News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1884-04-24
ROMANCE OF A FARMER.
STORY OF FARM LIFE IN CONNEC-
TICUT.
Farmer-A Horse and WaROn-Thirty-
seven Bushels of Ap-puIIs and Five Boys.
[From the Yale Record.1

Now when the autumn was come, il
was so that the land of New Haven an6
the country round about abounded with
much fruit, so that the sound of the
cider press ceased not from morning
even unto the night.
In the morning the husbandman arose
and said $50 to; apples are not worth
much, but so much as they will fetch !
will have" And he loaded up his wagon
and filled its bed even to overfowing
with bell-fowers and k-no-furthers
and spitzenbergs and snow apples and
russets, each after his kind
And when he came nigh to the town,
10 three town boys met him and spoke
unto him delicately and sal d: "Give us
a n'apple?"
And his heart was moved with good
nature and he hardened unto their
words and said unto them "Yea, climb
in and eat your fill"
And as he journeyed on he met yet two
other boys, and they waxed bold when
they saw the first three riding and eat
ing apples, and they cried aloud ::
'Give us sn' apple ?" And the man
spake unto them and said, "Yea," and
they CLONE in.
And they spake not one to another,
neither did they cease to eat apples save
when they paused that they might take
breath.
And the husbandman made merry and
laughed within himself to see them eat,
and he said, "Ho, no; no, no."
But the lads laughed not for they
were busy.
Now the eldest of the boys was thir-
teen years old and the youngest thereof
was in his ninth year, and they were ex-
ceedingly lean and ill-favored.
And when the husbandman was en-
tered into the city he drove along the
streets and lifted up his voice and
shouted aloud, "Ap-pulls -! ap-pulls
Here's yer highs eatin' naples ! APP
pulls ap-pulIs p
And the women of the city leaned
over the fences and said, one to another
''Lo, another apple wagon"
And they spake unto the man and
said ''Hast thou of verify good eat
unapples ?'
And he said: "Of verify I have,
come forth"
And when they were come forth they
looked into his wagon, and they were
wroth, and cried out against him, and
they said: ''Thou hast Knocked us, and
thou hast deceived thine hand maidens
with the words of thy mouth. Verify
thou hast naught Wherefore, then,
dost thou drive through the city crying
arpulls ?"
And when he had turned him and
looked, he was speechless.
And the women of the city cried
go to, are not thy words altogether
lighter than vanity ?"
And he smote upon his breast and
sware unto them, saying: 81 am the
son of truthful man; when thy servant
left home this morning there was even
thirty-seven bushels of apples in the
wagon bed"
Now there was in the wagon naught
save five boys.
And the husbandman necked the lads,
and entreated them roughly, for, he
said: Eye have cast mine apples into
the street."
But the lads wept bitterly, and said
NAY, not so; are thy servants pigs that
they should do such thing ?''
And he said "Declare unto me
then what thou hast done with my ap-
pies"
And the lads pointed at each other,
even each one at his fellow, and they
wept, and they exclaimed with one ac-
cord: "He eat EN-"
And the husbandman was wroth and
would not believe them; for he visit not
that the town boy was hollow clear into
the ground.
But the women of the city cried unto
him and said: "How far is it the lads
have ridden with thee?' And he said +:
Even as far as mile and half"
And the women laughed and made
merry, and said "Of surety it is
even so as the lads have said. They
have eaten up all the apples"
And they made light of it as though
it had been very small thing for the
lads to do.
And the husbandman marvelled great
ly within himself, for the five lads did
not fill one small end of the wagon. And
it was SO that it was beyond his finding
out where the thirty-seven bushels of
apples had stored themselves.
So he turned him about and he drove
home, and he commanded the lads that
they follow him not.
And they hooted at him and cast
stones after him, even unto the city
gates, for such is the custom of the town
bov.
But the husbandman spake not unto
them, neither reproved he them, for his
mind was heavy with thinking of this
wonder he had seen.