Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1898-03-04
JOHNNY APPLESEED.
A UNIQUE AND USEFUL CHARACTER
OF PIONEER DAYS.

TIC wandered over the western Plans
Scattering Apple Seeds Wherever He
Went-The Incalculable Value of His
Strange Missionary Efforts.
Among the heroes of endurance and
of creative action was one man whose
name deserves to be perpetuated. He
was Johnny Appleseed," by which
name Jonathan Chapman was known
in every cabin ON the Ohio riv
er to the northern lakes and west to
what is now Indiana. With two ca
noes dashed together this intrepidyouth
of 26 transported a load of appleseeds
to the western frontier for the pur-
pose of creating orchards. He passed
down the Ohio to Marietta, ascending
the Muskngum on upward to the head
of navigation. A long, hard voyage it
was, for the lone traveller stopped at
every inviting place to plant his seeds.
His canoe voyage in 1906 appears to
have been the only occasionupon which
he adopted that method of transporta-
ton, all subsequent journeys being
made on foot Securely packed in
leather bags the seeds were sometimes
conveyed on the back of a horse and
sometimes on his own shoulders, when
he would often journey a distance of
$50 miles. The frontiersman who felt
himself protected by his rifle against
the wild beasts and hostile Indians
found it necessary to guard against the
insidious enemies in the grass by
wrapping bandages of dried grass
about his buckskin leggin; but young
Chapman would shoulder his bag of
seeds, and with bare feet penetrate to
the remotest parts. Even in the cold
est weather he went barefoot, but
sometimes for long Journeys he would
make himself a rude pair of sandals.
1t seems to have been a matter of con-
science with him never to purchase
shoes, though he never was without
money.
One cold winter day he was travelling
barefoot through the snow when a set
tier forced the acceptance of an old
pair of shoes upon him. A few days
after the donor met johnny" con-
tentedly plodding along with his feet
ger he inquired into the matter and
learned that Johnny had met a poor
man who seemed to need them more
than he did, SO he gave them up.
He was very eccentric in dress
wearing a garment made of a coffee
sack in which he cut holes for his head
and arms and pronounced it "a very
serviceable cloak, and as good as any
man need wear" In the matter oil
head-gear, his taste was equally
unique; his first experiment was a ti1
vessel that served for his cooking, but
this was open to the objection that il
did not protect his eyes from the
beams of the sun, so he constructed {
hat of pastebOard with an immense
peak in front, which became his per
manent fashion.
During the war of 1912 Johnny Ap
pleseed continued his wanderings anC
was never harmed by the bands o
hostile Indians, who regarded him al
a great medicine man" on account o
his eccentric dress and actions.
For forty-siX years he devoted hi
life to this self-imposed mission ant
died a placid and beautiful death a
the age of y. Thus passed one Of tn
memorable men of pioneer times. VIII,
never inflicted pain, nor knew an en-
envy. A self-denying benefactor of hi
race, homeless, solitary and ragged h
trOd the earth with bleeding feet. in
tent only upon making the wilderness
fruitful. His deeds will last as lon
as the apples blossom, and the stor
of his life will be a perpetual proc
that true heroism, pure benevolenc
and noble virtues that deserved i'm
mortality may be found under tn
meanest apparel.