West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1885-05-15

whole car, that whom had any orchard
iruit nj homo l regalod myself. like u
prince, on dried applcs.
did not smitc the hoy nor upbraid
him with hard aud singing words.
Mora indeed. in sorrow than In anger |
told him did know what good ample
was, and | knew whcrc they used TO
grow, and, moreover. il he would bring
me one now, my entire bank account,
with all the hcrcditamcnLs, protests and
oNcrdrdts thoreunto appcrtaining,
should bo his. The only good apples
IN the world. hncal descendants of the
golden stock of HcsperidcS, used To
grow, twenty-five or thirty years ago,
ON an old farm, three or four miles ont
OF Peoria, ILL.,, on the Mount HOLY
Road. told the boy they were not at
ways fair apple to look upon in thor
early youth, when l loved them best.
Ihoy were hard on ono side and green
on thc.othcr They were gnarly all the
way round and sour all the way through.
There was more heartache and sorrow
ana derp-scatod, gnawing rcmorse and
heartfelt sorrow and honest pcnitcnco
in one of those apples, after YOU hrd
eaten peck of them in the same aftcr-
green watermelon
Nevertheless | used 10 go into that
orchard mt eight "a. m, eat apples till
II $50 and then feel hungry for big
dinner
And told the boy il he would bring
me one OF those apples now, with tho
same old taste and flavor that il had a
quarter OF century gone by, with the
same old smell of the clover and apple
blossom lingering about IL, the Same
old idlc brcczcs that kissed my boysh
checks in the long, delightful, truant
summer afternoons; with the whistle of
u hoh-whito over i'm the stubblc field be-
yond the cow pasture; with the muir
muir of the brook that went singing
over the white pebbles at the foot of the
orchard hill; with the music of the bees
humming and bulzing about i'm the
sweet red clover tops; bring them To
me even with the old wcll-rcmcmbcred
and peculiarly pungont flavor Of the
buggy whip which frequently seasoned
thOs" apples because no boy could al
way get over the fence in time told
him | would gladly gladly gladly give
him fifty dollars for Just one apple.
But the boy looked n me with n
Hllltle0S lchI, anu packed OIL down the
aisle of the car. and touched the CON
ductOr ON the elbow and said:
"Billl Say, Bill! Who has charge
OF the lunatic on the od-boxP"
"Ah dearly beloved, there is no
lunacy about IT, We know now. and
some day the boy will know, that APP
pies are not SO good to-day rs they were
twenty-five years ago. Nothing is so
good To us, in fact The apples are
tough and ilavorlcss; the grass is wiry
and thin whore u used TO be living vel
vet under our feet; the days are not 80
long; the nights have grown coldor;
the stars shine less brightly and there
arc not SO many Of thcm, counted
them the other night and there arc half
dozen missing; the cows don't come
home 50 early; the dogs arc crosscr;
Christmas doesn't come 50 close apart
as it used TO. Everything changes ex-
cept the circus. So runs tho world
away. But it doesn't run away with a
coachman, thank the gods. Which
only goes 10 prove that the world is
much prouder and better than the peo-
pie who live in it Robert D. BurdctLe,
tn BrOoklyH Ed1lc.