



JOURNAL OF RURAL ART AND RURAL TASTE. 



Vol. IV. 



FEBRUARY, 1850. 



No. 8. 



What an extraordinary age is this for conven- 

 tions ! Now-a-days, if people only imagine 

 something is the matter, they directly hold a 

 convention, and resolve that the world shall 

 be amended. We should not be surprised to 

 hear next, of a convention of crows, resolving 

 that the wicked practice of setting scare- 

 crows in cornfields be henceforth abolished. 



Sitting in our easy chair a few evenings 

 since, we were quite .surprised to see the 

 door of our library open, and a small boy — 

 dressed in dark green, who had something 

 of the air of a locust or a grasshopper- — 

 walk in with a note. 



It was an invitation to attend a mass 

 meeting of all the fruits of America, as- 

 sembled to discuss the propriety of changing 

 their names. Horrified at the revolutionary 

 :-pirit, we seized our hat directly, and bade 

 the messenger lead the wav. 



He lost no time in conducting us at once 

 to a large building, where we entered a 

 lofty hall, whose dome, ribbed like a melon, 

 was lighted by a gigantic chandelier, in the 

 form of a Christmas tree, the lights of which 

 gleamed through golden and emerald drops 

 of all manner of crystal fruits. 



In the hall itself were assembled all our 

 familiar acquaintances, and many that were 

 scarcely known to us bv sight. We mean 



Vol. iv. 25 



our acquaintances — the fruits. On the right 

 of the speaker sat the Pears ; rather a tall, 

 aristocratic set of gentlemen and ladies, — 

 many of them foreigners, and most of them 

 of French origin. One could see by the 

 gossipping and low conversation going on 

 in knots among them, that they were full 

 of little schemes of finesse. On the left, 

 sat the numerous Apple family, with honest, 

 ruddy faces ; and whether Yankee, Eng- 

 lish or German, evidently all of the Teu- 

 tonic race. They had a resolute, deter- 

 mined air, as if they had business of im- 

 portance on hand. Directly behind the Pears 

 sat the Peaches, mostly ladies, with such soft 

 complexions and finely turned figures, as it 

 did one's eyes good to contemplate ; or 

 youths, with the soft down of early manhood 

 on their chins. Apricots and Nectarines were 

 mingled among them, full of sweet smiles, 

 and a honied expression about their mouths. 

 The Plums were there, too, dressed in pur- 

 ple and gold, — many of them in velvet coats, 

 with a fine downy bloom upon them ; and 

 near them were the Cherries, an arrant, co- 

 quettish set of lasses and lads, — the light 

 in their eyes as bright as rubies. The 

 Strawberries sat on low stools in the aisles, 

 overhung and backed by the Grapes — tall 

 fellows, twisting their moustaches (tendrils,) 



