Evening star., 1896-12-05
WHEN PAWPAWS ARE RIPE.
The Golden Fruit as Found in an
Indiana Thicket.

The Golden Fruit as Found in an
Indiana Thicket,
From the Independent
An ailuvial soil, coated with a deep leaf
mold and somewhat silicious, is what the
tree chooses to grow in; and it likes to be
oFershadowed. l find the best fruit matur-
Ing In thick woods Of plane, tulip and
maple on the fatlands close to brook sides
Ihere 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 nuthatches. On the
Eillsides near by the cypripedium in its
season, flaunts its rose-purple reticue
There, too, the black hawk Viburnumlen-
taSs) ripens its Hat, shining berries of
Hcorice canCR.
Get out your bicycle for a six-mile spin
into the Sugar Creek hills. We will take
tie Balhinch road and pedal diligently to-
ward the Llewellen neighborhocd, just this
side OF which is a wood l wot of where
ciumps OF Asimina triloba dance down a
gentle slope bordering the brook called In
dian cfeekr Few miles from its mouth in
Sugar. And what a breeze to whirl
through and d'what road of packed gravel
to fly upon. Over the black fields on eli her
hand ire autumn wheat is making thin
wash OF green, and the Indian corn stands
in conical shocks primly ranged MANY
colored cattle wade knee deep in the third
sIoWta OF clover, while focks of sheep snip
tie DlIe grass.
1onder is the wood. A high barbed-wire
fencc girds 1t in, with not an outside gate
10 let US through. Well hang up the wheels
IN this "ayside 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 so, and nov shin up the post and
scramble over where the coat covers the
EointS; IT Is a trite trick, but fairly good
Behold the sign against which We SET our
Sinful natures: mo trespassing on this
farm" 1t is lettered or 4 board conspic,l-
ously nailed to a tree. Stolen fruit may b,
sweet. but l suggest that we go to yon
man at work beside a straw rick and neYo-
tate with him.
Now we are light-hearted. We may take
al we want and welcome. Like two school
Boys, away We scamper, and what a down.
fall of odorous fruit We find. Long banana
ike. brown and yellow. the heavy custard
apples almost cover the ground in some
places while few crowded clusters still
nang on the boughs. First we eat our fill:
then we cram our haversacks full of the
choicest specimens. All the way back home
we are fragrant and happy. We have real
lzed our autumn dream.
l may be crude Of taste and somewhat
savage-thpk what you will-yet the smack
OF a pawpaw goes through me with null
tiform thrill. 1t is sweet with all the
sweets of past days and years and Hnper
irgs and truancies Yesterday a strong
woodcock took wing near my toes in wild
custard grove, and 1 lad neither bow nor
gun; but. munching my savage fruit, re-
called in one second each oozy cripple that
| ever shot over from Canada to Florida.
The twang Of the bow cord, the boom of
the gun. the camp fires, and the savory
broilings; they rushed into my brain and
went tinsling from heart center to outmost
extrenlities-all on account of a pawpaw
and a flushed woodcock,
There is mingng of a hundred fine
sweets and savory tangs in the juice of
this rank apple, and it goes we'll with spit
ted dark-feshed game. What q manifold
sauce it is for luncheon on a messy log
beside spring ahead! Three spitted doves
OF the latest summer Matching and an over
ripe pawpaw-there is feast for the Pan
Of the West!
But year by year this golden ambrosial
fruit is disappearing. The farmers ak
Whacks down all the sturdy clumps and no
man plants seeds for future orchards From
Indiana to Georgia how few of the once
f1ourishing pawpaw thickets are left for the
poet and the virile man of the woods to
lounge in while feasting on the savage rolls
of custard!