76 THOREAU. 



ring many kinds of food which the civilized man 

 rejects. The former has the palate of an out-door 

 man. It takes a savage or wild taste to appreciate a 

 wild fruit. 



What a healthy out-of-door appetite it takes to 

 relish the apple of life, the apple of the world, then ! 



&quot; Nor is it every apple I desire, 



Nor that which pleases every palate best ; 

 Tis not the lasting Deuxan I require, 



Nor yet the red-cheeked Greening I request, 

 Nor that which first beshrewed the name of wife, 

 Nor that whose beauty caused the golden strife : 

 No, no ! bring me an apple from the tree of life.&quot; 



So there is one thought for the field, another for 

 the house. I would have my thoughts, like wild ap 

 ples, to be food for walkers, and will not warrant 

 them to be palatable, if- tasted in the house. 



THEIR BEAUTY. 



Almost all wild apples are handsome. They can 

 not be too gnarly and crabbed and rusty to look at. 

 The gnarliest will have some redeeming traits even 

 to the eye. You will discover some evening redness 

 dashed or sprinkled on some protuberance or in some 

 cavity. It is rare that the summer lets an apple go 

 without streaking or spotting it on some part of its 

 sphere. It will have some red stains, commemorating 

 the mornings and evenings it has witnessed ; some 

 dark and rusty blotches, in memory of the clouds and 

 foggy, mildewy days that have passed over it ; and a 

 spacious field of green reflecting the general face of 

 Nature, green even as the fields ; or a yellow 

 ground, which implies a milder flavor, yellow as 

 the harvest, or russet as the hills. 



