Smyrna times., 1879-01-01

have bought two apples from the train
boy. Not because wanted the apples very
badly, but because | wanted to do some
thing to appease the train boy. Ever since
we left Cleveland he has been turned loose
on the defenceless passengers. He wanted
me to buy all of Matthews books and Tay
lor's "World on Wheels" and Between
the Gates" and Rev. E. P. Roe's novel
(under twelve or thirteen titles) and some
fresh Californian figs, and Abysinian
grapes, and Senegambian pears, and new
Siberian oranges and some candy packages,
with beautiful and valuable prize in every
package, and some beautiful ivory orna-
ments made of ivory that grows on trees,
and some peanuts and English walnut
meats and pecans and fresh roasted chest
nuts and apples.
reflected. 1 did not think that ought
to buy all these things, because l have a
family to support, and am not as wealthy
as Mr. Stewards bones. At the same time
knew that boy was going to sell me some
thing if he had to click me" to make me
buy. / had already bought newspaper of
him, but a paper doesn't count. Every
body buys newspaper of every train boy.
So | compromised at last on apples.
bought two apples; price five cents.
Apples are wholesome, nutritious and
palatable. They promote the growth of the
hair, induce morality, assist digestion. And
they are cheap.
So sat on the pleasant Wagner car and
munched those apples They were good
apples, as apples go now. There was a
worm in one OF them, and l don't know
what there was in the other. Itwas alive and
crawled, but it was not a worm, and | don't
know what its name was. But these things
are not at all uncommon to apples of all
denominations. These apples Tate Sun
day morning were, as l have said, good
apples, as apples 60 now.
Because, apples are not what they were
twenty-five years ago. l ate these two
apples this bright Sabbath morning, and
rather mealy They didn't possess the de.
licious juiciness nor the exquisite fruity
flavor the apples of the olden time had
Why, in those elder days, when l wasn't
half as big as | am now, | used to go out
into an old orchard, about three or four
miles out of Peoria, and eat apples from
eight o'clock A. N. until high noon, and
then have hold room for big dinner.
used to get apples then, that had the odol
of apple blossoms. Somehow or other al
the apples | get now smell of the cellar anC
most of them taste little like potatoes
The smell of the clover has gone away from
them, too. There is not the remotest pos
sihle suggestion of the sparkle of dew or
the orchard grass no lazy, contented hun
of humble bees in the air; no bright mote!
dancing up and down in the warm summer
sunshine; no song of the meadow lark
no far away call of the bob white, the dis
tant cawing of crow, there is none o
these things about the apples get now.
| don't think, either, there is quite 81
much cholera morbus about as there useC
to be.
But believe l would take the chances
on the C. m. if some man would find me al
apple like the one that used to grow on the
tree down by themilk house. think tha
tree must be dead, or at least the apple
are no longer on the market. l would fee
assured the tree was dead, and that it wa
the last of its race, if did not know tina
my boy. in nine or ten years from now
would find just such a tree, with eXactl,
the same kind Of apples; the same mote
in the sunshine, the same "bumble bees
in the air, the same bob white answering
his whistle. I wonder if brown cheeks ant
tangled hair and bare feet and hand
scratched with blackberry thorns woult
make apples taste any better to fellow
now?
1 don't believe they would. l have seel
tangled hair in hash, but it never scenes
to improve it very much.
"Times aint what they used to be an
how" the passenger from Kentucky re
marked, in answer to the waiting of tn
passenger who was mourning over the de
generation of people and things. q" "Yo1
are right, times aint what they used to be
The women aint so pretty as they used t
was, and the bcys are faster; the men don
work so hard, and they aint as honest; tn
cattle don't come up so early and the
don't low like they used to; they bawl
the sun doesn't shine as bright and tn
birds don't sing as sweetly, it doesn't raj
SO often and the water isn't as soft as
used to be; the dogs aint as smart as the
was, the sun rises later and sets earlier tina
it used to- the days amt so long and ther
aint so many of them"
And somehow or other the old passengt
seemed to have new light on the subjec
And as watched more contented loo
steal over his face, l thought myself ths
maybe after all, the apples didn't chang
so much as the boy.
But l will swear that have eaten 10
better apples than any train boy ever sol
me.-B,TlingtOn Hawkeye.