more literally, she Plahted
there a athree-legged stool. the big umbrel-
! la, and rough pine table, heaped high
with russets, pippins, and giilyflowers,
which she was ready to dispense to all
comers. at the rate of one cent for one,
and half a dime for half Il dOzen-so
several paper placards, floating, like tings
of truce, from as many golden pippns,
told all and singular who frequented the
Common. ..
Business here throve with the old wo-
|, man for, in pleasant weather, the Com
mon is q great resort for young couples,
who bill and coo under the spreading
elms, or on the iron-clad benches; and
billing and cooing-is decided sharpener
of the appetite, as is proved by the la
.mentable case of the young maiden who
died of love and green apples.
There Is no telling the quantity OF
stomach-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 it
was always low down at night, when,
| with her basket on her arm, she ambled
homeward. ..r -.
| One evening gentleman passing that
way Just at dark found the table almost
untouched and the old woman in great
deal of trouble. 1t had rained all day,
and few lovers had come upon the Com
mon; so, with apples and clothes weep
ing in sympathy with her sorrow, she sat
there, with no one to help her home with
her basket. - .r.r n.
1t 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 sayu often sends us sneaking by on
the other side, like the Priest and the
Levite, in the parable. But now it was
dark; so the gentleman shouldered the
apple-basket and went home with the
| old woman. She lived i'm small room,
on the top-fioor of an 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. At last, how
ever he reached the room, and setting
down the basket, sat himself down to
rest his tired legs and shoulders. II was
narrow, mean apartment, and so low
that, when he stood upright, his head
almost hit the ceiling. Two young chill /
dren. a boy and a girl, who were spread
ing the table for the evening meal, and q
thin, emaciated woman, with sunken
eyes and pallid features, who was lying
on bed in the corner, were eitsOccupapts.
The floor was bare, the furniture plain
and poor, and every thing indicated that
.Tbe c,,use In inverted commas Is not origin
Al. Ii Is quoted from q Nj. Bopaparte, who now
goes by the title Of Nap. No, and this isaii he