The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1900-11-24


Johnny" sold the young trees fol
clothes old shoes or something else h'
could wear or use, More often he CAV,
the young trees away, presenting t.
each of the pioneers enough trees tt
make a fairly large orchard. In this
way he started almost innumerable or
chards.
He carried on the work for years, anC
there are still many thousands of apple
trees in the state that grew either from
little trees raised by Johnny Apple.
seed" or else from older trees that he
raised. His work supplied the state
with apples many years sooner than
the struggling pioneers would have
done it without his quaint but beautiful
benevolence.
| 1t is said of him that he lived a life
! of almost inconceivable simplicity and
/ gentleness. Innumerable anecdotes of
him are told. One chilly night in the
woods, when he was huddled over a lit
tie fire he had built"to keep himself
warm, he noticed that insects were be-
ing attracted to the fire by the light
and were falling into it, Never to harm
pies and when he noticed that his fire
was causing the death of some of Gods
creatures, as he called everything that
had life he put out his fire and spent
the remainder of the night in cold an
darkness. His life was full of such
acts as this He crawled into hollow
log one night to sleep, and when he
found that there was a chipmunk and
her family in the other end and that
they were frightened by his presence,
he went away and slept in tho snow be-
cause he could not find another hollow
log
Living in the woods as he did when
he was making his trips to and from
Pennsylvania, he came to be an adapt
in woodcraft, and this may have had
something to do with the high esteem
in which he was held by the Indians
who never molested him. AS he came
from the places where he got his apple
seeds, he used to stop and pay visits to
the orchards he had created, seeming to
have almost the regard for the trees
that he would have for a pet animal.
He began his apple tree missionary
work as early as 1902 or 1908. He was
less than thirty years old then, and
strong in limb, but far from good look
ing. He was born in Massachusetts in
IT'S, and came west with his brother in
the first years of the century First
he began his apple missionary work in
western Pennsylvania, but that coun-
try was rather too well settled, and
II, Ixr IL
chards for his work to take just the be-
inefficient character he aimed to give it.
For twenty years he kept up this
quaint work of philanthropy in OHIO.
and then, this state, having meanwhile
been transformed from wilderness to
farming country, he went on out
west, and carried on his apple mission
airy enterprise in the still newer coun
try
Johnny Appleseed' was tall and his
black beard and hair were long and
unkempt. His eyes were small, pierre
ing and clear; to the latest days he was
remembered. He dressed in rags, Of
ten in what seemed less than enough to
keep him warm. Usually he went
bare-footed and often he tramped long
distances through the snow with moth
ing on his feet Sometimes he wore
sandals made of pieces of wood or bark
and fastened to his feet with thongs cut
from the skins of animals. He was so
welcome everywhere he was known
that he needed no money for food or
lodging and he literally, as the Bible
says took no heed for the morrow"
He carried no money, and when he was
in the woods he lived. as the animals
did, on what nuts, berries, roots and
other food he could find. Whenever he
went to a farmhouse he was supplied
with whatever to eat or wear he need
ed, and sometimes he would be given
enough food to take him to the next
clearing.
He was almost as fond of children as
he was of apples, and although his ner-
vous, jerky way of talking amused
them very much, they were too much
awed by his odd appearance to let hih
see them laugh at him. He was al
ways clothed in rags, not very many of
them In summer, either. Often he wore
on his head tin stew pan that he used
to cook much in. The settlers thought
from what he had told them that
part of his popularity was due to his
having been Tilted by a tickle maiden.
The story was that he had taken a poor
orphan girl from the most meagre sur
educated her, given her all
he comforts he could command and |
hen found that she was receiving tn
attentions Of another young ban. This
must have been when he was a young
nan, for he was not known to be able
o care for himself, to say nothing of |
my one else, during the time he was in |
his part of the country. Although he |
lid not talk much except about his be- |
owed apple trees, he was eloquent when |
lie talked of them, and he was fond of |
making grandiloquent addresses about
he virtues of apples, AT such times
he had command of a very fine flow of |
language that indicated an excellent |
ducation.
After going further west, he came
Jack to portions of this state from
ime to time to call on his old friends
nd his apple trees. The last time he
eturned to Ohio was in 1916 and that
ear he died. He had many relatives, !
is parents family having been large
ne, but little is known of any of them.
1t is to this quaint, lovable character
hat M. b. Bushnell a prominent citi-
EN- of Mansfield, raised and dedicated
1onument which will make him better
nown, although there is little doubt