The Press., 1921-10-27
Apples in the Gar
 den of Eden
By FREDERICK HART


 tS. 1921. by Mcclure Newspaper Syndicate.
 The dusty stranger paused in his stroll along the highway and looked nteIeSIedly over the fence into the apple orchard. The laden trees glOwed with. their burden of red and golden fruit in the afternoon sunlight. Here and there in the trees the forms of men, baSket-laden, showed amid the branches. But the dusty stranger was not watching the men. What had caught his eye was q slim figure clad in overalls and great straw hat that fitted about the orchard, directing, urging, overseeing the work. and now and then taking a hand at the picking The baggy garments made the gender of this figure indeteFminate; but the clear voice with which she exhOrted the piekers left no doubt that it was a girl, and. thought the dusty stranger, If the voice was any criterion q re- marakably pretty girl, too. He con- tinued to watch, hoping that she would turn his way.
 Presently she did, and he was con- scious of pretty, piquant face, some what tanned, with a saucy nose and dark, shining eyes-the whole making an ensemble that the informal cos tune only set off to better advantage. He regarded her from his distance with a frank look of admiration; but he was greatly surprised when she made a gesture In his direction and called to him.
 "Here!" The voice was imperious. Do you want wOrk?"
 "Yes" replied the dusty stranger, though one minute ago work had been fartheSt from his thoughts.
 Then come on and get a basket and help pick" she said. "A dollar day and your board"
 The dusty stranger climbed the fence with alacrity, looked about till he found basket and, slinging it on his shoulders. proceeded to climb the near est tree. where he was immediately busAy occupied in filling his basket with the luscious fruit that hung all around him. Below. the girl heaved a sigh of relief as she watched his ef- forts. That's just about all the men we'll need to get the crop in in time for the market she thought. What a blessing that that tramp came along just then! I hope he stays.'
 She might have set her mind at rest on the last point. though she might we'll have been disturbed on other grounds had she known what the dusty stranger was thinking as he filled his basket.
 She's the prettiest thing I've seen in years" he was ruminating. And the way she bosses this job Is a miracle! Will I stay? We'll, I should rather think SO! dollar a day and board! That's good Wait till I tell the boys that p And he chuckled to himself as he swung down to empty his hasket and ascend again.
 As evening fell the apple -plckers came down from their trees, emptied their baskets on the piles of fruit that lay about the OrcIlad, and returned to the farmhouse. There, after supper such aS the dusty stranger had not eaten in years, they turned in for the night. Most of the pickers. their day s work done. fell at once into the deep sleep of thoroughly wearied men; but the dusty stranger lay awake for awhile and watched the moon. which he could see from his window. slowly climb the sky. Finally he, too. fell asleep. with the face of the ruler of the orchard before his minds eye and her voice in his ear.
 In the morning they were at 1t again, and all that hot day they tOiled. The work was hardly begun, for the orchard was a large one. A week of hard work, however, and the end was in sight. The dusty stranger, sitting in the fork of a gnarled old tree of sheepnOses, meditated regret fully on this fact, which would neces- sitate his leaving or getting other work on the place.
 "I went into this thing for a lark, !" he thought. And I'll be hanged if I haven't gone and fallen in love with her And she thinks I'm a tramp There's nothing to do but make her employ me around here some more. "
 But Fate, who keeps a watchful eye over her favored ones, fnterfered at this point. As the stranger leaned far out along a branch to pick an especially fine pfppin that hung just out of his reach, his watch slipped from the little pocket where he kept 1t and fell to the ground below. For tunately fl landed on thick tuft of grass. and so saved itself from de struction; but the silence of it's fall made It's owner unconscious of Its loss. He picked on, unaware that his problem was within seconds of Its so- lution.
 To his tree came the girl, Intent on giving a word of commendatfon to this hobo who worked so industri- ously. The glitter of gold on the