The Wichita daily eagle., 1896-12-18
WHEN PAwPAws ARE RIPE.
The Golden Fruit as Found In IN indians
Thicket.

II
| Ehe Golden Fruit as Found In IN indians
Thicket.
An alluvial soil, coated with deep
leaf mold and somewhat siicious. is
what the tree chooses to grow in; and
it would be overshadowed. find the
best fruit maturing in thick woods Of
plane, tulip and maple on the
1atlands close to brook sides.
There is damp. rich, musty
smell by which, in the twilight
of such a forest, you may distinguish
the atmosphere dear to the pawpaw.
Here the woodthrush, the muse Of
crepuscular groves, flutes a mellow
strain at intervals, and all around
chatter ground squirrels and nut
tatches. On the hillsides near by the
cypripedium, in its season. faunts its
Tose-purple reticule- There, too, the
black haw ripens its fat, shining ber-
ries of icorice candy.
Get out your bicycle for a six-mile
epin into the Sugar creek hills. We will
take the BaIhinch road and pedal dill.
gently toward the Llewellen neighbor-
hood, just this side Of which is a wood
wot of where clumps of Asimina
triloba dance down gentle slope bor-
dering the brook called Indian creek,
a few miles from its mouth in Sugar.
And what a breeze to whiri through,
and what road OF packed gravel to
fy upon. Over the black fields on
either hand the autumn wheat is max
ing a thin wash of green, and the In
dian corn stands in conical shocks
primly ranged. Many-colored cattle
wade knee deep in the third growth OF
clover, while hocks Of sheep snip the
blue grass.
Yonder is the wood. A high barbed
wire fence girds it in, with not an out
side gate to let US through. Well, hang
MP the wheels in this wayside copse and
I'll show you how to beat the barbs.
Take off your coat, SO; hang it across
the top wire beside the post and scram-
BILE over where the coat covers the
points. It is a trite trick, but fairly
good. Behold the sign against which
we set our sinful natures: "No tres
passing on this farm" 1t is lettered
on a board conspicuously nailed to
tree. Stolen fruit may be sweet, but ]
suggest that we go to yon man at work
beside q strawstEack and negotiate with
him.
Now we are Hght-hearted. We may
take all we want and welcome. Like
two schoolboys, away we scamper, and
what downfall of odorous fruit we
find. Long, baraua-Gke, brown and
yellow, the heavy cpstard apples almost
cover the ground ia some places, while
a few crowded clusters still hang on
the boughs. First we eat our fill; then
we cram our haEersacks full OF the
choicest specimens. All the way back
home we are fragrant and happy. We
have realized our autumn dream.
may be crude of taste and some
what tsavage-think what you will-yet
the smack Of a paAcpaw goes through
me with a multiform thrill. 1t is sweet
with all the sweets Of past days and
years and lingerings and trlIancies.
Yesterday q strong woodcock tsok
wing near my toes in q Wild custard
grove, and I had neither bow nor gun;
put mnnching my ssage fruit, I re-
called in one second each oozy cripple
that I ever shot over from Canada to
Florida. The twang of the bow cord,
The boom Of the gun, the camp fires.
md the savory broihnss; they rushed
nto my brain and went tingling from
leart center to outnost extremitie@
Ill on account of a pawpaw and q
dushed woodcock! II
There is a mingling of a hundred fine |
sweets and savory tangs in the juice Of
ibis rank apple. and it goes well with !
spitted, dark-feshed game. What
manifold sauce it is for luncheon on |
mossy log beside spring ahead!
Three spitted doves OF the latest sum-
n.r Matching and an over1ipe pawpaw
there is q feast for the Pan OF the |
w,sti "a,
Butyearby year this golden ambrosial
ruit is disappearing. The farmers
TX whacks down all the sturdy clumps
md no man plants seeds for future
From Indiana to Georgia |
low few of the once-hourishfng paw
Jaw thickets are left for the poet and
he virile man of the woods to lounge
n while feasting on the savage rolls Of
Y. Independent.