The Republican journal., 1907-06-06
Hiram Simpsons Apples.
Had Thousands of Trees and Gave Away
Fruit, but Would Not Sell Any.
T Boston Sunday Herald. !

Fruit, but Would Not Sell Any.
Boston Sunday Herald.
PROSPECT, Me. There are more than
1900 acres of rocky land on the south
and east sides of Heagan's mountain,
in the northeast corner of this town,
where wild apple trees are SO abundant
that they have become weeds.
The owners of the wood lots, when
they 60 out to chop frewood in the fall,
as rule get more than half their supply
of fuel from the wild apple trees.
There are families who have extern
sion tables and sofas and settees and
ordinary dining room and kitchen chairs
that are made of apple wood, and when
the owners of fish weirs along shore go
to drive their weir stakes in the spring,
nearly every one of them uses heavy
top-maul made from the indurated and
fbrous wood of an apple tree.
The cause for such an abundance of
fruit trees growing wild in wood lots
and pastures and by roadsides is due to
the eccentric conduct of Hiram Simp-
son, an aged religious enthusiast, who
emigrated to this town from the shore
front of Hancock county right away
after the Millerite excitement in 1913,
at which time more than half the people
of Eastern Maine believed they were
going to be translated to another and
a better world on June 6, 1913, at the
early hour of 2:30 o'clock in the morn.
ing.
THE LORD DIDN'T COME.
Old man Simpson had made elaborate
preparations for the event. Not only
had he sold his farm and stock, but he
had converted all his earthly posses
sions into gold, and sunk it at the bot
tom of the family we'll, so that no scott
ing unbeliever could benefit from the
sacrifice he had made.
On the fateful morning of June 9Th
he yoked pair OF steers to a cart, and
taking his wife and two daughters. ali
dressed in their best, he drove forth to
the top of high hill and stood waiting
for the great change to take place.
1t was a still summer morning, and
as the windows of his home had beer
left open, he could hear the family
clock as it recorded the passing of time
When the clock struck 2 the foul
persons who waited started to pray
and when the chime for 2.3O was
brought to their ears, they shouted anC
sung revival hymns for full half hour
On the arrival of o'clock, with nc
change i'll the condition of affairs
Simpson ceased his shouting and said
''Come, Mary. It is time we were
getting out of this. If the Lord haC
really intended to come this morning
he would have been here before now
We have been deceived and must move
to some place where nobody knows us >
Fishing the bag of gold coins from
the well, he bundled his family into the
cart and headed the steers north, anC
before sunrise they We're on their wa,
to Bucksport. Crossing the ferry al
Prospect, they went up along the shore
until they reached Heagan's mountain
where the family and household goods
were unloaded, and the old man startec
III to clear up farm among the rocks
SIMPSONS sWEETING.
Among the articles carried in the
cart were five apple trees of variety
locally known as "Simpsons sweet
ing" which produced large fruit that
had the virtue of keeping until late il
the winter and growing sweeter an(
more mellow with age. In the autumn
and early winter it was too hard to cal
raw, but when roasted among the Goals
of an open fire it was better than cake
or pie or candy.
In the course Of a few years Simp
sons farm became famous for its sweet
apples. AS fast as he was able he en-
larged his orchard, and finally he erect
ed a cider mill for the making OF
Simpsons sweet CIDER which, wher
termented to the proper point anC
drunk with the rich froth Oh top of the
dipper, was said to be more potent thar
New England rum and more enduring
in its effects than Holland gin.
NEVER SOLD AN APPLE.
While Simpson was surly toward all
clergymen and inclined to scott against
religion, he was good neighbor, though
nobody could ever induce him to sell an
apple or scion from one of his SIMPSONS
sweeting trees.
'1'll give you all you can eat and vel.
come" said he, "but yon must return
every seed to me, so l may raise new
trees for grating into my cider fruit"
In short, his chief desire seemed to be
to collect all the apple seeds he could
get and plant them. When he had
soaked out the apple pomace and
squeezed it through his press for the
second time, he would spend days in
going through the mass of cores and
skins to pick out every seed.
On the melting SHOWS of March Simp.
son went forth to the woods and fields
with a large bag of apple seeds on his
back, and soWed his savings all over the
adjoining lands. The soft mud of spring
permitted the seeds to get under the
soil, whence they sprouted and came up
by thousands.
Many of the seedlings were cut off by
scythes when the hay was gathered, and
many more were bitten off by cattle out
at pasture, but as a majority sprouted
and came up again and again, and as
not few grew in glades of the forest
or by roadsides, it was not long before
the apple trees which owed their origin
to Simpson could be counted by thou
sands. And every Seeding was grated
to scions of Simpsons sweeting as soon
as it was large enough, so by the time
the old man died. early in the days of
the civil war, it was estimated that he
had started more than 10000 trees in
business.
SIMPSONS SUCCESSOR.
William Davis, who had married one
of Simpsons daughters, took up the