32 THE APPLE. 
and you bag it at once. When you were a school- 
boy you stowed these away in your pockets and ate 
them along the road and at recess, and again at noon- 
time ; and they, in a measure, corrected the effects 
of the cake and pie with which your indulgent mother 
‘filled your lunch-basket. 
_ The boy is indeed the true apple-eater, and is not 
to be questioned how he came by the fruit with which 
his pockets are filled. It belongstohim. .. His 
own juicy flesh craves the juicy flesh of the apple. 
Sap draws sap. His fruit-eating has little reference 
to the state of his appetite. Whether he be full of 
meat or empty of meat he wants the apple just the 
same. Before meal or after meal it never comes 
amiss. The farm-boy munches apples all day long. 
He has nests of them in the hay - mow, mellowing, 
to which he makes frequent visits. Sometimes old 
Brindle, having access. through the open door, smells 
them out and makes short work of them. 
In some countries the custom remains of placing a 
rosy apple in the hand of the dead that they may find 
it when they enter paradise. In northern mythology 
the giants .eat apples to keep off old age. 
The apple is indeed the fruit of youth. As we 
grow old wé crave apples less. It is an ominous sign. 
When you are ashamed to be seen eating them on the 
street; when you can carry them in your pocket and 
your hand not constantly find its way to them ; when 
your neighbor has apples and you have none, and you 
make no nocturnal visits to his orchard; when your 
lunch-basket is without them, and you can pass a 
winter’s night by the fireside with no thought of the 
fruit at your elbow, then be assured you are no longer 
a boy, either in heart or years. 
ype SEA 

