Martinsburg statesman-democrat. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1906-1921, 1911-11-10

| ssest ana the dlrtiest OF the
apples In the Just Average MARYLAND
barrel pushed angrily against the size
OF It's sister, Just Average, and groan-
ed:
Its long time between picking
ana eating. wonder how many DAYS
were going 10 have to stay here before
somebody comes along and buys US.
For my part I'm sick of sitting around
mere In this Light street wharf atmos.
phere. Wonder if we ever will get to =
pantry and hear some pretty girl
shout out with JOY on seeing US"
"Quit that crowding up therer'
came in sharp apple tones from the
bottom of the barrel. "Somebody pu
me IN here head down and I'm haviag
hard enough time to survive as il is
without having you making it any
harder
The interruption brought thunder-
Gus apple chorus from the bottom, the
| near bottom and the middle of the bal
rel. All assembled the Just Average
with heads down. All wanted the
kicker at the top to quit. All said that
their lot was worse than than that of
the one on top, who had started the
'aik. Some were lying on their sides.
Some lay with their heads toward the
barrel slaves. Some were SICILY and
many were bruised. Itv some time
before he who had started the talk
could resume.
BEING AN APPLE SORRY FATE.
"On what an age to be born into!'
she exclaimed. "Sometlmes | wish
We're persimmon. OF all places in the
world at the present day an apple bar
rel is the least cheerful. I'm beginning
to believe, too, that the sorriest fate
anybody can suffer is be born an apple.
When | was aIblossom everybody adj
mlred me. Girls brought their lovers to
whisper sweet nothings under me.
Little children clapped their bands
when they saw ne, and even the
grandmother of the farm stood aud
looked at me and talked about my
wonderful tints. My mother tfea 'old
me that the grandest destiny the
world was to be born an apple. con
fess that when l finally got my COM
plete apple dress on | was disappoint-
Ell. Fungi grew over me. There were
things called scales on me, and felt
bad inside. l think the days of the APP
pie must have psssed. There s.
ENTER: A THING OF BEAUTY.
The pessimist was interrupted by a
chorus of sob! oh! cocoon. oooeooh!"
which was uumistakabe. The Just
Average Marylanders were attempt
ing to express their admiration for
something which had struck them
speechless with its glory. The original
pessimist saw-the man with hatch
ct had just ripped Off the top of a new
barrel and-even the pessimist was
dumfounded by the apple proportions
and the apple UNITS she saw A glorious
destiny to be an apple? Well-if one
could be such an apple as those. They
were all of an inch and half in dia-
meter, or inches in clrcumferen ce,
as red as the light of the sun when it
is setting and as round as the earth
from which they sprung, every one OF
the same size and not speck on any
one of them. Such apples!
One of them spoke up at once.
"If that man hadn't broken the
head off that barrel" she said, 81
would have jumped through the very
wood to answer you. Let me tell you
that it's just as glorious to be an ap pie
today as 1t ever was. | know all about
you. When 1 was a blossom on the
tree the summer breeze told me about
you. You're the apple whose owner
fuses because you don't bring him
more than rs cents barrel, because
you don't give him enough to buy
new rig to take his best girl QUE with
You're the apple whose trees have
been bearing fruit year after year for 81
years, whose owner has Inherited you
from his father and his grandfather.
Your owner expects the earth to give
him his living without any work oy
him. he don't spray your trees. lie
don't fertillze the ground in which the
roots of your trees are. He don't 90
anything He just lays back and lets
you grow like topsY, and when the
time comes around to pick you ne
grumbles and says you won't bring
him any money and he don't believe
hell send you to market; thinks he'll
feed you to the hogs. If he does snip
you he stands up in the tree ana throws
you all the way TO the ground ana
when he comes to pack you III oarfei