The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1921-05-24
Euening Story
Apples of Eden.
BY FREDERICK HART.

interestedly 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 a slim figure clad
in overalls and a great straw hat that
fitted about the orchard, directing,
urging, overseeing the work, and now
and then taking hand at the picking.
The baggy garments made the gender
of this figure indeterminate; but the
clear voice with which she exhorted
a girl. and. thought the dusty
stranger, if the voice was any critic
rion, a remarkably pretty girl. too.
He continued to watch, hoping that
she would turn his way.
Presently she did, and he was con-
scious of a pretty, piquant face, some
what tanned, with 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?"
"Yesi" replied the dusty stranger.
tho one minute ago work had been
farthest from his thoughts.
Then come on and get 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 a basket and, singing it on
his shoulders, proceeded to climb the
nearest tree, where he was immedi-
ately busily 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 efforts. That's just about all the
men we'll need to get the crop in in
time for the market she thought.
What blessing that that tramp
came along just then! 1 hope he
Stays!'
She might have set her mind at rest
on the last point, tho she might well
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
the way she bosses this job is mira
cleI Will I stay? Well I should
rather think so! A dollar a day and
beard! That's good. Wait till tell
the boys that" And he chuckled to
himself as he swung down to empty
his basket and ascend again.
AS evening fell the apple pickers
came down from their trees, emptied
their baskets on the piles of fruit that
lay about the orchard. and returned to
the farmhouse. There, after a supper
such as the dusty stranger had not
eaten in years, they turned in for the
night. Most of the pickers. their
days work done. fell at once into the
deep sleep of thoroly 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 it
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-
itate his leaving or getting other work
on the place.
~ went into this thing for lark"
he thought. And I'll be hanged If
haven't gone and fallen in love with
her. And she thinks I'm a trampi
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, interfered at
this point. AS the stranger leaned
far out along a branch to pick an es-
pecially fine pippin that hung just
out Of his reach, his watch slipped
from the little pocket where he kept it
and fell to the ground below. Fortu-
nately it landed on a thick tuft of
grass and so saved itself from destruc-
ton; but the silence of its fall made
its owner unconscious of its loss. He
picked on, unaware that his problem
was within seconds of It's solution.
To his tree came the girl, intent
on giving word of commentator to
this hobo who worked SO industri-
ously. The glitter of gold on the
ground caused her to stoop and pick
open from the shock of the fall, and
as she was about to call to the man
in the tree her eye was caught by
an inscription engraved on the inside
of the case.
WILLIAM GEORGE FAHNEsToCK
From
HIS PUPILS
In Token of Their Appreciation and
Esteem"
she read. For a moment she hardly
believed Ter eyes; then she took a
long look at the unconscious man IN
the treetop, and slipping the watch
into her pocket she returned to the
house, thinking hard. William George
Fahnestockl She had read his books
and dreamed of the man who could
look with so kindly an eye upon life
and tell of it with such a sure touch.
And this tramp had his watch! He
had stolen it, of course-unlesS-a
wild surmise filled her mind. But no;
it couldn't be SO. College professors
who write books didn't pick apples
during the summer That
evening as the men came in she said
severely, to the stranger, Come into
the living room after supper. 1 want
to speak to you"
When the stranger found himself in
the quietly lighted living room with
the girl he saw her for the first time
clad in the garments of civilization,
and her beauty struck him with new
force He said nothing but waited for
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