The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1915-06-03


sistance, the island called Conant's ISL
and, all the liberties and privileges of
fishing and fowling, was demised to
John Winthrop, Esq. the present gov
ernor; and it was further agreed that
the said John Winthrop did covenant
and promise to plant vineyard and an
orchard on the same, and that the
heirs and assigns of the said John Win
thrOp for one and twenty years pay
yearly to the governor tn fifth part of
all such fruits and growth as shall be
yearly raised out of the same, the lease
to be- renewed from time to time by
the heirs and assigns of said John Win
throp, and the name of the said island
is changed and it is to be called The
Governor Garden" The name has
since changed to Governors island. 1t
seems the governor carried out his
pledge and did plant the apple trees,
though he seems to have made rather
failure in regard to vines.
The vineyard, it is to be feared,
failed, but as matter of Fact the
yearly dole of apples amounted to two
bushels, which were handed over every
year, not to the taxpayers, but to the
legislators, who, in those wicked days
of graft, openly consumed this prop
erty of the people during the sessions
of the general court of Massachusetts.
In other words, the Legislators and not
the people received that magnificent
| income of the commonwealth.
To go back from the origin of apple
culture in the United States to the
origin of apple culture In the world is
perhaps the longest step that any man
was ever. asked to take, for it would be
necessary. almost, to go back to the
time of the pterodactyls and dinosaurs
to arrive at the blossoming of the first
apple tree. One of the most interest
ing ways to study history is Though
etymology, through the most enduring
of monuments, human speech, which
carries down in every word we speak
some remote fact of history, even in
prehistoric times. Apples and pears
| have been found with relics of, the
stone age. Apples and pears. dried .Cr
preserved or petritied. have been found
among the relics of the Swiss lake
dwelIers, who formerly lived, as you
remember, on large platforms built on
piles over the large lakes ofinorthern
Switzerland. Apples and pears go back
to the very beginning of civilization as
does the oldest of known vegetables,
asparagus, the name of which, of
course, is Greek, meaning simply
Sprouts, probably the first vegetable
known to man. The Chinese, you will
remember, cook bamboo sprouts today.
Now the word pear" is of Greek
origin. But the origin of. the word
"appIe" is lost in mystery. Nobody
knows who first invented the name,
what its original significance was or
what it means. We only know that
"apple" is found in the German Ian
guage, and alos. in slightly changed
form, yabloco, is found in the Russian
language. The more familiar Latin
name is pomum. 1t really doesn't mean
apple; it means fruit.
The apple, as have told you, in the
English language and the German Ian
guage, has been given that name for
such an enormous period OF time, long
before any language was reduced to
writing, sthat no one knows what was
the origin of the word in that form.
The Latin language had two names for
it, pomum and malum. You will find
malum very little used in any modern
language, although melon is another
form of it, meaning large round fruit
like an apple, but pomum, originally
applying to all fruit became more par.
ticularly applied to the apple because
then, as now, it was esteemed the most
valuable and healthful fruit given tC
man.
Of course, the most familiar apple
story is of the origin of the race in the
first chapter of the Old Testament, the
story of Adam and Eve, where the.ap
ple is mentioned as a temptation, no
merely on account of its, shall ! say
magical powers, but also because of 1T
{ attractions as a delicacy.
In similar fashion story after story
in Greek mythology rests on the apple
I You will remember the particular
one of the apple of discord to which
have already referred. With name
changed a little it is exactly like thos'
old German house stories, "hausmar
I chem" as they are called, which wer,
collected by the brothers Grimm, wheTt
at some splendid wedding of prince
and pricness the wicked fairy comes il
! and spoils the entire happiness of th'
occasion, but incidentally does som'
!. service by furnishing the plot of th'
!. story. Thus at the marriage of Theti
and Peleus the goddess Discord arrived
f not having been invited to the feast
/ and presented as a wedding gift |
: golden apple on which was inscribed
n "For the most beautiful. and tn,
+ three goddesses, Minerva, Juno, tn
wife of Jupiter and queen of the god
e desses, and Venus, competed as t
I which was the most beautiful. Eve
in those days bribery of voters appar
n emily seems to have been know. Paris
d you will remember, the Prince of Troy
was established as the umpire, an
n after they were through everybod
a wanted to kill the umpire IN the goo
1 old style of the fans. Each GOODIES
i offered Paris a gift if he wuld give he
n the apple, and he finally chose Venu
n asIthe most beautiful. because she hs