The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1904-10-07

cIeu save by the squirrels and birds,
The tree was thrifty one. Tht
trunk had attained a diameter of si2
inches; and when Willis found it Their,
were, he says, four or FIVE bushels OF
those delicious Sweetlngs, now jus
beginning to ripen. Willis first ate al
he desired, then took off his coat, made
a bag OF 1t, and shook down the ripes-
of the apples to carry home to his fam
lily and the neighboring boys and girls
Won't they smack their lips" lie
said to himself. Wont they be III
| here for morer'
But on the way he took second
thought, and craft entered his heart
Il won't tell them where it u.s." he salt,
to himself. Let them hunt. They
never will find it, For the place was
o mile and half or two miles from the
nearest farm.
Willis as vet had not thought of sell
ing the apples or making profit from
his discovery; the idea came into his
mind later, after he found how fond
every one was of them. But that night,
when we asked Willis where this tree
grew, he laughed and said darkly, "Oh,
know
Such secretiveness was deemed pig
gish, and was resented by every one.
Several declared that they could and
would find that tree and get every ap-
pie on il. Willis laughed and said,
at or I-n -hn,N Ia
That was the beginning of the long
search for willis Murch's good tree"
First and LAST we spent hours, days
and, altogether, weeks securing the
pastures, fields and clearings We
watched Willis constantly in the hope
Of tracking him.
One Of our boy neighbors-not one
Of the best-named Alfred Bachelor,
lay in wait for days together on a hill
overlooking the Murch farm, expecting
to see Willis set out for the tree. At
one time Alfred and another boy,
named Charles Cross, had thoughts of
waylaying Willis and extorting the
secret from him by threats of torture.
W AAAAo obNSA GU \AGGL Va (ACui, 1ON-
ever, and remained -mouthed. He
had grown very crafty, and went to the
tree by night only, or sometimes early
on Sunday mornings, before other peo-
pie were astir.
During the August moon of the sec
ond season after discovering the tree
he brought home bushel Of the ap-
pies on three different occasions by
night; and he now began canvassing
among the farmers who had orchards
to sell scions, to be delivered III May
of the following spring. After eating
the apples, not few signed for them
at fifty cents graft
1t required a fair share of courage
on the part of boy of fifteen to go to
the tree by night, for the distance
from Willis home was fully two miles;
and at that times bears and lynxes FREE
quented the great pasture"
Willis afterward told the other bows
that bear came out in the path d.
rectly ahead of him one night. as he
was hurrying home with bushel of
Wild Rose Sweetings on his shoulder.
The creature shifted, and Willis shout
ed to frighton ii. He was on the point
IF throwing down his apples, to climb
l tree in haste, when the bear sham
oled away.
Willis seems now to have had great |
designs Of selling scions to orchardists |
md nurserymen over the whole coun-
ry. Only a tiny twig three inches |
ong is requisite for scion for graft |
ng into other trees. The Wild Rose |
SWeeiing should produce thousands of |
such scions. Willis, who was a Yam
zee lad by ancestry. resolved to pre-
'erve the secret of the tree at all haz-
Irds. He appears to have had dreams
# making fortune from it.
Thus far no one had been able to find
he tree, as much from natures own
in hiding it as from Willis
raft. BY the middle of September
hat autumn he had gathered most of
he apples. when the same chance
Which had first led his steps to the
rec revealed it to the eyes of his enc
MES.
For about that time Alfred Bachel-
.er and Charles Cross brother, New
nam went fishing UP the brook, and in
uc course arrived 1T the trout hole
where Willis had sut when lie saw the
quirrcl. They crept UP to the hole,
aited and cast i'll together.
There were no bites immediately
ut as they sat there they heard red
quirrel chirr! up among the thick
emlocks, and presently caught the
ound of low thud on the ground,
DON followed by another and another.
Hes gnawing off apples" said AL