The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1898-02-04

A UNIQUE AND USEFUL CHARACTER
OF PIONEER DAYS.

He Wandered Over the Western Plains
Scattering Apple Seeds Wherever lie
Went-The IncalculabIe 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 lashed 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 Muskingum 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 occasion upon 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 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
fOnD6 il 70 A..
lnsld1ous 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 heen 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
bare and half-frozen. With some an
ger he inquired into the matter and
learned that Johnny had met a roor
man who seemed to need them more
than he did, SO he gave them up.
He was very eccentric in dress,
wearing 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 of
head-gear, his taste was equally
unique; his first experiment was tin
vessel that served for his cooking, but
this was open to the objection that it
did not protect his eyes from the
beams of the sun, so he constructed a
hat of pasteboaid with an immense
peak in front, which became his per-
manent fashion.
During the war of 1872 Johnny Ap-
pleseed continued his wanderings and
was never harmed by the bands of
hostile Indians, who regarded him as
great medicine man" on account of
his eccentric dress ard actions.
For forty-six years he devoted his
life to this self-imposed mission and
died placid and beautiful death at
the age of u. Thus passed one of the
memorable men of pioneer times, who
never inflicted pain, nor knew an en-
envy. A self-denying benefactor of his
race, homeless, solitary and ragged, he
trph the earth with bleeding feet, in
tent only upon making the wilderness
fruitful. His deeds will last as long
as the apples blossom, and the story
or his life will be perpetual proof
that true heroism, pure benevolence
and noble virtues that deserved i'm
mortality may be found under the
meanest apparel.