SOLID COMFORT IN A MINNESOTA ORCHARD. 383 



stands next, a good, safe tree, growing tall and upright, and bearing 

 in profusion the soundest, tirmest, longest keeping apple in our 

 cellar. The kind that bears the grandest apples in the orchard are 

 young trees of Patten's Greening — great round globes of yellow 

 blushed with pink. One tree, but six years set, filled a barrel with 

 such beauties as would make an old New Yorker envious. The 

 Longfaeld never knows a barren year, but almost from the time it 

 takes its place among its fellows in the orchard it begins to pay, in 

 large and generous measure, the labor of the planter. And in this 

 fruit our Wealthy meets its greatest rival; not so rich in color or so 

 fine in flavor as that of our old-time favorite, but of more uniform 

 and long-lived excellence. 



These are but a portion of the trees that have for inany seasons 

 past promoted our pleasure and added to the family store. But 

 the trees alone are not the only source of comfort from the orchard, 

 for the ground contains a portion of the vegetable garden, nearly 

 all the perennial flowers and shrubs and roses that we pluck for 

 home adornment and some little flower gardens nine feet square, 

 carefully staked out, the cherished possession of each j'oung mem- 

 ber of the household. The apple is a large-hearted tree, willing to 

 "live and let live," as the merchant's motto runs, and, unlike the 

 willow, Cottonwood and maple, the ground beneath its branches is 

 a most congenial soil for everything that does not, like the grape, 

 require the fullest sunlight; and the plants and shrubs in turn 

 nestling beneath the apple boughs cover the rich soil and shelter it 

 from drying winds and, shading the open spaces, keep the ground 

 cool and moist and grove-like, the most congenial soil a tree can 

 have. 



And so our Minnesota orchard has become the happy spot where, 

 as the day is done, we turn to enjoy the fruits and flowers, to watch 

 the unfolding bud and growth of tree and plant, their miracles that 

 never cease, and think upon these mysteries of life that lie just hid- 

 den from our wondering eyes. And then we have the joyful sight 

 of children running to pick the choicest apple from the favorite 

 tree,returning soon with mouth and hands and pockets full and, per- 

 haps, some special beauty for their mother — a sight that ever calls 

 to mind that one short j^ear spent with the kind and patient faces 

 "that I have loved long since and lost awhile." And when Septem- 

 ber's sun has brought to every autumn fruit its last peculiar beauty, 

 what a merry harvest is begun as pails and baskets, ladders and 

 barrels are brought out, and the burdened trees are lightened for 

 winter's cheerful store! 



My friends, I have given you these simple pictures of the quiet 

 life about our home, not from any boastful spirit but to encourage 

 the thought that each one of you may have that best loved and best 

 remembered spot about your homes, the orchard garden. It maj' 

 not be that all our favorite fruits will endure the trials of your own 

 location, but other and better ones are sure to come if you will make 

 the start, keep the rows full and give them hopeful attention. 



