Maryland independent. [volume] (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1874-current, 1889-08-16
BROOM. CORN AND APPLES.

BROOM CORN AND APPLES.
When | was a little girl. Eastern Ne
braska was a new country, an bearing
orchards were very few and far between,
SO that apples were as scarce and highi5
priced in School District No. 10 as u
anges are now.
They were sometimes bought at a
good round price in the village, Is
miles away, AMI if one of the children
had an apple at school, the rest of us
crowded around and begged for the
core.
BY aud by two orchards in the dis
trict came into bearing. and then we
cared less for the cores, but were still
very hungry for the apples.
What we got seemed only to whet
our appetites, and if we had not been
fairly good children, think we should
have descended upon those apple tree
in a body, and devoured the whole
crop.
One of the orchards belonged to
Uncle Wise and Aunt Ev, who lived
just across the road from the school
house.
He was our teacher and playmate, and
she was the particular friend of every
sturdy little pioneer in District No. 10.
They had good store of apples in
the cellar and if they could have spared
them they would have enjoyed supply
ing every one of us with all we could
cat right along.
But of course you can see that would
never have done. There were about
twenty of US l think, and we should
have made short work of Uncle Wise S
winter supply.
We used to call on Aunt Ev in squads
of six or eight and sometimes one of
the A b scholars would remark,
Seems to me | smell applesl"
Most of us knew better than to hint
our wishes SO strongly, but even if we
didn't say a word Aunt Ev knew we
thought apples, AMI she hated ever to
deny us.
At last she AMI Uncle Wise hit upon
the best kind of a plaza plan by
which they could afford to supply all of
us, and which made tho apple taste I'M
commonly good, too.
1t all came of Uncle Wilse's making
brooms.
He was really wonderful mantle
best and kindcst of teachers, the ioIiest
hand at blind mans buff, the luckiest
fruit-grower, and, besides all this,
first class broom maker.
Did you ever see broom corn gro wing2
1t looks something like common corn,
put at the top, instead of tasseI, is the
plume or brush of which brooms are
made The ends of it are covered
thickly with brown seeds; maybe you
have noticol now aid then one still
sticking to the brush of your broom.
In regular factories they have a quick
and easy way to scrape off these seeds
by machinery, but Uncle Wise had to
10 it all by hand. So he proposed 10
hire all the children who wished to work
at it, and pay tic n in apples.
You may be sure we all wished to
work. Uncle Wilse spread the broom
corn along a narrow board walk in his
backyard, and there was soon long.
busy row of us, scraping as if for dear
life.
1t was better fun than blind-man s
buff.
We laughed and chartered as little
folks always do, and dectareSf we shorfd :
not play at noon and recess any more
while the broom corn and apples lasted.
We stuck to it pretty well, most Of
us.
As we became more skilful, Uncle
Vile was obliged to raise the price of
his apples, so that We should not get
his whole stock.
But he always kept it low enough so
that a certain slow but very faithf ul
little chap could earn at least one apple
each day.
Whether he and Aunt Ev found our
work any great help l can't say. But
they gained their main object, which
wa: to teach us a good lessapy give rs
good time, and sec that we had appl es
to eat
AID what with the scarcity of apples
and the strength of our appetites, and
the special relish we gained by earning
them, | am sure there never was such
rrli for nc hafora nos boc